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Schools and grading thoughts- Pandemic response (1 Viewer)

El Floppo

El Floppo

Footballguy
Curious what you all think about how schools should be responding to the pandemic in terms of grading. Pass/Fail? Keep grades? Keep grades until remote learning started, and then have the option of incorporating those? Other?

There are some complex factors in play, obviously- including the range of equity at home or in the school school to provide the means to even allow remote learning (computer/tablets/smart phones/internet/parents present or not/etc). 

I'm hoping for a general discussion about this to see if there's any common thoughts. I may put up a poll once discussion begins.

Secondarily specific to my concerns....

Our kids are in 3rd and 7th grades in public schools in NYC. 4th and 7th grade state test scores and grades and are the primary factor for acceptance/placement into Middle School and High Schools. NYC has a ton of these, and acceptance can be very competitive and selective for the "best" schools. NYC cancelled state tests (I think the entire state of NY did), so grades will be the primary factor as of now.

Our 7th grader has been working his ### off with the intent of getting himself in a position to have options for High School. I'm incredibly proud of both the hard and focused work he's been doing (self-motivated... wife and I are fairly laissez faire with the work itself) and the results he's been getting. If grades are the primary factor, his hard work should pay off in meeting his intent to place himself in a good position for HS. Our 3rd grader- with nothing on the line in terms of applications to further schooling- has also challenged herself to do as well as possible and is (as are we) very proud of the results she is achieving from the work she's put in.

NYC Dept of Education will be voting this week, maybe even today. I understand they're proposing to change the entire city to a Mastery/no-Mastery binary system.

A resolution, that I'm sure will be ignored by the DOE, is asking to essentially allow students to use their best 3 of 4 marking period grades, which allows them to drop the marking period during the pandemic if their grade has suffered. 

We told our kids about the DOE's proposal- they were at first heartbroken (7h grade floppinho especially) and then furious. "Why even bother!?" was their takeaway- and even though I did my best to make the point that they should always strive to do the best they're capable of doing... it was hard to answer that point. I shouldn't be surprised by how the DOE and gov agencies typically reach for the lowest common denominator- a needed benchmark in a place of 8mil people in a huge range of conditions- but this sinks way past that IMO and only helps kids who were going to fail anyways; everybody else get shafted. 

 
Don't know long term yet for our kids.

For now, their final grade this year would be the grades they had at the end of the third quarter. From middle school on up they can raise their grade but cannot go down. I have one middle schooler and the others are still in elementary school.

I've been really proud of them. We set a schedule early on, so they have to be in their rooms ready for school at 9:00. They go online and get their lessons from their teachers and complete their tasks. 

They know how to WebEx for the conference calls, so they've been interacting as much as possible. Some of their teachers are good at this and some seem to be mailing it in at this point. 

We've been having lots of discussions lately with them that on days where the teacher doesn't provide much work, just read. But they don't get to come out of their rooms til lunch time, and then after that it's chore time, PE time, etc.

 
Our kids are the same age (well my oldest in in 8th), my wife is a 1st grade teacher and i'm an adjunct college professor (part time). Needless to say, the whole schooling thing is a major topic of conversation here—and my wife and I don't always fall on the same sides. 

on the pass/fail thing, Problem is, the school districts were woefully unprepared for this...and still are. Likewise, so is the community. I'm out on LI, but I could imaging the city is 100x more impacted, but not everyone has enough computers for every kid in their house. Plus mom or dad may still be working from home. So the whole idea of "education at home" is disrupted at best to completely non-existent. My wife can see who's logging in and if its less than 50%, its a lot. I guess you could add a number grade to those doing the work, and fail or incomplete the others but that could open the schools up to liability as their expected programs could not be adequately offered.

There is talk of having the kids go back to school through the summer which i'm in favor of. It would give them a chance to get back to some normalcy as give them a chance to actually get evaluated and caught up. However you could imaging the push back I'm seeing from my wife (don't take away MY summer break now? WE would need to get paid for that!), plus the union hurdles. 

 
Depends on the school imo.

My kid is doing assignments via Google classroom.  She can submit questions for things she doesn't understand.  She has a 7 week bio project starting this week. Sure things like woodshop probably shouldn't be graded.

She's a freshman. I'm sure she's not getting the same amount of work as in school but they are still grading stuff

:shrug:

 
George Mason University gave students the option of grades or pass/fail. That way students who had difficulties with online learning wouldn’t be penalized while students who were excelling got their GPA bump.

 
glvsav37 said:
Our kids are the same age (well my oldest in in 8th), my wife is a 1st grade teacher and i'm an adjunct college professor (part time). Needless to say, the whole schooling thing is a major topic of conversation here—and my wife and I don't always fall on the same sides. 

on the pass/fail thing, Problem is, the school districts were woefully unprepared for this...and still are. Likewise, so is the community. I'm out on LI, but I could imaging the city is 100x more impacted, but not everyone has enough computers for every kid in their house. Plus mom or dad may still be working from home. So the whole idea of "education at home" is disrupted at best to completely non-existent. My wife can see who's logging in and if its less than 50%, its a lot. I guess you could add a number grade to those doing the work, and fail or incomplete the others but that could open the schools up to liability as their expected programs could not be adequately offered.

There is talk of having the kids go back to school through the summer which i'm in favor of. It would give them a chance to get back to some normalcy as give them a chance to actually get evaluated and caught up. However you could imaging the push back I'm seeing from my wife (don't take away MY summer break now? WE would need to get paid for that!), plus the union hurdles. 
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Does your wife's school have a response for grading yet? 

it's absolutely true about the impact and inequity this has shown here in the NYC. I wish I could find it, but in that first week of remote learning I was suprised to hear the numbers of people in the school (900 kids k-5) and district (biggest in Manhattan) that weren't only without the hardware, but were also without Wifi or internet at all- remote learning was a literal impossibility. the DOE has provided upwards of 200k pieces of hardware, many of them with their own wifi, to try to aid this... but it's still a big factor- one of many.

Again- I'm good with the marking period that's happened during remote learning to be only used to help a student and should be tossed if it's negatively affected them. BUT... I'm fundamentally against tossing out the work that occurred prior to remote learning. 

and re: summer school... I just assumed the teacher's union would put a big kabosh on that PDQ as a non-starter. and tbh... I don't see the city being anti-virus ready to have kids crammed back into classrooms this summer. but if the miracle happens and the danger goes *poof*, sure- get the kids back in there who struggled prior to and/or during the remote learning. 

 
belljr said:
Depends on the school imo.

My kid is doing assignments via Google classroom.  She can submit questions for things she doesn't understand.  She has a 7 week bio project starting this week. Sure things like woodshop probably shouldn't be graded.

She's a freshman. I'm sure she's not getting the same amount of work as in school but they are still grading stuff

:shrug:
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do you think the post-remote learning period should be the only determining factor for grades? or should they incorporate the work that was done in the 6 months prior to remote learning?

 
DaVinci said:
George Mason University gave students the option of grades or pass/fail. That way students who had difficulties with online learning wouldn’t be penalized while students who were excelling got their GPA bump.
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I prefer the idea of allowing the student to choose one of those two options. seems fair to both sets of kids- the ones who were and are still trying to do well, and the ones that were and/or are suffering. this is especially true in a semester system where the pandemic hit mid-way through the grading period.

 
a)  i am dumbfounded by the competition that is nyc schooling.

b)  this home schooling stuff is a joke (so far)  one thing it is proving, is that school is more or less daycare  she gets everything done in about 3 hours,  or less, every day.

c)  my school district is still figuring things out on the fly.  one teacher, forwarded a district email.  that said everything was going to be pass/fail.  but that wasn't a decision that had been made yet.  it was only being discussed.  ooopsies!  so in true, CYA fashion, the district decided to make her class, a test run on pass/no pass. they sent out some bs email, about us not supposed to be seeing that email, but let's try it out now.  they'll vote on it later.  so ,my 8th grader, has 5 graded classes and 1 p/np.  it's a cluster

d)  my kid hates school.  she will get into the public school hs, no problem.  luckily, we live in an exceptional area for public school.

e)  your oldest is right.

 
belljr said:
Depends on the school imo.

My kid is doing assignments via Google classroom.  She can submit questions for things she doesn't understand.  She has a 7 week bio project starting this week. Sure things like woodshop probably shouldn't be graded.

She's a freshman. I'm sure she's not getting the same amount of work as in school but they are still grading stuff

:shrug:
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Im actually assigning a lot more graded work now then when we were in school. 

 
AcerFC said:
Im actually assigning a lot more graded work now then when we were in school. 
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What ages do you teach again? Jr High iirc?

It sounds like your school has an approach in place for grading... or are they still figuring it out?

 
ChiefD said:
Don't know long term yet for our kids.

For now, their final grade this year would be the grades they had at the end of the third quarter. From middle school on up they can raise their grade but cannot go down. I have one middle schooler and the others are still in elementary school.

I've been really proud of them. We set a schedule early on, so they have to be in their rooms ready for school at 9:00. They go online and get their lessons from their teachers and complete their tasks. 

They know how to WebEx for the conference calls, so they've been interacting as much as possible. Some of their teachers are good at this and some seem to be mailing it in at this point. 

We've been having lots of discussions lately with them that on days where the teacher doesn't provide much work, just read. But they don't get to come out of their rooms til lunch time, and then after that it's chore time, PE time, etc.
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Yeah, so this is what they are doing here as well.  Unfortunately, instead of just communicating the policy with parents, they sent it to students as well. My son, who is a freshman, and is sitting there with an A in all his classes, sees no reason to do any work when it can't hurt his grade and there's nothing to bring up.

I'm pretty aggravated by that because it's turned into a struggle trying to get him to complete work just because he's supposed to.  I wish I could say he's self-motivated, wants to learn, etc. but that's not the case.  If only the school system had informed just the parents and allowed us to determine how to convey what's expected/required, then we'd be in a better spot overall.

As to the policy itself, I don't think there's any "right" way.  There's pros and cons to any system (pass/fail, only up not down, everything counts, etc.). 

My other pet peeve with what's been happening is that each teacher is on their own schedule in terms of sending out assignments and when they are due.  It would be nice to have it somewhat consistent so that it's not so hard trying to track stuff down when I've never had to do it before.

All that said, I really do applaud the school systems for how they improvised almost universally to work with kids.  I read something recently (I can't find it, but will post if I do) about how teachers, virtually overnight, came together and changed how they taught to attempt to reach their students while at home and how they creatively found solutions.  It's true and it's much appreciated.

 
El Floppo said:
do you think the post-remote learning period should be the only determining factor for grades? or should they incorporate the work that was done in the 6 months prior to remote learning?
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I'm confused. Why would previously graded work not count?

Just for reference. 3rd marking period ended 4/1 so that consisted of 2 weeks remote?

Ftr we have a very good public school district

 
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Our district sent out a notice that said the kids grade would be a minimum of what they had at the last grading period.  The grade at that time would be the worst it could be but it could go up based on the work completed during on line classes.  This was for 7th & 8th graders (my son is in 8th grade).  He had all A's at that grading period so his comment was...."cool, I don't have to do anything".  I told him he still needed to do the work because he will need it next year but going that route can lead to students taking the rest of the year off because they know it doesn't matter for their grade.

 
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gianmarco said:
Yeah, so this is what they are doing here as well.  Unfortunately, instead of just communicating the policy with parents, they sent it to students as well. My son, who is a freshman, and is sitting there with an A in all his classes, sees no reason to do any work when it can't hurt his grade and there's nothing to bring up.

I'm pretty aggravated by that because it's turned into a struggle trying to get him to complete work just because he's supposed to.  I wish I could say he's self-motivated, wants to learn, etc. but that's not the case.  If only the school system had informed just the parents and allowed us to determine how to convey what's expected/required, then we'd be in a better spot overall.

As to the policy itself, I don't think there's any "right" way.  There's pros and cons to any system (pass/fail, only up not down, everything counts, etc.). 

My other pet peeve with what's been happening is that each teacher is on their own schedule in terms of sending out assignments and when they are due.  It would be nice to have it somewhat consistent so that it's not so hard trying to track stuff down when I've never had to do it before.

All that said, I really do applaud the school systems for how they improvised almost universally to work with kids.  I read something recently (I can't find it, but will post if I do) about how teachers, virtually overnight, came together and changed how they taught to attempt to reach their students while at home and how they creatively found solutions.  It's true and it's much appreciated.
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this, times a million.

 
belljr said:
I'm confused. Why would previously graded work not count?

Just for reference. 3rd marking period ended 4/1 so that consisted of 2 weeks remote?

Ftr we have a very good public school district
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the NYC DOE is reportedly going to roll this out. why indeed.

 
gianmarco said:
Yeah, so this is what they are doing here as well.  Unfortunately, instead of just communicating the policy with parents, they sent it to students as well. My son, who is a freshman, and is sitting there with an A in all his classes, sees no reason to do any work when it can't hurt his grade and there's nothing to bring up.

I'm pretty aggravated by that because it's turned into a struggle trying to get him to complete work just because he's supposed to.  I wish I could say he's self-motivated, wants to learn, etc. but that's not the case.  If only the school system had informed just the parents and allowed us to determine how to convey what's expected/required, then we'd be in a better spot overall.

As to the policy itself, I don't think there's any "right" way.  There's pros and cons to any system (pass/fail, only up not down, everything counts, etc.). 

My other pet peeve with what's been happening is that each teacher is on their own schedule in terms of sending out assignments and when they are due.  It would be nice to have it somewhat consistent so that it's not so hard trying to track stuff down when I've never had to do it before.

All that said, I really do applaud the school systems for how they improvised almost universally to work with kids.  I read something recently (I can't find it, but will post if I do) about how teachers, virtually overnight, came together and changed how they taught to attempt to reach their students while at home and how they creatively found solutions.  It's true and it's much appreciated.
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I totally agree with the bolded.  I am in the same boat with my 8th grader.  Luckily he still wants to do the work (that he is interested in).  I told him he has to do it all but that he doesn't have to stress over the "is it perfect" or not aspect of some of the assignments.  Do the work so you know what is going on and won't be behind for next year but not necessarily stress over perfection.

However, telling the students they are locked in is an easy way to get them to stop doing the work.

 
sounds like most of you are getting the 3/4 or grade the work up until the remote learning started. 

I get the frustration of having your kids feel like the rest of the way doesn't matter... I'd like to think that mine would try to raise their grades higher, but not sure that would be the case. mostly I agree with those that are saying that at a minimum they need to just get it done with some self-respect so as to learn the info for next year.

thoughts on completely discounting the work that's already been done and going to a Mastery/non-Mastery system? this is what appears to be being proposed by the NYC DOE.... for the entire 2019/20 school year.

 
I teach junior high, and our school district has instituted a pass/incomplete system of grading for us to utilize during this remote learning time.  As others have stated, doing the work during this time can help a kid's overall semester/yearly grade, but cannot bring it down.  We have two junior highs in our district, and we teachers have to collaborate with our counterpart at the other school to come up with the assignments so that the expectations are uniform across the district.  Since I teach Social Studies, my subject is seen as less important than Math and English, so they don't have to do as much for me.  Each week, we send out choice boards, and the kids are expected to do one assignment from each subject per day, with 10 to choose from.  Assigned on Monday, due the following Monday at 9 AM, and then we as teachers check it over and fill out a remote learning plan on each kid that documents communication and completion.  

My wife teaches in the district where my kids go, and they are more hardcore than we are.  My 5 kids are all in junior high and high school, and they are getting actual letter grades.  However, it has been clearly stated that their grades during this time can only help their overall semester grades.  I have a son who is a freshman who was getting all A's, but he understands that just not doing anything, knowing that his grade can't be lowered, is not an option.  Plus, he's our most self-motivated of our high schoolers.  Our oldest, who is a junior, is loving it because her AP US History class is a friggin' gauntlet that typically averages 3 hours of homework per night, and now she's going to get an A if she just does everything, so she's excited.  My two daughters in 7th grade are at opposite ends of the spectrum; one would wile away the hours screwing around on her computer, doing very little in the way of work, so we have to constantly monitor her, while the other is our future valedictorian who is usually done with her work for the day by 11 AM and is entirely self-motivated, even though the lowest she's had in a class all year is probably a 96%.  My wife teaches elementary and she is checking completion mainly right now, but will assign a letter grade at the end of the year, which is only 3 weeks away.  

 
El Floppo said:
What ages do you teach again? Jr High iirc?

It sounds like your school has an approach in place for grading... or are they still figuring it out?
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I teach 8th grade. 

The principal just came out with his policy last week. This quarter (4th) kids can not get lower than the average for their first 3 quarters. 

So a kid who has a 95 could do nothing the rest of the year and get no lower than a 95. I have an issue with it but I dont cause issues. Will just do what Im told. 

In terms of grading assignments, I am still doing it as I would if we were in school. mostly completion but if they are so off the ball, I send it back and make them do it again. 

 
Two kids in college - both have had the choice of Pass/Fail or taking the letter grade. One of them is struggling with online learning and is going P/F in at least one class. The other one is loving it and crushing it. 

 
The HS I work at has eliminated finals. All work done prior to March 12 counts as 3rd marking period. All work starting today and moving forward counts for marking period 4. At the end, kids can either have those 2 grades averaged together for their final grade or elect to take a Pass. Pass gives them credit for the class but not a letter grade. 

 
Ilov80s said:
The HS I work at has eliminated finals. All work done prior to March 12 counts as 3rd marking period. All work starting today and moving forward counts for marking period 4. At the end, kids can either have those 2 grades averaged together for their final grade or elect to take a Pass. Pass gives them credit for the class but not a letter grade. 
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"those 2 grades averaged" means the 3rd and 4th marking periods? this is the same as a semester, yes? the fall semester stays as-is, correct?

 
Our district extended the 3rd marking period so that students with outstanding work could still submit it... but it would not have a detrimental impact on grades - grades could only be improved if the work submitted was satisfactory. 

They are not grading work in the 4th marking period, but they are checking for completeness and ummm... "ranking" students on the following scale. 

  • "Highly Engaged" 
  • "Moderately Engaged"
  • "Not Yet Engaged"
It is not yet completely clear what impacts those ranking have on students, but the middle school principal did mention that they could be used for determining next years classes and for helping to evaluate whether or not to pass borderline students to the next grade. 

My 7th grader who is excelling academically, and has not being challenged at all by the work assigned to her this year is, frankly, bored with the distance learning assignments.  The struggle with her has been to get her to understand the value of the work.  She blows through her work in no time, and is really only completing it because of her anxiety related to incomplete (and less than perfect work). 

My 2nd grader is pretty much oblivious at this point and is pretty much the happiest kid in the history of happy kids.  Now if I could just get my (newly unemployed) wife to help him with his assignments so I do not have to waste 2 hours of my mornings when I should be working, we's be in business... 

 
Our school district seemed to have had it figured out until the state intervened and now we've had 4 different grading systems sent to us.   Nobody, including teachers or students, knows what the hell is going on.   Seems like the kids should get a Pass/No Pass with an option to take a grade if they want it.   Pretty simple, but we can't figure it out.   So after being told that the assignments didn't count, now they do and kids are weeks behind because they were told it was optional.  Or maybe it will be optional and they aren't behind.   Nobody has a clue.

 
-fish- said:
Our school district seemed to have had it figured out until the state intervened and now we've had 4 different grading systems sent to us.   Nobody, including teachers or students, knows what the hell is going on.   Seems like the kids should get a Pass/No Pass with an option to take a grade if they want it.   Pretty simple, but we can't figure it out.   So after being told that the assignments didn't count, now they do and kids are weeks behind because they were told it was optional.  Or maybe it will be optional and they aren't behind.   Nobody has a clue.
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Yeahs it been a mess for schools trying to make sure they are doing what the States want. We spent the first month accepting work from 3/12 or prior to improve grades. We also put out enrichment work that did not count for a grade. Now we are doing essential content for a grade but still with an option just take a S (satisfactory) which would give them credit but not impact their GPA. To fail a kid, the teacher has to submit their case to a board. So I’m thinking most teachers are going to extremely lenient with grades (as they should). 

 
Gally said:
Our district sent out a notice that said the kids grade would be a minimum of what they had at the last grading period.  The grade at that time would be the worst it could be but it could go up based on the work completed during on line classes.  This was for 7th & 8th graders (my son is in 8th grade).  He had all A's at that grading period so his comment was...."cool, I don't have to do anything".  I told him he still needed to do the work because he will need it next year but going that route can lead to students taking the rest of the year off because they know it doesn't matter for their grade.
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Ours is like this as well.  To keep the kids engaged, they said if the minimum online work is not met (i.e. kids just don't do anything), then they will get an "Incomplete" which may result in Summer School to make up the assignments.  This has put a little bit of fire under the kids to get up and do something every morning.  The bonus with this system is that the grades may not go lower than what they started with, but they can increase.  I have an 8th grader who doesn't fair well with ELA at school, but the extra attention to it at home is helping is grade move up.  

 
Peak said:
Ours is like this as well.  To keep the kids engaged, they said if the minimum online work is not met (i.e. kids just don't do anything), then they will get an "Incomplete" which may result in Summer School to make up the assignments.  This has put a little bit of fire under the kids to get up and do something every morning.  The bonus with this system is that the grades may not go lower than what they started with, but they can increase.  I have an 8th grader who doesn't fair well with ELA at school, but the extra attention to it at home is helping is grade move up.  
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These two statements are contradictory.  If their grades can't go lower but then can get an incomplete...….isn't that lowering the grade?

 
Gally said:
These two statements are contradictory.  If their grades can't go lower but then can get an incomplete...….isn't that lowering the grade?
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Not necessarily lowering it, but it's more or less addressing the lack of work on their end.  It's to keep those with a D from stopping altogether.  They want to keep the students engaged.  If a kid gets an "Incomplete", then the teachers meet with the student and family to discuss next steps and options.  They also reach out during the grading period to make sure it isn't a "surprise" at the end of the year.  They don't want to hand out an "Incomplete", but it's a type of motivation they are using to keep the kids on task.

 
Peak said:
Not necessarily lowering it, but it's more or less addressing the lack of work on their end.  It's to keep those with a D from stopping altogether.  They want to keep the students engaged.  If a kid gets an "Incomplete", then the teachers meet with the student and family to discuss next steps and options.  They also reach out during the grading period to make sure it isn't a "surprise" at the end of the year.  They don't want to hand out an "Incomplete", but it's a type of motivation they are using to keep the kids on task.
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Would that also be the case for someone that has a 95%?  If they don't do the work will they also get an incomplete?  Regardless they shouldn't say that their grade cannot lower if it in reality can be lowered.

 
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gianmarco said:
My other pet peeve with what's been happening is that each teacher is on their own schedule in terms of sending out assignments and when they are due.  It would be nice to have it somewhat consistent so that it's not so hard trying to track stuff down when I've never had to do it before.

All that said, I really do applaud the school systems for how they improvised almost universally to work with kids.  I read something recently (I can't find it, but will post if I do) about how teachers, virtually overnight, came together and changed how they taught to attempt to reach their students while at home and how they creatively found solutions.  It's true and it's much appreciated.
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My wife teaches 5th grade for a small Catholic school (2 home rooms per grade). Under normal circumstances, she teaches language arts and science to both home rooms.

The ever changing guidance from the school admin and diocese were huge problems. The school doesnt have the money for online version of worksheets so kids are literally scanning in completed workbook pages and my wife has to download them and grade them thar way. Some kids are refusing to turn in easy homework, while others that were scuffling suddenly have seen dramatic improvements in vocabulary, spelling and other handouts. (Thanks, Mom!)

Finally, the teachers worked something out where the kids had some kind of routine.

Other homeroom teacher has daily zoom 30 to 40 minute class at 10 am. My wife does one at 1 pm. They're recorded and posted. They alternate between subjects. Last week we had a couple science experiments broadcast from our kitchen.

She basically has to lay out a week's worth of assignments with due date for a full week ahead. 

Asfar as grading, I like the whatever works best for the kid. there's definitely less learning going on. More work for my wife though. Last week was the first teach from home week where she wasn't working 14 hours a day and an emitional wreck.

 
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Ilov80s said:
-fish- said:
Our school district seemed to have had it figured out until the state intervened and now we've had 4 different grading systems sent to us.   Nobody, including teachers or students, knows what the hell is going on.   Seems like the kids should get a Pass/No Pass with an option to take a grade if they want it.   Pretty simple, but we can't figure it out.   So after being told that the assignments didn't count, now they do and kids are weeks behind because they were told it was optional.  Or maybe it will be optional and they aren't behind.   Nobody has a clue.
Click to expand...
Yeahs it been a mess for schools trying to make sure they are doing what the States want. We spent the first month accepting work from 3/12 or prior to improve grades. We also put out enrichment work that did not count for a grade. Now we are doing essential content for a grade but still with an option just take a S (satisfactory) which would give them credit but not impact their GPA. To fail a kid, the teacher has to submit their case to a board. So I’m thinking most teachers are going to extremely lenient with grades (as they should). 
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New supposedly final system came out today.  If you had an A going into March 13, you get an A.  If you had a B/C/D, you get a chance to improve it, but not with the work that was done between March 13 and today, unless that was to make up missing work or you're in a class that allows retakes, in which case it counts.   If you don't improve to at least a B, you get an incomplete.  If you get an incomplete, you can either do summer school, self-study, or if you're taking a related class next year you can "backfill" the incomplete grade (so if you got an incomplete in algebra this semester but next semester you get a B in geometry, you can take a B for algebra too).

 
My college, where I'm an accounting professor, has offered a special pass/fail option for this semester. Students can choose it for any or all of their courses, and only their advisor knows. Professors grade everything per normal and don't know who has selected it. I'm glad that they've done this. One of my students, for example, has to share the home computer with the other three members of his household. Other students just don't learn well in an on-line environment (and some professors don't know how to teach that way).

FYI, the Illinois Board of Examiners (per their Executive Director) will accept 'satisfactory' courses as counting toward the credit hours for the CPA Exam. I trust this is true in other states. I don't know if it's true for other professional exams.

I was unaware, per the OP, that pass/fail might also be an option for the elementary and high schools.

 
-fish- said:
New supposedly final system came out today.  If you had an A going into March 13, you get an A.  If you had a B/C/D, you get a chance to improve it, but not with the work that was done between March 13 and today, unless that was to make up missing work or you're in a class that allows retakes, in which case it counts.   If you don't improve to at least a B, you get an incomplete.  If you get an incomplete, you can either do summer school, self-study, or if you're taking a related class next year you can "backfill" the incomplete grade (so if you got an incomplete in algebra this semester but next semester you get a B in geometry, you can take a B for algebra too).
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Sounds complicated 

 
tri-man 47 said:
My college, where I'm an accounting professor, has offered a special pass/fail option for this semester. Students can choose it for any or all of their courses, and only their advisor knows. Professors grade everything per normal and don't know who has selected it. I'm glad that they've done this. One of my students, for example, has to share the home computer with the other three members of his household. Other students just don't learn well in an on-line environment (and some professors don't know how to teach that way).

FYI, the Illinois Board of Examiners (per their Executive Director) will accept 'satisfactory' courses as counting toward the credit hours for the CPA Exam. I trust this is true in other states. I don't know if it's true for other professional exams.

I was unaware, per the OP, that pass/fail might also be an option for the elementary and high schools.
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What are they doing for classes that require labs like chemistry/ physics?

Students can't do that lab from home, can they?

 
El Floppo said:
NYC Dept of Education will be voting this week, maybe even today. I understand they're proposing to change the entire city to a Mastery/no-Mastery binary system.
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Wait, NYC schools are proposing making the entire school year mastery/no-mastery?  I presume that would mean retroactively erasing all the grades that were earned and awarded for the Fall Semester?  That seems crazy to me. 

 
It wasn't a vote today, it was a district wide zoom meeting with the district school board. 

Except they didn't have the pro version of zoom, so it was limited at 300 people. 2 of the board members had crafted the "mastery/no-mastery" for the entire year proposal and 2 had written the pick 3 of the 4 marking periods proposal.

By the end, it was clear that of the 300 parents in attendance, about 1% approved of the Mastery proposal.  Their reason being something along the lines of "grades aren't a good way of judging kids". Seemed to have nothing to do with doing what's right for kids in light of COVID, and more about an agenda about grades in general. And the people who wrote the thing had no interest in listening to or discussing why we all thought it was a terrible idea.

This is something that was going to be presented to the DOE on behalf of our district, in spite of 99% of the parents (and teachers) in attendance being furious that this was an option.

🥵

 
My daughter was worried about her transcript since last year she took a bunch of classes pass/no pass under a Section 504 plan due to a concussion and resulting health issues.  Add this year's debacle to the mix and her transcript is a mess.

I reminded her she's planning on getting a degree in the arts anyway.   Told her to get a really good tattoo and make a short film and submit it instead of an application essay.   She'll be fine.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
JaxBill said:
What are they doing for classes that require labs like chemistry/ physics?

Students can't do that lab from home, can they?
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We are making our kids capture a frog in their neighborhood so they can dissect it on Zoom in their kitchen sinks with pliers, toothpicks and a utility knife. 

 
-fish- said:
No, that wasn't a question.  It was a statement.   You just guess what your grade was.   There's no way to know.  It's not available anywhere for parents or students to review it.
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What? Yikes this district is a mess, make me appreciate my employer. You don’t have a website where you can log into see grades?

 
Ilov80s said:
What? Yikes this district is a mess, make me appreciate my employer. You don’t have a website where you can log into see grades?
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To the contrary, we have three websites where we can log on to see grades.  They're all different.   Until recently, teachers could use whichever one they wanted, or none at all.  None of them will tell you what someone's cumulative grade was as of a particular date other than today's date, so there is no way to find out what a grade was on March 13 unless nothing has been entered since then.

 
-fish- said:
To the contrary, we have three websites where we can log on to see grades.  They're all different.   Until recently, teachers could use whichever one they wanted, or none at all.  None of them will tell you what someone's cumulative grade was as of a particular date other than today's date, so there is no way to find out what a grade was on March 13 unless nothing has been entered since then.
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That is insanity. What state?

 
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