Tuesday, November 6, 2007

Are we grading on a curve?

Larissa: "Miss Brave! Look at my twisty ponytail!"
Miss Brave: "Oooh, I see! That's called a braid."
Larissa: "Yeah! And my ponytail is twisty!"

* * *

Well! Progress reports are out and it seems like the whole city is buzzing about them! Last week, I predicted that my school would get a B- or C+. Our actual grade: B.

I think that would hold more water for me if I actually understood how the grades were calculated. A friend of mine teaches at a school that's been designated "in need of improvement," and yet her school received an A -- and that's the story all over the city, from the Daily News to the New York Times. It's almost like the DOE calculations are designed to fly in the face of No Child Left Behind: The federal government wants improvement? How's this A grade for improvement?!

(Interestingly, both my elementary school and my high school received As. My junior high school got a C. At which of these schools would I say I was happiest? The junior high.)

1 comment:

Ms. C said...

From what I know, schools are graded based on the progress they made in standard assessment compared with last year.

So if a school had mostly poor grades last year...but showed progress...they got a higher grade.

Personally, I'm insulted that schools are *graded* like students. Aren't we professionals?