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Baltimore to ban grades lower than 50%?

Graham2001

Graduate Poster
Joined
Aug 19, 2006
Messages
1,744
The latest nonsense on education courtesy of FauxNews claims that the Baltimore school system has re-orientated from Equality of Opportunity (Everyone has a chance to learn) to Equality of Outcome (Everybody passes):

The school system also now recommends that teachers do not factor homework into overall grades or give students marks below 50%.

...

“The power of the zero is extremely powerful and frankly hurtful to a student," Roberts said. "If a child gets a zero on an assignment, it's that much harder for the child to come out of.”

http://foxbaltimore.com/news/local/...more-co-public-schools-revises-grading-system

I'm not based in the US so if anyone can nip this claim in the bud (With evidence.) feel free.
 
The latest nonsense on education courtesy of FauxNews claims that the Baltimore school system has re-orientated from Equality of Opportunity (Everyone has a chance to learn) to Equality of Outcome (Everybody passes):



http://foxbaltimore.com/news/local/...more-co-public-schools-revises-grading-system

I'm not based in the US so if anyone can nip this claim in the bud (With evidence.) feel free.

Whether true or not, it sounds like a good idea. It's best just to reasonably curve all grades, and (assuming there are fractional grades) there is no difference between mapping onto 0-100 with 20 being passing and 50-100 with 60 being a pass. The normal grade school system of compressing the grades into the top end but leaving all that room at the bottom means that it is nearly impossible to make up for a zero. It exceptionally punishes one-time mistakes.
 
The latest nonsense on education courtesy of FauxNews claims that the Baltimore school system has re-orientated from Equality of Opportunity (Everyone has a chance to learn) to Equality of Outcome (Everybody passes):



http://foxbaltimore.com/news/local/...more-co-public-schools-revises-grading-system

I'm not based in the US so if anyone can nip this claim in the bud (With evidence.) feel free.

Nip what in the bud? Are you saying the local Fox affiliate station has manufactured the quotes you cite?

Are you saying that the district's actual policy is different than what was quoted?

Do you think Baltimore should not adopt the student assessment policy described in the story?
 
The latest nonsense on education courtesy of FauxNews claims that the Baltimore school system has re-orientated from Equality of Opportunity (Everyone has a chance to learn) to Equality of Outcome (Everybody passes):
It doesn't actually claim that.

http://foxbaltimore.com/news/local/...more-co-public-schools-revises-grading-system

I'm not based in the US so if anyone can nip this claim in the bud (With evidence.) feel free.
That piece is easy to misunderstand as a side-effect of its brevity but I don't care to guess if there is intention behind that.
 
This is an ongoing controversy. The point being that a kid getting 17 percent for totally slacking off the first quarter will figure out that there is no way to work his/her way up to a passing grade for the semester and will continue to slack off. (Many can do the math when it's about them.)

I see both sides. Zero for no work seems fair, but when dealing with children (which includes many/most high school students) you want to give them an incentive to keep trying.
 
Depends on the circumstances.

My son managed to get all 95%+ on his exams two years ago. He failed each and every class because homework and participation are 60% of the final grade. He got a special deal to take his four required classes in summer school, which is generally a no-no as more than two is very difficult. He got a pass on that because of his high exam grades. I thought he should've been held back, but instead he passed with 95%+ in everything.

Last year, he managed to get every class up to at least 75% for participation and homework. Of course, he did fine on the exams. I would say that the zeros made him a better student. Now, if and when he goes to college, he knows what to expect.

Personally, I didn't see the point in delivering a zero, it should suffice to say that "you failed everything up to now. If you want to pass, show me what you got." Then demand that the student start making up missed work. If no progress, well, then you have proof of less than zero attitude and that should follow the student for the rest of the year.

I don't have a problem with not applying a zero, but it is entirely the opposite of having a grade applied to general curriculum. I think the classroom teacher should have the final say on that, not some district wide policy. There are times when a teacher should be delivering a head kick and no one should be stopping that process.
 
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The latest nonsense on education courtesy of FauxNews claims that the Baltimore school system has re-orientated from Equality of Opportunity (Everyone has a chance to learn) to Equality of Outcome (Everybody passes):



http://foxbaltimore.com/news/local/...more-co-public-schools-revises-grading-system

I'm not based in the US so if anyone can nip this claim in the bud (With evidence.) feel free.
.
This was used on some schools in the US including one in Orange County.
It took several years to get it stopped. Apparently some teachers notified their Alma Maters and other colleges/universities of the practice. I assume you can see where that would tend to lead!!!! Since Baltimoie is more blatant about letting the world know of this plan...................
 
This is an ongoing controversy. The point being that a kid getting 17 percent for totally slacking off the first quarter will figure out that there is no way to work his/her way up to a passing grade for the semester and will continue to slack off. (Many can do the math when it's about them.)

I see both sides. Zero for no work seems fair, but when dealing with children (which includes many/most high school students) you want to give them an incentive to keep trying.

The NEA thing was a fun read!!!!! Thanks!!!!!!:):D:D:thumbsup:
 
This is an ongoing controversy. The point being that a kid getting 17 percent for totally slacking off the first quarter will figure out that there is no way to work his/her way up to a passing grade for the semester and will continue to slack off. (Many can do the math when it's about them.)

I see both sides. Zero for no work seems fair, but when dealing with children (which includes many/most high school students) you want to give them an incentive to keep trying.

Theoretically, the incentive might ought be having the chance to make up/improve the grade in the next three quarters.:)
 
Theoretically, the incentive might ought be having the chance to make up/improve the grade in the next three quarters.:)

Yes, if you can un-flunk them retroactively, though that is added work for the teacher.

In the NEA piece & comments some said we're not preparing kids for work/college if we take late work or give them 50 percent for writing their name on a worksheet, but I'm getting awfully cynical about that. So what if they're not prepared - that will no longer be my problem :D.

So sometimes I look at lazy kids and think, whatever. Maybe they'll get motivated once they realize how screwed they are. But no, they're children, it's the teachers job to somehow motivate them.

Typical exchange:
Them: "Miss, I don't get this."
Me: "Pick up a pencil."
"But Miss, I don't get this."
"OK, it asks you "What is 3x + 1 if x=2." Just replace the x with "2" and work the problem."
Them: "Miss, you're confusing me.":rolleyes:

Which will of course come back on the teacher if an administrator hears.
 
Depends on the circumstances.

My son managed to get all 95%+ on his exams two years ago. He failed each and every class because homework and participation are 60% of the final grade. He got a special deal to take his four required classes in summer school, which is generally a no-no as more than two is very difficult. He got a pass on that because of his high exam grades. I thought he should've been held back, but instead he passed with 95%+ in everything.

Last year, he managed to get every class up to at least 75% for participation and homework. Of course, he did fine on the exams. I would say that the zeros made him a better student. Now, if and when he goes to college, he knows what to expect.

In most university courses other than labs, homework will not count toward the grade or will be 10 or 20 percent, and participation will count for zero. Also, in serious courses there will probably not be the "zero" penalty we are talking about here. In most of my engineering courses, test averages were in the low 50s to low 60s (if not, the profs would make the exams easier or more difficult to achieve that target). Thus, with a 20 on one exam and a 95 on the next, you could get to the average grade, probably a B or B- (these were B or better students coming into the program). Also, many courses would have a grading policy of averaging the better score of two exams with the (comprehensive) final exam, so there was no penalty at all for the first or second zero.
 
In most university courses other than labs, homework will not count toward the grade or will be 10 or 20 percent, and participation will count for zero. Also, in serious courses there will probably not be the "zero" penalty we are talking about here. In most of my engineering courses, test averages were in the low 50s to low 60s (if not, the profs would make the exams easier or more difficult to achieve that target). Thus, with a 20 on one exam and a 95 on the next, you could get to the average grade, probably a B or B- (these were B or better students coming into the program). Also, many courses would have a grading policy of averaging the better score of two exams with the (comprehensive) final exam, so there was no penalty at all for the first or second zero.

I seem to have the wrong professors.

One of them said she did not offer extra credit if you do poorly.

One of the things that made me laugh about the class was she had a list of acceptable excuses and unacceptable excuses obviously written by students along with her response. It was all very reasonable until I read the last item (below):

Student - My friend, spouse, mother, etc. attempted suicide the day before the exam. May I be excused?
Professor - Suicide is very serious, but you are not excused because you were not a good friend, spouse, family member, etc. Please see me if you do not understand.

Judging by the shear number of permutations student suicide excuses, she simply couldn't believe them. Some of them were extremely poorly written.

When my wife was seriously sick, she opened all of her assignment so I could see them long in advance and do them early if I wanted. She also suggested an incomplete with a free pass to attend in the next semester, no matter her class size. She downplayed failure or withdrawing as options. I ended up with a B+ and only missed one assignment. The missed assignment had nothing to do with my wife's illness, it happened to have a nearly identical name and description to another professor's assignment and I honestly missed it. She didn't let me make it up.
 
I think the correct answer to the issue is standardizing a system for reducing the weight of failed work. The thing is a lot of classes I had in college, and several of the classes I had in high school had such systems, but not all of them. The most common way my high school teachers dealt with this was by having the midterm/final exam retro-dict to some degree your score on earlier exams. Since the these exams typically covered everything to that point in the course, the teacher knew if you did well on the questions covering the same material as some other exam you failed, you successfully learned the material and there was no reason to fully weight that failed grade (after all, the purpose of passing the exam is to show you learned the material).

In college I don't recall encountering that system as much, but there were also far fewer cumulative exams. The typical system I found in college was professors would either curve the grades, or drop the lowest score of each student before weighting for the final grade.
 
I think the correct answer to the issue is standardizing a system for reducing the weight of failed work. The thing is a lot of classes I had in college, and several of the classes I had in high school had such systems, but not all of them. The most common way my high school teachers dealt with this was by having the midterm/final exam retro-dict to some degree your score on earlier exams. Since the these exams typically covered everything to that point in the course, the teacher knew if you did well on the questions covering the same material as some other exam you failed, you successfully learned the material and there was no reason to fully weight that failed grade (after all, the purpose of passing the exam is to show you learned the material).

In college I don't recall encountering that system as much, but there were also far fewer cumulative exams. The typical system I found in college was professors would either curve the grades, or drop the lowest score of each student before weighting for the final grade.

Yes, this is serving the same purpose as dropping the lowest score, or reduce the weight of coursework vs final exam if the final was higher. Which is extremely common in the university setting, I don't see why it's triggering panic when applied to grade school. Aren't we supposed to be preparing them for university?
 
In college I don't recall encountering that system as much, but there were also far fewer cumulative exams.

I went to quarter schools for both undergrad and graduate degrees. Like most they have both now changed to semesters. Then it was very common to have two exams and a comprehensive final, a week or two after the last exam. With fifteen week courses I think this is less common because of the longer time between first exam and final.
 
Yes, this is serving the same purpose as dropping the lowest score, or reduce the weight of coursework vs final exam if the final was higher. Which is extremely common in the university setting, I don't see why it's triggering panic when applied to grade school. Aren't we supposed to be preparing them for university?

Right, and in my experience the more difficult the coursework, the stronger the attitude is that the important thing is to master the material. In some intro humanities course they might count homework, mark you down for missing class, and put you in an inescapable hole if you fail one exam, but those things rarely happen in advanced math, physics, or engineering courses.
 
I went to quarter schools for both undergrad and graduate degrees. Like most they have both now changed to semesters. Then it was very common to have two exams and a comprehensive final, a week or two after the last exam. With fifteen week courses I think this is less common because of the longer time between first exam and final.

Hadn't really considered that, but yeah I went to a school with 2 15 week semesters. Actually my freshman year we were on quarters, switching to semesters going into my sophomore year. I'll tell you what, that was a real treat. :rolleyes: You never want to be a current student when a university changes systems like that, figuring out the class equivalencies was a nightmare (of course they offloaded the work of figuring it out onto us students...) I can't imagine how much worse it was for the 3rd years, or the 4th out of 5 years :)
 
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You never want to be a current student when a university changes systems like that, figuring out the class equivalencies was a nightmare (of course they offloaded the work of figuring it out onto us students...) I can't imagine how much worse it was for the 3rd years, or the 4th out of 5 years :)

Yeah, I just barely missed the switch both times.
 
.
This was used on some schools in the US including one in Orange County.
It took several years to get it stopped. Apparently some teachers notified their Alma Maters and other colleges/universities of the practice. I assume you can see where that would tend to lead!!!! Since Baltimoie is more blatant about letting the world know of this plan...................

Also, I warned my students that colleges/universities knowing that the practice was in place at our school would affect even the good students who did their work, paid attention and studied since any c/u knowing it was done could not be sure any student truly earned their grade -or could under the normal grading system. In other words, it had the potential to bring down the reputation/trust in the school(s) using the policy and thus disadvantaging it's good students in college placement.
 
Also, I warned my students that colleges/universities knowing that the practice was in place at our school would affect even the good students who did their work, paid attention and studied since any c/u knowing it was done could not be sure any student truly earned their grade -or could under the normal grading system. In other words, it had the potential to bring down the reputation/trust in the school(s) using the policy and thus disadvantaging it's good students in college placement.

If the resulting spread of grades was the same, grades under this system should better predict success in college. It would knock down mediocre but consistent students and elevate the bright but less consistent or more distracted ones. The latter type generally "settle down" at some point in college and perform well.

Of course the actual result may include overall grade inflation.
 
I actually know the reason for this and it has nothing to do with 0's being hurtful to the student. The reason you don't get 0's on an assignment, unless the teacher is gunning for you, is that school is expensive and its very hard to battle back from 0 to get a passing grade if you fall behind a few weeks. However it's 50% and a couple A paper's gets you back into passing territory. I have no idea why people would be against this for, as you know school is expensive, and taking a class twice costs twice as much and takes twice as long, also, you really don't learn twice as much by taking the same class twice either. So its a dollars and cents thing. As far as the are they prepared thing, either you are prepared to work or you are not. I really don't think it's fair to teachers to lay it on the grades thing. I know plenty of people who could whip out a 63 page powerpoint with graphics in 45 minutes who probably couldn't handle a job. Just let people succeed. The people who want to work will work regardless of what grade they got in a particular class they don't remember anymore anyway.
 
I actually know the reason for this and it has nothing to do with 0's being hurtful to the student. The reason you don't get 0's on an assignment, unless the teacher is gunning for you, is that school is expensive and its very hard to battle back from 0 to get a passing grade if you fall behind a few weeks. However it's 50% and a couple A paper's gets you back into passing territory. I have no idea why people would be against this for, as you know school is expensive, and taking a class twice costs twice as much and takes twice as long, also, you really don't learn twice as much by taking the same class twice either. So its a dollars and cents thing. As far as the are they prepared thing, either you are prepared to work or you are not. I really don't think it's fair to teachers to lay it on the grades thing. I know plenty of people who could whip out a 63 page powerpoint with graphics in 45 minutes who probably couldn't handle a job. Just let people succeed. The people who want to work will work regardless of what grade they got in a particular class they don't remember anymore anyway.

This would be relevant if we were talking about college rather than publicly-funded elementary schools.
 
I actually know the reason for this and it has nothing to do with 0's being hurtful to the student. The reason you don't get 0's on an assignment, unless the teacher is gunning for you, is that school is expensive and its very hard to battle back from 0 to get a passing grade if you fall behind a few weeks. However it's 50% and a couple A paper's gets you back into passing territory. I have no idea why people would be against this for, as you know school is expensive, and taking a class twice costs twice as much and takes twice as long, also, you really don't learn twice as much by taking the same class twice either. So its a dollars and cents thing. As far as the are they prepared thing, either you are prepared to work or you are not. I really don't think it's fair to teachers to lay it on the grades thing. I know plenty of people who could whip out a 63 page powerpoint with graphics in 45 minutes who probably couldn't handle a job. Just let people succeed. The people who want to work will work regardless of what grade they got in a particular class they don't remember anymore anyway.
No argument on that in college - though when I was going to college (all three times - BS Bio/Chem, MLS and over half of an MBA -(got bored and had a good job anyway!!!) had no such problem.

High school students are not paying (unless private schooled) and, frankly if they are a)disruptive and b) not doing the work, cutting slack does not go over well - not to mention it means otherwise unnecessary work getting with the parents so they can assist in helping/keeping on track the student when we could be concentrating on the teaching/working with the students who want to or are at least willing to work on learning.
 
If the resulting spread of grades was the same, grades under this system should better predict success in college. It would knock down mediocre but consistent students and elevate the bright but less consistent or more distracted ones. The latter type generally "settle down" at some point in college and perform well. [ This is quoted from Modified (post 23 above). The quote thing messed up during the transfer. No idea how/why. ]

Of course the actual result may include overall grade inflation. Our county, to eliminate that problem, required that all tests for the same class had to be used by all teachers of that class and the tests had to make up 50-60% of the student's grade. There were other major requirements for what the other grades in the class had to cover and how they had to cover them (every class a notebook, same things in every notebook for any given class, notebooks counted 20% (slight variability depending on subject and level and all notes required to be in Cornell format.) There is more,
 
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I look at lazy kids and think, whatever. Maybe they'll get motivated once they realize how screwed they are. But no, they're children, it's the teachers job to somehow motivate them.

Typical exchange:
Them: "Miss, I don't get this."
Me: "Pick up a pencil."
"But Miss, I don't get this."
"OK, it asks you "What is 3x + 1 if x=2." Just replace the x with "2" and work the problem."
Them: "Miss, you're confusing me.":rolleyes:
Teacher thinks 'whatever' and half-heartedly attempts to motivate kids is proof that they are lazy?
 
Oh, the tests were scan sheeted so no one could fake the grades other than by physically changing student answers. Which was a wonderful way to get oneself fired tout suite!!!
 
Teacher thinks 'whatever' and half-heartedly attempts to motivate kids is proof that they are lazy?
Just curious and hoping I am misinterpreting your meaning but...............
are you saying teacher does not want to motivate the child or that the child is totally unmotivated to do anything that requires performing the difficult act of thinking. Putting this the best and nicest way I can, very few teachers have dramatics training or real psychological training and if thy did they would not likely be teaching. If it helps, I was that kind of student - no punishments of school or home motivated me to learn anything I was not interested in and/or saw was of no use for me. The last proof of that was when my mother found out from the teacher in 4th grade that the things I chose to do were at 7th + level , my IQ was very high (Mom was told but asked not to tell me), and I clearly was only doing what I liked to. In 5th grade, I mostly read the entire World Book and a number of Heinlein juveniles,some 25 Horatio Algers and all the Mythology in the school library. And I passed fine

Some kids who do not cooperate and do the schoolwork are learning, others are not.........The teachers will tend to have different problems And over the years I did manage to affect positively the bad habits of some of them.
My advantage in teaching was knowing the difference.
 
Teacher thinks 'whatever' and half-heartedly attempts to motivate kids is proof that they are lazy?

I know that sounds bad, but I hope you can tell from the context that I correct myself in the same post. The school where I work (as a paraprofessional, not lead classroom teacher) has quite a few students (usually boys) who will literally do nothing without someone standing over them. I can't just say, "It's their choice to fail." I have to stick by them, redirect them repeatedly and document the effort.

A lot are freshmen and don't seem to always get that if they flunk the class they have to take it over again. They are used to middle school, which doesn't have a credit system - you're either held back or promoted. There are older students who are taking Algebra 1 for the third time. If there was a magic wand for making them work someone would have waved it already. This problem resolves itself somewhat as they mature and realize they don't want to be in high school when they're 21.

At some point the teacher or aide has to apportion some effort to students who are actually trying to do the work. Meanwhile I document the efforts made to get the unmotivated students on task. It's great to get to know individual students well enough to figure out why they are unmotivated and come up with strategies to engage them, but it's not easy.
 
This would be relevant if we were talking about college rather than publicly-funded elementary schools.

I think the principle is the same though the stakes are much higher than in college. A student who gets too far behind in public school has to repeat the whole year which takes A WHOLE YEAR, the student is probably not going to have twice the knowledge for the time investment, as opposed to allowing them to save the semester. There is also the spectre of what happens when the student turns 18. Do we really want 18-19 year olds in high school? Might be better to give them a chance don't you think? Mr. Trump what is your opinion?
 
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I think the principle is the same though the stakes are much higher than in college. A student who gets too far behind in public school has to repeat the whole year which takes A WHOLE YEAR, the student is probably not going to have twice the knowledge for the time investment, as opposed to allowing them to save the semester. There is also the spectre of what happens when the student turns 18. Do we really want 18-19 year olds in high school? Might be better to give them a chance don't you think? Mr. Trump what is your opinion?

Those are routine ages in many high schools. K-12 = 13 years. If they start kindergarten at 5, they'll be 18 when they graduate. Held back, they could easily be 19 as seniors. I had a 20-year-old student pregnant with her second child. They can stay in high school until they're 22. The difference is that at 18 they are adults, so their participation in high school is completely voluntary.

You don't have to take a whole year of high school over again if you fail in one class, at least in my state. I've never heard of that being the case.

I know this wasn't aimed at me, but as for second chances, once they turn 18, or sometimes earlier, they can take the GED. I don't get the Trump reference - did he flunk something?

Back on topic: What to do about the zeros? Is there a more rational grading scale? The link I posted above includes comments from teachers who float alternative schemes. The first school I worked at had a flunk rate for freshman algebra higher than 50 percent. The grade was 90 percent tests and quizzes. Where I am now, a huge part of their grade is worksheets and they usually have an opportunity to work on those in class. If they just copied someone else's work they'd be close to a passing grade. But many don't even make the effort to do that much.

Overall they are dreadful test-takers. Students who have passed Algebra 2 do not know how to turn "seven less than a number is nine" into an equation.
 
Those are routine ages in many high schools. K-12 = 13 years. If they start kindergarten at 5, they'll be 18 when they graduate. Held back, they could easily be 19 as seniors. I had a 20-year-old student pregnant with her second child. They can stay in high school until they're 22. The difference is that at 18 they are adults, so their participation in high school is completely voluntary.

You don't have to take a whole year of high school over again if you fail in one class, at least in my state. I've never heard of that being the case.

I know this wasn't aimed at me, but as for second chances, once they turn 18, or sometimes earlier, they can take the GED. I don't get the Trump reference - did he flunk something?

Back on topic: What to do about the zeros? Is there a more rational grading scale? The link I posted above includes comments from teachers who float alternative schemes. The first school I worked at had a flunk rate for freshman algebra higher than 50 percent. The grade was 90 percent tests and quizzes. Where I am now, a huge part of their grade is worksheets and they usually have an opportunity to work on those in class. If they just copied someone else's work they'd be close to a passing grade. But many don't even make the effort to do that much.

Overall they are dreadful test-takers. Students who have passed Algebra 2 do not know how to turn "seven less than a number is nine" into an equation.
For our special students, X-7= 9 (or, X=9+7)............
 
For our special students, X-7= 9 (or, X=9+7)............

I know, you could use a calculator but you lose all the magic of it all when you do that. Maybe I will wait for the digital tutor to come out. Make my dtutor Hawkins
 
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I'm all about getting rid of the homework requirement. I don't remember having so much homework in middle and high school but it wasn't unusual for my children to have 2-3 hours of it after school. That cuts into any kind of recreation or family time, I despised it, and complained many times to the school board about the distortion of values by making "work" seem like THE most important aspect of your life. I think it is a cultural thing here in the U.S.
 
I'm all about getting rid of the homework requirement. I don't remember having so much homework in middle and high school but it wasn't unusual for my children to have 2-3 hours of it after school. That cuts into any kind of recreation or family time, I despised it, and complained many times to the school board about the distortion of values by making "work" seem like THE most important aspect of your life. I think it is a cultural thing here in the U.S.

Depends...I suspect that unless your kids were in AP classes most of the homework was Language Arts and Math - and that is because those are the most tested and the ones most likely to get teachers ousted/transferred/poorly evaluated especially if the AP (the other AP - Assistant Principal) doesn't like them or wants someone else he/she has enjoyed working with in another school to replace him/her (no, I was never in that situation and is why I avoided (barely) certification in LA or M On top of my 5*)- that the teacher of those are under the most pressure to have the students do well on those tests. If the students they are given do not do well, the teacher can at least document both the lessons and the graded homework they gave and show the students tested at the best level they could under the circumstances - when they had to defend themselves from the Admins.

Even I kept such records and helpful notes though never needing them.

Media k-12, Science K-12, Chemistry, Biology,Physics (Also taught TV/Media as you could could teach same with the MLS and I had mad skilz in it!!!
 
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Media k-12, Science K-12, Chemistry, Biology,Physics (Also taught TV/Media as you could could teach same with the MLS and I had mad skilz in it!!!

At first I wanted to teach ESL through making media ... I'd still like to do that because these students have some amazing stories. They want Donald Trump to know they're not all rapists.
 
Depends...I suspect that unless your kids were in AP classes most of the homework was Language Arts and Math - and that is because those are the most tested and the ones most likely to get teachers ousted/transferred/poorly evaluated especially if the AP (the other AP - Assistant Principal) doesn't like them or wants someone else he/she has enjoyed working with in another school to replace him/her (no, I was never in that situation and is why I avoided (barely) certification in LA or M On top of my 5*)- that the teacher of those are under the most pressure to have the students do well on those tests. If the students they are given do not do well, the teacher can at least document both the lessons and the graded homework they gave and show the students tested at the best level they could under the circumstances - when they had to defend themselves from the Admins.

Even I kept such records and helpful notes though never needing them.

Media k-12, Science K-12, Chemistry, Biology,Physics (Also taught TV/Media as you could could teach same with the MLS and I had mad skilz in it!!!

They offered AP classes to my children but I wasn't a fan and encouraged them not to take them unless they wanted to since no distinction was made between the AP students and the students in the regular curriculum when it came time to decide who got scholarships based on GPA. There was no distinction made for who was valedictorian based on curriculum, you could take the most basic classes and get a 4.0 but the kid taking physics,chemistry, and trig with a 3.9 GPA got beat out by the kids taking easier classes. I still get mad about it to this day when I think about it and my kids are 27 and 32. Either way, it is not right to interfere with the children's lives just so teaching professionals can justify their jobs. I know it sounds harsh but that's the way I feel about it being on the other end of things.
 
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