Local school’s new grading system draws backlash from parents
replica Purse Bright blue signs sprouted all over town last week with a message that “Grades matter” and “No grades = No College.” Behind the signs are a group of parents deeply concerned about a new grading system at York High School they say will disadvantage their children in the college admissions process. replica Purse
KnockOff Handbags While that is their primary focus, they are also Fake Handbags concerned about the proficiency based learning curriculum high quality replica handbags adopted for high school freshmen this year and reflected in replica Purse the new grading system. The signs, they say, are their effort to open discussion in the community about what they see as a critically important shift in education instituted with insufficient Handbags Replica input from parents. KnockOff Handbags
replica handbags china “We’re hearing very Wholesale Replica Bags unclear messages from the School Department. Where are they coming from and why? How are they affecting our kids?” said Joe Dimino, parent of two Coastal Ridge Elementary School students. “They say their goal is to do the will of the people. Then they need to be listening to us. Show us how this works. Replica Handbags We want purse replica handbags it to be a cheap replica handbags dialogue, to be factual and transparent.” replica handbags china
Designer Fake Bags “The goal of the signs is to raise awareness,” added parent Designer Replica Bags Beth Dimino. Designer Fake Bags
Replica Handbags The School Department has been mandated to follow a state law that passed in 2012, which requires Wholesale Replica Bags schools to provide a proficiency based diploma to all students by 2021. A proficiency based curriculum involves breaking coursework down into distinct learning “targets” that students have to be proficient in. Replica Handbags
Designer Replica https://www.isbags.ru Bags While other school districts like Kittery and School Administrative Unit Replica Bags 60 (Noble High School) began to Wholesale Replica Bags make the shift immediately after the law passed, York did not. Designer Replica Bags
replica handbags online York began building up to proficiency based curriculum about 18 months ago, hiring a second high school assistant principal to help with the task. The high replica handbags china school held a series of parent information meetings in January 2017 to outline its plans, but parents said they have heard almost nothing since. With a shift this momentous, they said, a lot more feedback is needed. replica handbags online
Replica Bags Wholesale “There’s been a lack of transparency with the whole program and Replica Handbags how it’s been implemented. It’s not well planned, and people can get tripped up,” said Andrew Rodriguez. “It’s leaving parents with Wholesale Replica Bags valid questions and concerns that are not being answered cheap replica handbags by the administration or the teaching staff.” Replica Bags Wholesale
cheap replica handbags Of primary concern to the parents is replica handbags china the grading system adopted by the School Department for this year’s freshmen. The department instituted a proficiency based Fake Handbags grading system of 1 4 with 1 representing not proficient and 4 meaning a student exceeded proficiency. But it doesn’t translate into D, C, B wholesale replica designer handbags and A, say Replica Designer Handbags parents. A grade of 3 is proficient, and they said it is replica handbags online unclear to Designer Replica Bags them how students exceed proficiency or what it means. cheap replica handbags
Fake Designer Bags Their concern is that this reporting system will not translate well when students become seniors and apply to colleges and universities. Joe Dimino said he has a good friend who is an admissions officer at Massachusetts Institute of Technology who told him “they have KnockOff Handbags so many applications that you get 16 seconds for the first pass. PBL transcripts go to pile B. Go Fake Designer Bags to any college and ask what is the criteria. It’s grade point average and class standing.” Fake Designer Bags
Wholesale Replica Bags The cheap replica handbags PBL grading aaa replica designer handbags system “is out of step with nationally recognized norms and to the extreme of what other schools in Maine are doing,” said Julia Glidden, a parent whose Replica Bags son is in private school but who wants him to go to York High School. Wholesale Replica Bags
Handbags Replica Not everyone agrees with the parents’ assessment and there has been a lively online debate in the past week about the efficacy of the PBL diploma. At one of the January 2017 meetings, University of New Hampshire admissions director Robert McGann said he has never seen a Handbags Replica student with a PBL diploma treated Designer Fake Bags differently from other students. Handbags Replica
Replica Designer Handbags Parents say the smart move would have been to keep replica handbags online the traditional 1 100 grading system in addition to the PBL system as schools like Cape Elizabeth High School and Marshwood High School have done. “We have a more moderate implementation model that could be adopted,” said Glidden. “Cape Elizabeth has maintained the GPA and translated it into the PBL model. My question is why hasn’t York done the same?” Replica Designer Handbags
Replica Bags Beyond grading, parents say they have wholesale replica designer handbags issues with the way the proficiency based model has been rolled out Handbags Replica in York. They mention teachers who say they are tied to a computer software system that makes it difficult for students to become proficient in a particular target, that students are not motivated as much as they should be because they are told 3 is proficient, that they are not given homework and other issues. Replica Bags
wholesale replica designer handbags They got some support Monday night from Selectman Todd Frederick. Following comments by parent Julie Edminster during the selectmen’s meeting, he Handbags Replica said he has two children in middle school, which purse replica handbags has adopted the PBL model, and “I can see PBL might not be the best thing for them.” wholesale replica designer handbags
purse replica handbags “They are not as driven as they should be,” he said. Replica Handbags “We have to push them to do homework. They have the attitude, ‘Well, I can retake the test or have extra Replica Designer Handbags days to redo the work.’ I don’t Wholesale Replica Bags think that’s the best life lesson to give students replica handbags china in middle school. Because when you get to high school and then to Replica Designer Handbags college, there’s a winner at some point.” purse replica handbags
aaa replica designer handbags Interim Superintendent of Schools Mark McQuillan said he does not and will not dispute parents’ concerns. aaa replica designer handbags
high quality replica handbags “We lost the trust of cheap replica handbags many people and we want to get it back,” he said. “The important thing I want to convey out is that we are prepared to make some changes. The analysis that I have made with others is that this communications issue is central to why a number of parents have signaled their mistrust of the School Committee and Anita (Bernhardt, the curriculum coordinator). I want to make it clear that we are not about to let this go.” high quality replica handbags
Fake Handbags Bernhardt said she is already looking at making changes in the grading system for next fall. “We can absolutely be reporting in replica handbags online both measures,” she said Fake Handbags.
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