The Answer Sheet: Grades


Posted at 06:30 AM ET, 08/18/2010

The problem with abolishing the 'D'
By Valerie Strauss
A teacher questions the wisdom of a decision by a New York school district to abolish the "D" grade.

By Valerie Strauss  |  06:30 AM ET, 08/18/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Grades, Grades | Tags:  abolishing the D, grades, grading students, how to grade students, joe bower, mount olive schools

Posted at 08:38 AM ET, 04/08/2010

And now, outsourcing the grading of papers
By Valerie Strauss
And now, outsourcing the grading of papers. That's what some teachers are doing, through a Virginia company that hires graders most overseas. But how are teachers supposed to properly evaluate student performance if they don’t actually spend time reading and grading their work?

By Valerie Strauss  |  08:38 AM ET, 04/08/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Grades, Grades | Tags:  chronicle and grades, grades, outsourcing education, outsourcing grading, teachers

Posted at 03:46 PM ET, 03/12/2010

Harvard study: Are weighted AP grades fair?
By Valerie Strauss
By Debra Viadero. A new study by a Harvard University researcher looks at the practice of giving weighted grades to high-level high school courses, and he issues a warning about the effects on college admissions.

By Valerie Strauss  |  03:46 PM ET, 03/12/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Grades, Grades, Grades | Tags:  AP, college admissions, weighted grades

Posted at 02:16 PM ET, 11/11/2009

A school that wanted to sell grades. Really.
By Valerie Strauss
Just when I was worried that capitalism was dying in the United States, what with young people these days expecting to get their news and their music pretty much for free, along comes Rosewood Middle School in North Carolina to take away my concerns. How? By selling grades. Really. This is a different scheme from one that a number of schools adopted in the hopes of getting kids to perform better--paying cash for grades, which, in its own way, was a wonderful capitalist enterprise.

By Valerie Strauss  |  02:16 PM ET, 11/11/2009 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Grades | Tags:  grades

Posted at 11:30 AM ET, 09/17/2009

More on Grades: A Case Study in Change
By Valerie Strauss
Yesterday’s discussion on grades sparked a discussion worth continuing. Let’s take a close look at a school that overhauled its grading policy. Principal Joel McKinney of Ben Davis High School in Indianapolis--an urban school with more than 3,000 students--explains the...

By Valerie Strauss  |  11:30 AM ET, 09/17/2009 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Grades

Posted at 06:30 AM ET, 09/16/2009

SPOTLIGHT: How Unfair Are Grades?
By Valerie Strauss
If you have ever rolled your eyes in disbelief when your child tells you a teacher gave him or her an unfair grade, you may want to think again. Your child might be right. An expert on grading systems conducted an experiment with more than 10,000 educators that he says proves just how subjective grades can be.

By Valerie Strauss  |  06:30 AM ET, 09/16/2009 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Grades | Tags:  Douglas Reeves, Fairfax County Public Schools, Grades