Posts Tagged ‘reform’

Grading on a Curve — for Schools

Thursday, February 9th, 2012

A young girl, studying in schoolGenerally speaking, in order to get an “A” grade, you have to demonstrate that not only did you learn the material but that you demonstrated an understanding far beyond what was expected for the course.  You could say that someone deserving of an “A” would know the material so well that they wouldn’t even make careless mistakes on a test — the material would be far too simple to provide any wrong answers.  In the case of a school, an “A” would mean that the school is turning out students who not only meet the standards but go well beyond them.  But what do you do if your schools aren’t performing so well and you still want to say they get an “A”?  Well, if you’re the Public Education Department in New Mexico, you redefine what it means to get an “A”.

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Kansas City To Return To The One-Room Classroom

Monday, July 5th, 2010

So they’re not exactly reinstating the idea of the one-room classroom but the Kansas City, Missouri School District is eliminating grade levels.  Instead of placing students in a specific grade according to their age, students will work on topics according to their abilities, beginning next fall.  This is good in that kids who learn quickly are not sitting around waiting for the rest of the class to catch up and kids that need extra time to master a skill can do so.

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