In my book, I briefly discuss how grading can be a weapon of revenge for a teacher. Recently, I bumped into a student from my summer school class from five years ago. She is working locally and we laughed a bit in the store. Her most memorable experience from High School? Cheer leading. Least favorable? Global Studies Regents grade of 64.
That summer, I had many seniors and underclassman that went to summer school to retake the Regents. The high school regents for Social Studies is subjective at best. A 64 is not a concrete grade. Neither is a 63. Yet thousands of students across the state are subjected to this grading torture. Equity is the key. I am positive that teachers who know a student find the extra point. It is an unspoken rule. Yet, if the kid is unknown or disliked by the graders, then too bad.
It is this kind of inequity that needs to be questioned by parents and students across the state. Hopefully, alerting as many as we can about the pitfalls of high school will help change the Regents scoring grid. Until than, watch out for the Regents 64
3 comments:
It's really a scary thought especially when it comes to things like English which are completely subjective.
An honest means of standardized testing: clone a single teacher in every facet of education, and subject every student to that same set of cloned teachers, learning environment, and teaching methods, every single day. Now obviously that is ridiculous, and I am being sarcastic-- but would that not be a utopia for those who believe in "standardized testing"? Yes, yes it would-- and that's truly frightening...
Mr. Walda, Solid as usual. Imagine...
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