Reflection time

This will be a short but busy week.  It's also a good time to reflect back on the first Trimester (grades in particular) and decide what went well and what could have been done better.  Some will feel that it was hard to get in the minimum number of grades since it's the start of school and it takes a while to get in the swing of things.  We also had an Irma disruption.  Trimester 2 will also come with its challenges with Thanksgiving and Christmas break.  The final Trimester will have the after Easter break slump.  Conclusion... there is no perfect trimester. 

At my principal's meeting on Friday there was a heated discussion among principals (while the superintendent and assistant superintendent left the room) about the grading policy.  The topic was - Grading Policy 5 years later, what have we accomplished.  As a group we concluded that we have a better understanding of what grades should truly represent and that we are better at assessing students.  Everyone believes that Understanding By Design makes us better educators and that our overall philosophy has changed for the better.  Everyone also very much likes separate ATL grades where you can separate knowledge from behavior.  In general, it was not a waste of time.  It was a work in process and as it went along, things were learned and discovered and adjustments were made.  There was a long explanation as to why we did not go to standards-based report cards in the end.  Basically, it was because the time it would take for teachers to do it properly was not going to be worth the outcome.  If a student received a B in math and a 2 in the geometry strand, what does that really tell anyone?  Not much.  What is more useful is diagnostic tools like iReady and formative assessments that can pinpoint weaknesses and then conferencing with parents to say Johnny needs to practice area and perimeter in IXL.  It's about having faith in teachers without bombarding with more work.  Here were some of the "cons":

• Not all schools cooperated and we are each at different levels of standardized practices
• This was never meant for high schools and no one is sure why they joined in
• Many agree that 50% is ok if best effort is given, but 50% for no work is a difficult pill to swallow
• Many disagree with the retake policy for summatives, the feeling is formatives are your retakes - keep trying until you have mastered and are ready for the summative.  If formatives are done right, no one should ever fail a summative.

Nothing really changes for us.  Know that we are not the only school that sits back and says, why isn't everyone else doing this?  I also think it's what makes us better and the reason why our students do so well in high school.  I did feel for new principals who want to cooperate and are in schools that never did any of the suggested practices and now are finding it a struggle to catch up.  But is also means that there is a movement for more and more schools to do what is suggested. 

Since Thursday is a half day, the new electives for middle school will not begin until next week.  I will work on your rosters this week and get that information out to you.  Have a wonderful week.