Your title says it all Sara. BCPSS' focus has always been on "passing" over "learning."

Here at TMHS students are frequently taken out of the regular classes to go work on their bridge projects. For example: seniors are being told to skip out on English IV (A graduation requirement) to work on their Algebra bridge project. Last semester many seniors failed classes they needed because they weren't in class, but TMHS has a great passing rate for bridge projects... At least the 1st semester failures can take the course on novel, but should this second semester group go through the same thing, they'll pass the test AND fail the course... but hey, this school has a history of illegal grade changing so it'll all work out... right?

This seems to be part of the larger philosophical issue about grading. If it is just about learning content, only an ultimate measure of content should factor into the grade. So a student who can pass the final exam (or the HSA, perhaps, if we agree it is a good enough test) should not fail because he/she didn't do classwork or homework. Obviously he/she didn't need to do that work to know the material.

Giving students 0's for missing work destroys averages, and is not truly a measure of learning, but rather a measure of effort. You can turn in 3 assignments for 80 each and miss one and get a 0, and end up with a 60 average, which is failing (or very very close to failing). Zeros are unduly harsh and teachers need to consider alternatives if their goal is to accurately measure learning. It only makes sense to use 0's if they want the grade to reflect effort and work habits too.

I am willing to bet that it is a lack of turning in assignments.

Michelle, part of school IS effort and work habits. Simply turning things in is a skill that needs to be taught. It matters not how smart a student is if they have an inability to manager their time and assignments they will struggle in higher education, and in life, until that skill is learned.

And speaking as a teacher. Homework rarely accounts for more than 10% of a student's final grade. And, at least in my government class, there are enough homework assignments that one or two zeroes will not "kill a grade".

The students that fall into that category are students that have a habitual problem with getting work in, on time or otherwise.

Michelle, High School is not college and your average class has at least 20+ assignments per marking period (usually more) all weighted differently. In my class I weight tests, classwork and projects much higher than I do homework.

Do I have students that may not pass the class but pass the HSA, yes.

Personally I feel it is because my class is much more difficult than the HSA. Frankly, in my department, we have dumbed down our midterms and finals to better match HSA content. Not because we felt our tests were too hard but to give the kids a chance to see and experience HSA style questions.

Routinely I have students be more threatened by my tests and midterms than the HSA. Frankly that is the way I want it.

Passing your HSA, while failing a class, indicates that the class is harder than the HSA. That seems reasonable, since the idea of the HSAs is to guarantee a minimum level of knowledge when you graduate from high school. Hopefully our schools are aiming higher. There are lots of reasons why a specific class could be harder than the HSA for a specific student: attitude problems, attendance problems, not turning in work or just not reaching the level that is expected in a certain class come to mind. Maybe passing HSAs should be enough for a minimal diploma (like a GED), but it shouldn't be enough to let you say you are a graduate of your high school.

I struggle with the 'zero' issue with homeworks. I definitely want my grades to reflect effort and work habits in addition to learning course content and skills, because, yes, learning effort and work habits is part of learning. But I also agree that a zero brings the average down too harshly. Homework in our school is 25% of the grade (mandated), but that doesn't include other things students have to do outside of class, like essays (which falls into the Test/Quiz/Essay category); and the failure to complete one of them often results in the failure of the quarter. I think this should happen, too; I'm preparing students for college and the real world, and they should should that failure to do major projects will result in failure of college courses or losing a job.

That's why a score on a standardized test is much different than the grade in a course.

I'm perplexed by this problem. If the student never hands the assignment in, what point value should they get? This is right up there with BCPSS' impossible to fail grading policy.

I've had a large number of students who never came to class (or came only a handful of times) and averaged 2-10% in the grade. BCPSS gives them a 50%... It's impossible to get lower than a 50% unless the student averages lower than a 50 on the final... how much more of a chance to pass do these kids need? It really hurts to see a student who *did* work hard pull a 65, and see his face when he sees he's only 15 points higher than the kid who did nothing all year.

A final thought, I agree with James & 'Parent'. My class is a lot harder than the HSA, as it should be, so yes failing the class and passing the test is a possibility. But those who fail my class aren't the ones who work hard and study every day... they're the kids that just don't do *anything*... and I already have to give them a 50%, so yes, they'll get a 0 on that project they didn't hand in for 37 days

I teach US Govefrnment, an HSA tested course at a BCPS high school. Let us call things by their right names. The HSA test is at best only a partial test of knowlewdge and not at all a test of learning. The US Government HSA test has, in the past, consisted principally of machine scored, bubble in the oval, multiple stab in the dark questions with a few brief and one or two extended constructed responses; answers that those of us over 30 recognize as short and long essays.

Beginning with the January benchmark exam, brought to us by the same people who produce the HSA, these HSA keyed standardized tests are composed solely of multiple choice questions. Most teachers of government recognize that there are few if any issues in the subject that are adequately taught by teaching to this form of exam. Many, if not all, therefore require significant writing exercises from students on a weekly basis. It permits and requires our students to read and study deeply enough to make integrated and sophisticated connections and demonstrate insight beyond the recitation of disparate facts.

It is a sad and simple truth that many of our students in the city of Baltimore simply refuse, adamantly and obdurately, to write. Students who persistently refuse to do the work required to satisfy reasonable class standards fail the classes because they have chosen that path. I know of no teacher who does not offer every extra minute of help and every additional mode of instruction at their command to help struggling students, including applying a few additional 'outstanding effort' points. However, when the student adamantly refuses to do the work of the course, any grade above failure is mere charity, devaluing the grades earned by students who work through disabilities and deficits.

If the student passes the HSA and not the course, give serious consideration to the notion that both the passing test score and the failing course grade are due to the identical root cause, student effort.