School System Scrapping Grades

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[dixiemelody]

I absolutely agree with you. I consider myself to be a very good teacher (I actually teach and never sit down at my desk, grade at least 4 sets of papers a night, prepare for new and interesting lessons each night,involve myself in extra curricular activities with the kids, and stay after school for help sessions), and I resent the fact that the lazy ones who carry nothing home and who sit at their desk shelling out busy work without teaching get paid the same that I do. We don't actually have a teacher's union in Alabama, but this year, I got out of the association that we do have because in order to belong (for legal protection), we had to belong to NEA, and I HATE NEA.

[Dimensio]

>. . . it is the parents who cant bear the idea that little Johnny or Jill is failing because Mom and Dad dont have the desire to make the time to assist their spawn in learning.

Yeparoony. That's what it's really all about. That, and Ed.D.'s with a lot of time on their hands to come up with stuff like this. I wish the educational establishment would get with the program -- people with doctorates are to be ignored.

Uh, actually, this is a problem -- there are parents who refuse to accept that sometimes their child isn't learning because their child refuses to learn or the child suffers from a learning disability. That does not mean that there may be ineffective teachers or corrupt administrators, but even properly trained teachers and highly efficient and effective administrators cannot force a child to learn and it is not their responsibility to psychoanalyze the student to determine why he or she isn't doing well.

[Don Myers]

"More traditional methods have failed to boost pupil test scores on the state's math and language arts proficiency exams, said School Superintendent Carmen A. Granto. Niagara Falls schools scored below average in the state's "report card" for schools.

"The problem is, we've been locked into a system that was created years and years ago and doesn't work today," said Granto. "The definition of insanity is to keep doing the same thing over and over again while expecting different results."

I think the man is correct. Yesterday's methods of educating the young do not work today. The students have been so dumbed down, they cannot "make the grade" under yesterday's grading system. And, of course, we cannot go back to the old methods of requiring students to learn, so we have to change the grading system itself. The students are just as dumb. But the grading system won't reflect it.

[capt. norm]

You and the diminishing number of dedicated teachers like you have to suffer the tarnish that these lazies put on your image.

This country was founded on the idea that those who put forth the best effort should be rewarded best.

It's an extension of the proverb "you reap what you sow"...it's just that simple.

A competent teacher who is willing to really put his/her self into teaching is the NEA's worst enemy. They are not there to help good teachers, only to make sure the sluggards get equal rewards for doing next to nothing.

[Twins613]

Benchmarking, they say provides an objective gauge of what a child knows. Grading, on the other hand, is subjective and does not incorporate uniform standards, said Christopher Murgia, a fifth-grade teacher at 79th Street Elementary School.

By whose definition is "benchmarking" going to be done? The teacher's definition, of course. So how is benchmarking less "subjective" than grading?

It's just another excuse to hide inadequacies in the national disgrace that is our public education system.

[Jim Noble]

>>Do you really believe children have become that ignorant sir? A median of 90 with many in the 80's?<<

There clearly are "failing" schools where these conditions obtain.

[SuperLuminal]

3.5 trillion dollars in 36 years.

NEA marxist morons creating more marxist morons.

Fabians rule!

[mlocher]

thanks for the post. the reason that this is being done is because most of the teachers in this school district do not know the alphabet anymore.

[AmishDude]

It's also unfair to lower the bar to accomidate all of the IQ 90 students to the point where the IQ 115 kids are bored out of their skulls and don't learn anything new or anything at a proper pace for their abilities.

Agreed. When my high school was talking (very seriously) about eliminating tracking, I had a saying: "God forbid we graduate a rocket scientist."

[Dimensio]

>It's also unfair to lower the bar to accomidate all of the IQ 90 students to the point where the IQ 115 kids are bored out of their skulls and don't learn anything new or anything at a proper pace for their abilities.

Agreed. When my high school was talking (very seriously) about eliminating tracking, I had a saying: "God forbid we graduate a rocket scientist."

< rant >
Of my K-12 education only three years were spent in a public school, all of which were in an advanced placement program. I performed well enough, but my mother for some reason preferred that I attend a private school. I learned later why: I excelled primarily at mathematics (though I also was proficient in English/literature studies), but under the new "reformed" education cirriculum such skill would matter little. The new guidelines for mathematics required a student to not only find the answer to a mathematical problem but also to write a full essay on the approach used, steps taken, discussion of the answer received and examination of alternative methods for finding a solution. While I never suffered such inane methodology, I did speak to one upon whom this new "learning" tool was thrust. From her I determined that I would have fared poorly under such a system: integrating the answers with sarcastic criticism of the standards in question resulted in poor marks.
When I learned of this "method" I was unable to comprehend its usefulness. I can write eloquently enough when needed, but when solving math problems, it's just numbers! The first thing that I try to do and that I was taught to do is eliminate excess verbiage and break it down to pure number crunching -- suddenly the KY Department of Education decides that arithmetic isn't correct until you decorate it with flowery language?
I now understand my mother's desire to remove me from the environment. The education "reforms" in my home state have mashed every subject together into a single cohesive mess, making it imposible to determine a student's individual strengths and weaknesses.
< /rant >

[summer]

Thanks for the flag on this article. I actually taught in an elementary school which used this same grading system. I think the students were adversely affected, because they like to be rewarded with an "A" instead of a "check" on their report cards.

What I wish educators would do is this: when a student is failing, instead of giving an "F" write: INCOMPLETE, meaning, the student has not yet mastered the content or subject area skill.

While students rejoice in their A's, it does get very discouraging for other students who constantly bring home "F's" -- and, some students truly do bloom later. So, as an educator, I think a grade of "INCOMPLETE" for those failing students throughout the year is most accurate, and, at the end of the year, then, one "F" if that is in fact the final grade.

In another school where I taught, a middle school, I was able to use the"mastery" system of grading I am alluding to above: a letter grade when the skills were demonstrated, and an "INCOMPLETE" notation on the report card when the student had not yet mastered the skills.

I found this system of grading to be highly motivating to students, because "failure" was not an option: instead, COMPLETE the work, and WORK HARDER AND LONGER, if necessary, was emphasized.

My students receiving the INCOMPLETE grade did not feel defeated -- instead, they increased their efforts to master the content or skill, to get the "A" I told them I believed they could get. Setting higher expectations and sticking to such really does make a difference. And, some students really DO take longer to master a topic or skill.

If I had my way, I would hold off on the "F's" in every school until the end of the year report card, and give an "INCOMPLETE" until that time, thereby: providing that student with continued motivation to keep going. In short, in my experience, an "F" does not motivate an elementary or middle school student, but an "INCOMPLETE" during the year often does motivate such student.

[Jim Noble]

>>You dont scrap a system which has worked for 75 years on all kinds of children because a few today are incapable of keeping up<<

Having 97% of eighteen year olds in twelfth grade has most certainly not been done for 75 years.

My grandmother was an NYC Public School teacher for 50 years, 1912-1962. She knew very well that education beyond eighth grade (real school, like you are talking about) was not for the majority of people. This was true in 1912 and it's true today.

The results of compulsory education of the uneducable are predictible, and they are everywhere.

[Jim Noble]

>>Yesterday's methods of educating the young do not work today. The students have been so dumbed down, they cannot "make the grade" under yesterday's grading system. And, of course, we cannot go back to the old methods of requiring students to learn, so we have to change the grading system itself.<<

Or, we could let 'em out after eighth grade and keep high school for students.

Making high schools into day care centers for able-bodied men who can't learn algebra, geometry, and trig is a formula for failure-which is what we have.

[AmishDude]

The education "reforms" in my home state have mashed every subject together into a single cohesive mess, making it imposible to determine a student's individual strengths and weaknesses.

I may be biased (see profile), but I think it is an attempt for people who can't do math to overcome their own self-perceived inadequacies. They insert their specialty into another classroom.

If they really want cross-department work, then demand that English teachers teach scientific and technical writing.

[Jim Noble]

>>It's also unfair to lower the bar to accomidate all of the IQ 90 students to the point where the IQ 115 kids are bored out of their skulls and don't learn anything new or anything at a proper pace for their abilities<<

But as long as you require by law that 18 year olds with IQs of 90 attend facilities where, if the rules are followed they will be branded as "failures" and "losers", you will have this problem. It is intrinsic to universal and mandatory public education.

[Don Myers]

England has trade schools for students who don't want to continue their education. Maybe, we should do the same.

[Jim Noble]

Of course we should.

[culpeper]

Interesting story. My nephew goes to the local public school and is a classic "underachiever" he's a smart kid but hates school. His mother new he wasn't doing well in a particular class and was surprised when his teacher passed him so she got all of the tests from the class and calculated that he should have failed. She contacted the teacher and asked why he passed the kid because he should have repeated it in summer school. The teacher's response was that it wouldn't have done any good anyway if he repeated the class, he probably wouldn't have learned anything anyway. With that mentality whats the incentive for the kid to get good grades anyway if he can get by with not learning anything. The public school system is pathetic and the problem is tenure. These teachers are also doing the bare minimum to get by because they know they can't get fired.