Your take on school grades

How they rate
Should Florida continue to grade schools?
Yes, but put less emphasis on FCAT results.
No, a letter can't capture a school's value.
Doesn't matter. I just look at my kids' scores anyway.

Our past question asked, "Should Florida superintendents all be appointed?" You said:

• Yes, electing a school district CEO is antiquated.  70 votes - 43%
• No, voters should be able to pick their superintendent if they want.  66 votes - 41% 
• You mean some school districts elect their superintendents?  25 votes - 16%

If you have any ideas for future questions, or any other thoughts about the Gradebook in general, please send an e-mail to solochek@sptimes.com.

Comments

[Frans van Haaren]

Who cares about school grades when only 65% of third-grade students or so have been reading at grade level for more years than I care to remember, when only half of the students entering high school actually earn a diploma and when the black-white achievement gap has not changed since the sixties (or so it seems). There is something seriously wrong with the way in which we run our schools. We need change and we need it now!

[Brent Yaciw]

Grading, in general, is an oversimplification of a complex idea - and the more complex the organism or subject of the grade, the more foolish it is to attempt to reduce its value to a single letter.

The variation between Grade A chicken eggs and Grade B chicken eggs is small enough that the grade has meaning. The variation between a Grade A student at Harvard University and Billy Bob's School of Cosmic Babbling is enough to make the grades meaningless - just as the variation between the Richie Rich School of Pampered Prodigies and the Perry Poormouth School of Societal Victims makes their respective grades equally meaningless.

[Concerned]

NO. It does not take into consideration the intangibles. Also the grading is flawed in that it measures apple against oranges -- this years third grade students (for example) against last years. Every professional educator will tell you that each and every class is different and cannot be compared. Grading schools sets up expectations for parents -- high and low. When it is the team -- teacher, student and family -- that is the best predictor of success for a child.

We should keep in mind that a letter can not capture the value of a student either.

Teachers, your students may feel the same way you do about unnecessary paperwork, over emphasized testing, lack of real world application and little tolerance for outside of the box thinking.

When grading students, grade the whole student. TRY to capture their EFFORT, not just their performance on tasks important to you specifically.

After all, being subjected to seemingly arbitrary and superficial standards is not fun for any one.

Please teachers, when you go back to school this year think critically about your own system of accountability for students and how they "earn" grades in your class. Don't subject them to the same craziness education reformers dole out!

[Frank]

Does anyone know how many other states give grades?