Montgomery County in Maryland has embraced the Common Core and in today's Washington Post, the Metro Section carried an in-depth piece about the debate surrounding the new reporting system. Elementary students receive marks of "P" for proficient, "N" for no progress or only a little progress and "ES" for exceptional work. The feature contains all the information about the changed report card and quotes multiple sources for a variety of opinions. The bottom line - most parents don't like it and find that it doesn't tell them enough about their child's progress. They feel it is too general. The county's point of view is presented by Niki Hazel, director of the elementary curriculum team for Montgomery County Public Schools. She presents it as a necessary step in adjusting to a demanding curriculum. (Here's the link to the story: http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/a-plethora-of-ps-on-report-cards-confound-parents-in-montgomery-county/2014/07/20/70cd9fce-fca8-11e3-8176-f2c941cf35f1_story.html )
In general, the 2.0 Curriculum (Montgomery County's name for their version of The Common Core) needed a matching report card system. It's hard to relate traditional A's, B's and the like to demanding new Common Core testing that will score students differently. My understanding from an earlier WAPO article is that to obtain an "ES" is very difficult. Teachers aren't comfortable giving them out. I may be able to find this article or not because I think it's well over a year old - I will take a look, but I'm not even sure what key words to input. I'll also scan my hard copy files just in case I saved it.
As I recall, there was an implication that teachers reporting a lot of "ES's" and then not producing matching test scores might get a hard look from the administration and central office. The simple logic is Core testing will produce more proficient than exceptional scores and if the report cards and the test scores don't line up - it will indicate grade inflation. Now this is where my gut starts churning. Grade inflation has been rampant in my school district and others for a long time. How can this be true?
To understand the concept of grade inflation, you have to understand test design and the standard of the bell curve. Supposedly, if you have designed a valid test to reliably measure the learning of an objective or objectives you've taught, the test scores should, when plotted on a graph with 100 being the top score, produce a bell shaped curve. This is because the bulk of people are of average intelligence - around 70%. If your test has the correct amount of difficulty, you should have student results with say: 5% getting A's; 10% getting B's; 70% getting C's; 10% getting D's, and 5% receiving F's. This is old school thinking, but the way I used it was possibly a little different.
I wanted a bell curve for my first test results because it gave me a true read on my performance. It showed me what I needed to change or fix in my lesson planning. Then I could redesign the test, use the same one or design an outcome or project-based learning assignment for a second and third pass at the same or similar objectives.
What's more important to communicate with reports: Accurate reporting which should correspond to test results; student success within a delineated scope of important career-oriented skills with additional prompting to develop a strong knowledge base while targeting abstract thinking and personal talents, or curved grades that don't reflect what a student has learned? (Hint - the answer begins with the words - "student success".)
Students have to have a developmentally appropriate level of skill sets that they can apply to any given discipline. Additionally, a strong knowledge base is part of becoming a functioning member of society. The Common Core is an attempt to drill down to that kind of philosophy, but jumping right on the money-making test bandwagon is corporate meddling and all kinds of test prep companies are advertising to give school districts, teachers, parents and students "free" and then "paid-for" help. If this generation of children learn much it will because of parents, really hard-working teachers slogging it out and clever students, who will survive all of this top-down interference.
Teachers have to get it right, if a student earns a "B" - we are responsible for demonstrating why that student's skill set and knowledge base is above average with our assignments/tests and outside test results have to verify our grades. That is why the bell curve is our friend if we use it as a first look. I let students retake tests, redo assignments and if a parent/guardian complained about a grade, I told him, her or them - I was happy to give the student, their child any grade they wanted because I feel no great attachment to grades.
I am attached to learning and using grades, tests, report cards as forms of communication. I hated giving a student a bad grade on a report card. I didn't mind it at all on an assignment or test because the student could choose to fix it - my grade let them know how he or she did in relationship to my specific expectations which were based on state expectations, national norms and input from the business world. An "F" or a "D" on a report card from me meant a student didn't redo anything after we got together and talked. I had a fair share of A's and B's some C's and only a few D's and F's when report-card time came. However, test results matched up. My A's usually scored advanced proficient and so did a lot of my B's and in my career, I only had two students who didn't pass proficient on the first go round, but they passed on the second.
Grades and report cards should clearly and accurately communicate a student's progress to both the child and the parent/guardian. Ideally, they should create a dialog so that everyone can work as a team and focus on helping the student's learning experience. Nationally-normed tests send signals to school systems, teachers, parents and students. These tests can be used at first as guidelines for improvement and as time passes, the tests can become more accurate measures of the school system, the staff and how the student is doing compared to his or her peers.
It would be great to hear from you about your issues with grading, testing and report cards. The parents in Montgomery County are gearing up to ask for some more narrative reporting from teachers and I know that usually consumes lots of time. Please jump in and share some thoughts about the grading process.
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