Comments on: Decatur High School’s SAT Scores Slip

By: karass

karass — Sat, 25 Sep 2010 17:40:29 +0000

Actually we got a report card full of conventional grades but an explanatory flyer explaining the 1-7 scoring system. Plus a chart showing how the final 1-7 grade can be converted to conventional percentages for the college application purposes. Very confusing. I think it’s because the Parent Portal software is not user friendly for teachers and hasn’t been uniformly updated for all of them. So right now, grades are truly a Tower of Babel. When one sees an 85%, one doesn’t know if it’s a conventional average of 85% which predicts that the final score will probably be around a B if the child continues to perform at the same level. Or if it’s really a 5 in the 1-7 system that marks progress, not an average, so it means that the child has mastered 5/7 of the material so far but still might reach 7/7 by the end of the course, if I’m understanding the new system correctly. And then that 5 got converted to a 85% because the software doesn’t know that it’s not the end of the course yet.

Sigh. I’m not saying there isn’t value in the new system of measuring performance but I hope it’s worth all this confusion. Just like there’s value to having a common alphabet, there’s a value to using a grading system that is well-understood and easy to use.

By: sarahp

sarahp — Sat, 25 Sep 2010 16:51:39 +0000

Well, no one will be getting grades anymore at CSD so parents, particularly less educated parents, will have no idea whatsoever how their children are actually doing in school. As a result, I would not expect any improvement in the near future.

By: karass

karass — Fri, 24 Sep 2010 20:59:51 +0000

Students in system charters still have to pass CRCT exams and end of course exams so CSD has to teach the state curriculum to some degree to prepare the kids for the tests they have to pass.

By: LocalMom

LocalMom — Fri, 24 Sep 2010 18:37:00 +0000

Hmmm, I am currently participitaing in CSD 101 (to learn more about the schools), so hopefully I’ll get some questions answered there. I am a bit confused about the post that said “As for the new state imposed math program–it is the worst”. For some reason I thought that because the schools are charter schools the state can no longer impose programs.

On another thought about the CSD101 course, I got back home last night and the first thing I said to my husband was “I hope there are no issues with math at these CSD schools, because at least 4 times in the 2 hour session one of the organizer/educator type people made a joke about the awfulness of math etc, and when that kind of thing is just ingrained in the psyche of people across the system you are really at risk of impacting the whole math experience in CSD. ” Oh dear.

By: wooden_spoon

wooden_spoon — Fri, 24 Sep 2010 14:58:49 +0000

I agree too. Tired of excuses. Get the scores and rankings up. Isn’t there some goal to be “one of the 10 best systems in the country?” Looks like a long way to go.