Our middle school is considering changing from 50/50, 50% of grade comes from daily work and 50% of grade is from tests, to 100% of the grade is going to be coming from test scores. Has your school tried this? How is it working? This does still have to go before the SBDM committee, so it's not in stone yet. The principal sent an email around last week asking what everyone thought about it. I didn't respond because I basically haven't had time. Today I get and email stating that since 75 people didn't respond he was assuming that meant they thought it was a good idea to move forward with. Only 35 people did respond. So now I'm trying to get my ideas straight before I email him. Maybe I'm not seeing the positive side of this, I suppose there must be one!?

So far his responses from other parents have been:
15%- Undecided
10% - Agree
20%- Feel that something needs to be done, but are uncertain that the proposed course of action is the right choice.
55%- Disagree


I don't think I like the idea of it so far. Personally, I can't take tests from anything. I completely freeze up on them. My DS does the same thing. So I'm wondering how that would work. Would he be failed because he freezes on tests? I'm really quite confused on this. What are you guys opinions?

Laura

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I think that sounds like an awful idea, like basing your entire high school grades on your SATs almost.

I am a teacher. I don't think it is a good idea. It is only looking at one part of learning, testing. I do the 50/50 because I know some students don't do well on tests for a variety of reasons. Some students know the material but can't put it on paper. My homework also includes assignments they may complete in class and that I grade. I also sometimes give an open book or notebook test. How would projects work into this system? How do the teachers feel about it?

What would be the incentive to even doing the daily assignments if they weren't going to count for anything?

I understand the rationale - to base the grade on what the student has absorbed and retained, not just what he/she was able to locate in the text. It's one thing to be able to find that George Washington was our first president on p.22 of the textbook. It's another thing to have *learned* it and *know* it when someone asks you about it in three months.

It sounds like they want the grade to match what students *know*, not just what they *did* during the course.

In theory, I love it. But in practice, I'd hate it. There are so few tests when compared to daily work that one bad test could kill a student's chance for the honor roll. And just because they can remember course information from the past three weeks *today* doesn't mean they've learned it so well that they'll remember it in six months, so it's not necessarily measuring what they think it is.

I wouldnt like it. What if a child is having a bad day or not feeling well? They could bomb a test that could have a big impact on the grade.

Also, I have to say that I was a bit surprised that only 35 parents out of 110 replied. Seems like a really big issue for the kids and the response wasnt very large.

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We had a meeting at my son's school to discuss what qualities were needed for the new principal they were considering. There was maybe 9 people that showed up (and this is at the high school!). The superintendent made a comment that if people don't show up that means people are generally satisfied because people usually come out in numbers to complain. I thought that was odd, but maybe it's true?

I don't think they should have made the decision based on who didn't vote, but rather those that did. More people disagreed and that should count for something. Guess the lesson here is VOTE.

As to the question: Nope, would not like this one bit.

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I hate that plan but I hate ours even more ours is 80% test score and 20% assignments and homework. It makes it very difficult on the children that have a hard time taking tests. My son does fine with this but my middle son is going to have a very hard time with this. He freaks when he has to take a test.

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I work in a middle school. This year, for the f irst time, we also went to this 100% grading based on tests. It is horrible. Some kids do well on tests--some don't. We have found that kids who don't necessarily test well on tests can often make up for that with their classwork, homework and projects. But, with this new system kids who fall into that "don't do well on tests because..... (you name it--some freak out--some just can't test) we are having previous A/B kids coming up with D's on their report cards--even though the rest of the caliber of their work remains high-grade. Conversely, we are having kids who do not even attempt to do homework or special projects because "they don't count anyway". I strongly encourage you to loudly voice your disapproval to this projected grading change.

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