Equitable grading—Making Black Underachievement in Education Permanent
- Thread starter CO. Hoosier
- Start date
That’s of course true. But it begs the point. There are reasons why black students consistently score worse on standardized tests than others. A grading system that takes those reasons and uses them to equalize performance with students with higher scores perpetuates performance disparities. It seems to me that liberal educrats with grading equity are throwing in the towel on rigorous black student academics.
Group learning and achieving a certain level of learning within a specified period of time along with assigning grades based upon where a students stands within the group at a particular point in time has drawbacks. Don't think the Portland approach of equitable grading solves these drawbacks.
Nevertheless, I do like some of the ideas in the Portland plan. These include the following: (1) Student grades should reflect individual achievement. (2) Retakes. Allow students to retake assessment or redo assignments and provide multiple opportunities to demonstrate proficiency on learning targets. (3) Emphasize recent assessment data.
In a perfect world we would all be tutored by top notch instructors in various subjects and reach certain levels of achievement at our own pace and skill level.
Nevertheless, I do like some of the ideas in the Portland plan. These include the following: (1) Student grades should reflect individual achievement. (2) Retakes. Allow students to retake assessment or redo assignments and provide multiple opportunities to demonstrate proficiency on learning targets. (3) Emphasize recent assessment data.
In a perfect world we would all be tutored by top notch instructors in various subjects and reach certain levels of achievement at our own pace and skill level.
I mostly agree. But a system that measures individual improvement and achievement is not a substitute for whether the student meets objective and standard criteria.
I'm not sure that document deals with the level of rigor in academic standards. It does focus on the practice of measuring achievement, and attempts to remove unrelated factors from the results. The factory model, one size fits all, theory of education is becoming more obsolete by the year. Our stubborn resistance to change is harming education.
No, just having a little fun.
If you're going to take to calling out insults, you're going to be a very man on this site.
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CoH and BV, in my perfect world a student would have to be tested in some manner periodically in order to measure progress and show areas which need further study and review.Good post, Mr. Montessori.
The typical classroom with a set time required to learn all too often results in students being passed on without mastering some subjects. If the subject, is say, reading the results could be devastating and ultimately result in the student dropping out of school.
Listening to the author of the book, we have been giving out points for turning in homework, raising hands in class, behaving in class. I know a local teacher that assigned jobs like erasing the blackboard, and gave points for doing it. None of that is mastery. Listening to that author, the only thing that should matter is mastery. And if it comes on the 4th test and not the first, that is fine. I think he raises valid issues. He might be wrong, but I think it is well worth consideration. If you are a teacher and most of your points comes from homework, how do you know if the kid did it, the parents, a tutor, the Rose-Hulman help line? You don't. So why have a lot of points for homework. We all know stories of athletes having papers written for them. It's a bit harder to get that kind of help on in class exams.
We know that student performance in the US is disgraceful. It’s worse considering the time, effort, and money we devote to education. I don’t think any institution changes more than public education. But what doesn’t change is the basic structure in many locations. The best high schools according to many lists I have seen are the autonomous ones like charters, magnets, private, and other forms of autonomy. . Denver has one of the best in its science and technology charters, started by the gates foundation. Deiscipline and rigor are strong. Minorities attend and flourish. It can be done. Equity grading is not the answer.
I know I'm not the "expert" on education that you are, but from what I've seen, charters are little more than money grabs foisted on inner cities from far-away locations. They tend to promise new and exciting strategies, loosen the binds of the union (which allows them to hire unqualified people), then, when the initial bump fades away in about a year, the school returns to norm, and the charter provider moves on to the next town needing marching bands.
Magnet schools, run by the district, work better. Private schools do not belong in the same conversation.
I understand what is happening, and I may be guilty of it, too. You have a pre-conceived notion of the issues with public education that is not going to be changed. The problem here is that you have found a piece of evidence that doesn't really fit your argument, but are trying to shoehorn it in...that is evident with the post above where you circled back around to all your older grievances. The fact is, other than flashy cosmetic changes made to modern education, we are still trying to force fit a 100 year old model onto a world that has changed dramatically, because of the ol' "that's the way I did it, and it's the way it has always been done" reasoning.
While I agree with your overarching theme of education is broken, I disagree with most of the causes you often point out, and i know you are incapable, on this board at least, of giving any ground, so this is really a waste of my time and expertise.
What charters have you seen, and where are they? Two of my grandkids went to a charter through 8th grade. It was excellent. The parents of another grandkid moved to a different school district so another grandkid could attend an autonomous school.
I know a couple of things about public education. Outcomes here are not good. Independent and autonomous schools generally have better outcomes than institutional schools. So what if that is a “preconceived“ notion.
Try me. Arguing that charter schools are money grabs won’t cut it. The evidence, at least in Colorado, is contrary.
You think charter schools aren't employing more modern grading and evaluation models?
Bless your heart!
As for DSST, you really need to more about it. The Gates Foundation is a minor donor, and they weren't at all part of its founding.
Why would I try? You never have on here.
Oh, and I will admit to only knowing about charters in Indiana. The thing is, this state has kind of been known as a major charter incubator that was recognized nationally for years. Most of what I have seen is out of state businesses come in, make huge promises, put signs in front of their schools trumpeting "Tuition Free Charter" (a total bullshit move right out of the gate, preying on people's ignorance of the fact that no charter school, due to the fact that it is public, charges tuition), hire unqualified people, try to make it on the cheap to improve their profit margin with practices like understaffing, then pack up and sneak away when results are not what were advertised.
I'm glad your grandkids found a good fit.
Charters are great potential in areas where 'school choice' has robbed public schools of funding. As they stretch into suburban areas, they need families to move, so they're creating unrest.
Heritage Foundation is working hard to defund public schools and push them into their charters.
If your observation about Indiana charters is accurate, I don’t see how Indiana can be considered an important player.
Not on,y should we have charter schools, I think we should have charter districts. The humongous districts in large cities are part of the problem which makes innovation difficult.
Of course they are. That’s a good thing. But don’t confuse grading equity with better evaluation methods. According to the Portland material, grading equity means leniency and lower standards in order to accommodate social deficiencies.
Where school choice destroyed community schools in urban areas, you might be right.
I advocated a long time ago IPS (Indianapolis Public Schools) and other urban schools should be broken up into separate districts. Instead of having them all scrap for resources from a bloated administrative body, they could be paired to divvy up resources and curriculum.
Charter districts means more than simply making littles out of big ones. I’m talking about districts with specific areas of concentration such as STEM, fine arts, troubled kids, vocational Ed, college prep and maybe some others.
Yeah...magnet schools.
We already have that here, not only with public schools but also charter schools.
The actual entities which own these schools have their own academic interests, including ones like Heritage Foundation (via Hillsdale College) which will effectively be a religious based public school.
Charter schools are public schools. Private schools don’t need an approved charter.
