Florida County Makes '23' a Passing Grade

Associated Press | 5/30/2002

[LaBradford22]

Fla. County Makes '23' a Passing Grade Thu May 30,12:34 PM ET

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) - You can get three-quarters of the answers wrong and still pass this test.

Palm Beach County high school students taking a new history exam this week need to answer just 23 of 100 multiple-choice questions correctly to pass.

To get an A, they need to get just over half the answers right. A B grade requires only 39 correct answers.

The new final exam for American and world history classes was developed by school district officials to ensure students learn state- required lessons that include history about women, Africans, African-Americans and the Holocaust.

The 100-question test, specific to Palm Beach County, replaces individual final exams that teachers create themselves. The district, which recommended the grading scale, sent letters to schools giving them the option to use it on the new test.

Many said they will, while teachers in some schools said the issue hasn't yet been discussed. It will be for this year only.

But some teachers were concerned about the low passing scale.

"I don't think if you administer a valid test and a kid misses half of the questions, that they should pass," said Thomas O'Brien, a social studies teacher at Lake Worth High School.

School board member Debra Robinson, who introduced the idea of using a standardized history exam last fall, said she accepts the grading scale this year, because it's the first time the district is using the exam.

Final exams are worth 20 percent of a student's grade.

[LaBradford22]

23% on a multiple choice test? Heck, given 100 questions with four choices per question, a monkey with a pencil will get 25% (on average). Maybe on the next version of the test, they will see how many students can successfully use a ballot...

[callthemlikeyouseethem]

our daughter just graduated from high school this past Sunday. With a 3.296 final grade average, and advanced composition, modern lit, advanced math and science classes, she still wasn't able to be a member of the National Honor Society. Many of those positions went to kids who took less challenging courses. Makes one wonder if there isn't a better way to "scale" the grading system. JMVHO

[Eric in the Ozarks]

A 3.3 should kick the door in at most top schools. Where's she going ?

[patent]

The only mitigating factor is that it looks like they are testing them on political correctness anyway. 23% right sounds about high enough for a test like that, oddly fitting in fact, for a test desinged to teach liberal pablum and dumb us down anyway.

patent

[Texas_Longhorn]

Only if there are 4 choices.

[Texas_Longhorn]

IF they have A through F then on average one would make a 16.66%

[hsmomx3]

If a homeschooler were to lower the bar, there would be much screaming, yelling, and who knows what else by the educrats!!

[callthemlikeyouseethem]

She's been accepted to the University of Iowa. Hopefully she will do great. Thanks for asking...:)

[Texas_Longhorn]

I just graduated engeering school 12 days ago. In my experiences, Awards and Organizations that your daughter was part of, mean very little. There is ALOT of luck in getting into a good school. I just got accepted to a great grad. school with OK grades. The way to go about applying for college is to apply to as many good to medium schools as possible. In my experience, I have gotten rejected to some of the worst schools in the country and have gotten admitted to some of the best. There is more luck in getting into a good school than people realize. Good Luck to you daughter! Study Hard!!!!!

[CJ Wolf]

'23', isn't that one of your sign numbers? what do you make of this?

[E=MC²]

...said she accepts the grading scale this year, because it's the first time the district is using the exam.

Lowering the scale because the students haven't seen the test before in order to xerox it for subsequent takers???

[callthemlikeyouseethem]

Congrats to you longhorn...:) She applied to U of I as a first choice although she was recruited by many schools. Fortunately, she was accepted to the place she wanted to attend most. Good Luck in your future. Sincerely, callem

[shaggy eel]

ping

[newgeezer]

"I don't think if you administer a valid test and a kid misses half of the questions, that they should pass," said Thomas O'Brien, a social studies teacher at Lake Worth High School.

Seems that should depend on the test questions, and the test takers. If I gave a college senior level test to 9th-graders -- possibly useful in gauging the students' knowledge on a given subject -- I'd want to adjust the results scale accordingly.

I guess the esteemed Mr. O'Brien has never heard of "grading on a curve."

[dheretic]

I got a 3.82 weighted GPA and a 3.65 unweighted GPA in high school (straight As in all of my AP classes). The trend is now to push kids to take more advanced classes that they cannot handle. I knew kids in AP classes that were destroying their GPAs because they weren't able to do the work. I also knew a girl that beat out several AP students because she got a 4.0 unweighted GPA. The catch? She took only regular classes. Weighted GPAs are the only GPAs that should be used. Why? students that get a 3.4 unweighted GPA won't get squat in a school with a bunch of AP classes. AP classes are counted typically as 5.0s for As, not 4.0s because taking an AP class is like going to a state college for that class. A student with straight Bs in an AP class would get the same 4.0 that a student getting an A in a regular class would get.

[newgeezer]

You shall be known in the future as, "No current Freeper by that name."

[summer]

Yep, I read two or three other threads about this ridiculous passing score of "23." Congrats to Palm Beach County for making themselves look assinine yet again.

[Texas_Longhorn]

Here in Texas, the local school district decides how to compute class rank. Many kids got the shaft who decided to take AP classes and other advanced classes and lost a few places on their class ranking, because our Governor (Rick Perry) decided that one way around affirmative action for colleges was to pass a law automatically allowing anyone in the top 10% of their class automatic admission into any Texas Public University. The University of Texas has been flooded with people since then. They are not allowed to turn them away.

[cynicom]

Horn...

You may have a degree in engineering but there is one thing you need to learn. Anyone can get into any school, if they know the right people. Grades mean little.

Congrats for having a degree in SOMETHING, not basket weaving. You will do well.