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Cindy, I think this is something that would show that either OBE or CBE is working ... where they are challenging themselves to take that harder class ... it's something to think about anyway ... and then it would be a better way to incorporate the pilot grading program ... I'm not saying every kids should take an advanced or honors or AP course ... I'm simply thinking out loud that it would be an interesting study and perhaps a better way to measure the test/retest/retake pilot program.

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Cindy, just an FYI, there's been some additional posts at:

http://mathwizards.wordpress.com/2009/11/12/rules-set-for-4-billion-race-to-top-contest/

regarding the Common Core Standards and the Race to the Top Funds.

One thing that surprised some of us was that the development team changed. There is a new development team who will be setting the grade level expectations.

One thing I did note in the article above was, the glaring absence of local control.

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Thank you MOMwithAbrain. I have been without internet so I have been delayed in responding. I have read some of the article posted on your website and the ones on standards have been very interesting and helpful. Thank you. I will take a look at these too.

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You're quite welcome!! I will just add this, http://mathwizards.wordpress.com/2009/11/14/who-needs-mathematicians-for-math-anyway/
This article has to be one of the best I've read in a long time! Sandra Stotsky is another good source for really getting a good idea of where the problems lie and how to address them.

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This was reported in Education Reporter:


5, 4, 3, 2, 1: New Grading Scale to Measure Student 'Competencies'

A new grading scale at Concord High School in New Hampshire is just one result of a trend affecting students across New England and the nation. The New Hampshire Department of Education has overseen a state-sponsored effort to move toward "competencies," which proponents have described as having more to do with "what students can do," as opposed to "what students know." This approach to education attempts to promote and measure such areas as "ability to get along with others" and "self-management," which are two of the ten competencies New Hampshire officials want students to master. So far, at least 30 New Hampshire schools have signed up as Competency-Based Assessment Schools.
The competency-based assessment movement affects other states, as well. The New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC), a regional accrediting association, has urged New England schools to move away from traditional academic standards and toward competencies. New Hampshire's state-sponsored effort is just one response to NEASC's promotion of this educational trend.

As part of the shift from "standards" to "competencies," some New Hampshire schools are replacing the traditional A-to-F grading scale with a 5-to-1 scale. Teachers at Concord High School, for example, will mark students' report cards with grades ranging from 1, for students who show no grasp of a given competency, to 5, for students who have mastered it. The school will continue to use a 100-point scale on students' transcripts, used primarily for college admissions. For conversions between the two systems, a 5 counts as 100, a 4 as 92, a 3 as 80, a 2 as 65, and a 1 as 50.

"I'm really excited about the competencies," said Tom Crumrine, director of assessment at Concord High. Crumrine spoke to a group of concerned parents at a meeting in October. "The shift is intended to strip grades of association with judgment, so they become a tool of communication," the local paper summarized Crumrine's explanation of the 1-to-5 scale. (Concord Monitor, 10-19-09)

Jonathan Flower, facilitator of the school's guidance department, was also enthusiastic about the new grading scale. "It's not just a change in grading but a change in the philosophy of grading," said Flower. "It's really trying to get away from value judging a student and getting toward where a student is at that time."

Flower and Crumrine appear to be saying that students who struggle with class material will be less likely to give up if they initially receive a grade of "1" rather than a grade of "F." Decades of research on self-esteem, however, have failed to indicate that teachers can encourage students to learn anything simply by using euphemisms to tell them that they haven't learned it yet. Concord High School students, presumably, are smart enough to know that an A by any other name still represents mastery of the material — unless, of course, the trend away from traditional subjects and standards goes so far that there is no tangible material left to master.


http://www.eagleforum.org/educate/2009/dec09/grading-scale.html

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Very interesting ... appreciate it ... however I had to chuckle at

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The students may pass the competencies but still lack critical academic knowledge.

For instance, Bedford requires students to pass competencies. If they do not pass, they must attend summer school.

The NECAP science scores were released a few months ago and about half of the 8th and 11th graders were NOT proficient in science.

The concern from the critics is, the focus is not on academic knowledge but behavioral skills.

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Here is an article from the Concord Monitor. The comments are interesting....................
http://www.concordmonitor.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20091018/FRONTPAGE/910180385#comment-98909

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God Morning All,

First, I hope all of you are enjoying your holiday season....I hope it is as safe as it is positive.

To interject, The Competency Based system and the grading pilot remain two separate things.

At Campbell, written in the syllabus that is handed out to all students at the beginning of the semester, (and more often than not, requiring a parent signature that shows that the parent has read through the document), the competencies are listed and defined.

In this list of competencies, (and I am speaking of mine in this instance since those are the ones that I know throughout...) KNOWLEDGE is still accounted for and graded at a high level. I can say that in the 4+ years I have been teaching, and the classes that I have observed, the knowledge is the first to be taught, due to the fact that without it, you cannot have the higher order thinking that we require in another competency, (research, Analysis, Evaluation, etc....) since if the knowledge is incorrect, tan the other processes cannot be correct.

As per this "new" use of a grading scale, it is not new at all, nor is it specialized to Litchfield, or even the state of New Hampshire. Educational institutions alone with businesses that deal in both the public and private sector have utilized rubric based systems sine they started to statistically analyze efficiency. IT IS NOT a breakdown in the grading system, due to the fact that to earn a "4" or a "3", there are a certain criteria that are set before production happens.

Understanding that we STILL NEED a STRONG KNOWLEDGE BASE, we also need our students to leave their secondary education with the ability to apply that knowledge and use it.

I think if you would reverse the roles, you would never, ever say something along the lines of, "Show our students how to look up information so they do not need to remember it and then they can apply it.....cause that is what is important..."

Instead, we need to find a balance, or a middle ground, so-to-speak, in order for the students to have a strong knowledge base AND be able to use that knowledge to progress.

In closing, I can say that I HAVE NEVER GRADED or NEVER SEEN OTHERS GRADE in a way that rewards or punishes based upon behavior. I want to know what the student knows and is able to do....not how they act while they are doing it.....in retrospect, the grading that IS based upon behavior more resembles the old ways of grading, where a student was graded because they FINISHED 100 problems, even though they could prove mastery after 20..... This mentality, in my opinion is the one that holds students back, since they are not challenged to move to the next step, but instead, stick with the status quo....marinating in mundane replication of the same old thing.

This is not to say that practice is not needed, instead, should only be needed until a student can prove they understand and have the ability to apply that knowledge or skill.

I apologize in the long, drawn out post since I am on my way out the door. I do though, appreciate the fact that this conversation is ongoing and I look forward to the dialog.

Sincerely,
Justin Ballou

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Also, to follow up....

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Thank you Justin, I think it always helps to hear all perspectives on these issues.
Looking at the number of "proficient" 11th graders in Litchfield for 2009, it shows that 29% were proficient.
In Bedford, it shows that 43% were considered "proficient" on the NECAP science assessment.

I think that's worth noting.

Here is my concern as a NH parent, does the competency based system or the new grading system help students academically? I truly do not see where a change in the grading system does anything to help students academically. I'm also not convinced at this point, the Competency Based system addresses the need to improve academic knowledge.

This is what many of us are worried about. All of this time and effort spent on programs and changes that do not deal with this glaring problem of students not meeting proficiency. These are minimum standards. What would proficiency show if NH raised the bar to a higher level like Mass. and Ca.

The NAEP (National) assessment showed about half of our students are proficient in Math. The NECAP (State) showed about 3/4's were proficient. That's about a 25% discrepency.

We know that the State Standards are poor to begin with. (Per Fordham Institute) Now we see that the NECAP scores are actually "inflated" giving parents the false impression that about 25% of our students are proficient when they look at those NECAP scores.

These are serious concerns that need to be adressed by our State Dept of Education. Instead they are focusing on Competencies and a grading system that I'm not convinced improves the real quality in the classroom.

In NY, Diane Ravitch called on resignations when they showed about 80% proficiency on the state exam and about 35% proficiency on the National exam. That's about a 50% discrepency in the numbers being reported as proficient.

From my perspective, I'd like to see the state do what Mass. did and improve the quality of academics.

Below is an article that I think really addresses the problem in education and how to fix it.

Again, I do appreciate all of your efforts in the classroom. I think from the Administrator and State level, there is so much that they are missing right now.

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Worcester Telegram & Gazette

Embrace reform that works
AS I SEE IT
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By Sol Stern

At his Senate confirmation hearing in February, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan summarized the Obama administration's approach to education reform: "We must build upon what works. We must stop doing what doesn't work."

Duncan has launched a $4.3 billion federal "Race to the Top" initiative that encourages states to implement various accountability reforms. One proven example of reform is Massachusetts' embrace of the ideas of educational standards expert E. D. Hirsch Jr.

Landmark 1993 Massachusetts reform legislation established knowledge-based standards for each grade and a rigorous testing system linked to those academic standards for both teachers and students. If the Obama administration wants to have a positive impact on American education, it should embrace Hirsch's ideas and urge other states to do the same.

As a University of Virginia English professor emeritus, Hirsch is firmly grounded in the liberal arts. Though UVA's admissions standards are as competitive as the Ivy League's, he recognized that the poor reading and writing skills of many incoming students would limit their growth.

Hirsch was convinced that the problem was inadequate background knowledge and that it began in the early grades. His insight that imparting such core academic knowledge was even more important than teaching the "how to" skills defied conventional wisdom in the nation's education schools.

Despite decades of criticism from education school faculties, Hirsch contended that children from poor and illiterate homes remain poor and illiterate chiefly because teachers are compelled to teach a fragmented curriculum based on faulty educational theories. Like our nation's Founding Fathers, Hirsch believes children need to learn a coherent, shared body of knowledge for democracy to work. Thomas Jefferson even proposed a common curriculum.

By the 1980s, progressive education had absorbed trendy new doctrines of multiculturalism and dogmas that objective facts don't exist. Hirsch demonstrated the destructiveness of these instructional approaches. The idea that schools could starve children of factual knowledge, yet somehow encourage them to be "critical thinkers" and teach them to "learn how to learn," defied common sense.

He also summoned irrefutable evidence from the hard sciences to eviscerate progressive-educational doctrines, arguing instead that the best way to help create virtuous, civic-minded and knowledgeable citizens is to teach each child the same grade-by-grade curriculum.

Hirsch's theories now have solid empirical backing thanks to Massachusetts's success. Before reform, the commonwealth had no standard curriculum. School districts employed a hodgepodge of instructional approaches, many of which neglected academic content.

The Hirschian knowledge-based approach was an important element of the commonwealth's 1993 Education Reform Act. The history and social science curriculum, for instance, makes clear that students should be taught explicitly about their national heritage. As Hirsch says, "Democracy's survival depends upon our transmitting to each new generation the political vision of liberty and equality that unites us as Americans."

The results are indisputable. In 2005, the Bay State ranked first in the nation in fourth- and eighth-grade reading and fourth- and eighth-grade math on the biennial National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), known as "the nation's report card." It repeated the feat in 2007. No state had ever scored first in both grades and both subjects in a single year, let alone for two consecutive tests.

On another reliable test, the 2007 Trends in International Math and Science Studies, the state's fourth-graders ranked second globally in science and third in math, while the eighth-graders tied for first in science and placed sixth in math.

Meanwhile, the academic performance of American students as a whole has continued to lag behind most of the developed world. SAT scores are up slightly in math but remain flat in reading. With the notable exception of Massachusetts, NAEP reading scores are also flat in most states. According to the American College Test administrators, under one-quarter of high school graduates taking the 2009 test were "college ready."

The problem is that Hirsch's Core Knowledge programs are still only in approximately 1,000 American schools, while "how-to" programs straight out of education schools are the water in the aquarium. Embracing what we know works would herald a new era in school reform. It would also be a fitting testament to one of the most important education reformers of the last century — E.D. Hirsch Jr.

Sol Stern is a contributing editor of City Journal and a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute. This piece is adapted from an article that appears in the current issue of City Journal.

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which all boils down to my pragmatic approach....I am interested in whther or not our students can actually do or know the material. It really nice to look in the mirror and lie to ourselves about what we really see and pat ourselves on the back about how well we are doing, but in the end,

What are we teaching our kids and are they able to apply it?

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which all boils down to my pragmatic approach....I am interested in whther or not our students can actually do or know the material. It really nice to look in the mirror and lie to ourselves about what we really see and pat ourselves on the back about how well we are doing, but in the end,

What are we teaching our kids and are they able to apply it?

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1/4 of U.S. students are proficient in History. Per NAEP
http://www.lexingtoninstitute.org/library/resources/documents/Education/TeachingofAmericanHistory.pdf
**excerpt: Executive Summary The appalling results of de-emphasizing the study of U.S. history in elementary and secondary schools have become painfully obvious in recent years.
In the most recent round of the National Assessment of Educational Progress, only one fourth of American schoolchildren tested as proficient in their knowledge of U.S. history.
A study in Arizona found that only 3.5 percent of high school students could pass the test of civic knowledge given to immigrants seeking to become U.S.

Hirsch supports giving the students the content knolwedge. If that is done, as you can see from Mass. it works. If your History text book/curriculum lacks academic content, both competencies and a new grading system will NOT alleviate that problem.
That is the argument of Hirsh and Sol Stern. We also have evidence that the quality improves when students learn academic content via a content rich curriculum.

80% of Home-Schoolers score proficient on standardized assesments. Often times this is done by mother's who've never graduated from college.
Why? Because much of the home-schooling curriculum is so rich in academic content, the students are often times grade levels ABOVE their public school peers.

Ask the Administration, can the 8th graders pass this test? http://www.rense.com/general75/pass.htm
If not, why not?

How does a Competency Based system or a new grading system fill in the knowledge gap if there are serious gaps in the curriculum/text books?
I don't believe either one of these programs fill in that gap, unfortunately.

We have a knowledged "DEFICIT" problem in this country. Some of the blame can be pointed directly at the faulty text books/Curriculum. My concern is, the Competency Based program and the new grading system does not address this problem.

The National Math Panel a few years ago assessed the state of Mathematics education in this country. Children in the top performing countries are starting Algebra I in 6th and 7th grade. That's about 2 years BEFORE the avearage U.S. student. The National Math Panel recommended all students be prepared for Algebra I by 8th grade. While that is still behind the top performing countries, it is better than what what some schools are doing right now.

A question for Administrators and the State Dept of Ed. is, what are the schools in NH doing to prepare all students for Algebra I by 8th grade?

If you look at the Curriculum from Angelicum Academy, a Home-school source, you will see that their students are ready for Alg. I in 7th grade.
http://www.angelicum.net/?page_id=59
This is because the Saxon math text books, fully prepare students to begin Algebra I by 7th grade.

With the "reform" math programs, most students are not ready for Algebra I that early. Most students will not be fully prepared until 9th grade. This is because many of the reform programs lack content, repitition and mastery of key concepts.

If the program/text lacks good quality, my point remains, how does a Competency Based program or a Grading change address these problems?

From my view, I'm not seein ghow either one of these intiatives truly reforms education in a way that benefits the student academically.

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MA has indeed done extremely well ... they require students to pass the MACAP - I believe that's what it's called ... especially before sllowing them to graduate from high school ... the big problem that I see is that the kids are being tutored in order to pass the test ... I know that for certain ... parents pay for tutoring ... so how does that show what the teachers have done if the kids have to be tutored to pass a test??

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/15/AR2008021503008.html

That's a valid point. CA has some of the best standards in the US, yet many students continue to fail in CA. The state can only do so much. If the school is not willing to use curriculum that teaches content rich academic material to the students, that's the fault of the individual schools.

IN the case of NH, we not only have schools using curriculum that lacks academic content, we also have poor academic standards set by the NH Dept of Ed.

In Mass. they raised the level. Their academic standards are some of the best in the country. http://www.edexcellence.net/detail/news.cfm?news_id=338

Sometimes getting your child tested by OUTSIDE sources is a good idea. If your child fails an IBST (Iowa Basic Skills Test) but passes a NECAP assessment, then you are being misled by the state when they tell you your child is proficient.

Sometimes comparing text books. Compare a Dolciani Algebra text to the reform or discovery Algebra books. I personally think the difference is obvious. Mathmaticians who note the knowledge deficit among college freshman students will tell you that Dolciani is the best. You will find that text book at Trinity H.S. in Manchester. It's available for any school to use, unfortunately many choose not to use it.

In Mass. they have the MCAS. IF the school is using faulty curriculum, tutors will be needed in order to get those kids to pass that test.

Check the textbooks. Read the chapter then look at the questions at the end. Are they requiring your child to know factual material?

A teacher at a parochial school in Manchester uses a study guide for her 5th graders. In the Social Studies book, the content is pretty good, but the 4-5 questions at the end of each chapter leave out important questions on the facts of what the child read. When learning about Christopher Columbus, there are many facts that are simply not being highlighted or questioned at the end of the chapter. So the focus is no longer on historical facts, but on analysis. Analysis maybe good, but not at the expense of knowing factual information about historical events.
She makes up a study guide so the kids not only analyze the historical events, but must also know the historical facts surrounding these events.

Those kids are fortunate to have a teacher who understands the importance of learning and memorizing academic content.

I think Mass. is on the right track. No system will ever be perfect. Personally, I have never been a fan of NCLB because of the Govt. influence that diminishes local control. But this is what we have to work with in the public school system.

I think Mass is the best example of a state that's moving their students in the right direction, in spite of it not being perfect.

I had several mathematicians at some of our top Universities tell me that half of the candidates for graduate school come from foreign countries. That's because the US students lack basic arithmetic skills.

No longer is repetition/rote memorization a good thing. Yet for all of those foreign students who fill our universities from those foreign countries, it's paid off.

These are programs that pay graduate students to work for their Phd in mathematics. They would love to accept the US students, but unfortunately they were never prepared for college level mathematics.

One Calculus teacher told me that her students do well with the concepts, but their arithmetic skills are so poor, she has to spend much of her time re-teaching basic math.

I would just like to see schools or the State Dept of Ed acknowledge this then look for valid ways to attack these problems.

I wish I could say the Competency Based approach or the change in grading attacked these problems, but unfortunately I'm simply not seeing that.

I will close with an e-mail and a link to a local report on changes to the grading system....
http://www.cnht.org/news/2010/01/01/arrogant-school-board-ignores-wishes-of-voters/

Here is the email from Larry in MI:

It is a first step towards getting rid of all letter grades and using 'authentic' assessments and portfolios.

I attended a curriculum meeting several years ago where our deputy superintendent of instruction made it clear that she would like to get rid of all letter grades and grade point averages. She did acknowledge that it would not be attainable because those nasty universities still use GPA's for admittance.

Letter grades start in 4th grade and they plan to move that to 9th grade as soon as they can figure out how to do it without a major uproar. Each year the report cards get longer, with less substance. At some time, the grades will disappear beneath the mounds of 1s, 2s, and 3s.

Teacher conferences are now student-led. They cannot occur without the student present. The student shows a portfolio of work that takes up the whole allotted time. A special request must be made to talk with the teacher without the student present. My conferences have also had the principal present since I'm on the 'list'.

It also takes the teeth out of proposed merit pay systems. The MEA (Michigan) is 100% behind using portfolios for assessment rather than any form of standardized testing.

Larry

I'm concerned we are heading in the same direction or simply just ignoring the real problems that need to be addressed?? Just my perspective.

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http://cliffmass.blogspot.com/
I hope you will visit this site.

If you haven't watched the video from Prof. Mass, it's also informative.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ymvSFunUjx0