Schools

UPDATED: Cabin John PTSA Petitions To Change English Grading Policy

The Cabin John Middle School PTSA is petitioning to keep advanced English class grades from continuing on to students' high school transcripts.

Updated, 10:30 a.m.: The Winston Churchill High School advising department says it agrees with the Cabin John PTSA's decision to petition advanced English grades.

"I agree with the Cabin John PTSA," said Beverly Lubenetski, head of the WCHS advising department. "Middle school students often regret their middle school grades that appear on their transcript once the students reach high school. For advanced English it is an elective they do not need, so why have any pressure about it?"

Original Story, Monday 5:40 a.m.: Some Cabin John Middle School parents want to keep their students' grades in an advanced English class out of their high school transcripts because they believe students who earn a "B" might be at a disadvantage than their peers who earn a "C" when it comes time to apply for college.

Under the current rules, students who receive a "C" or lower would have no grade posted to their transcript, which the parents believe would be better than for the students who receive a "B."

The school's PTSA is circulating a petition to see if the there's enough interest to take the issue to the county Board of Education. 

"The pressure to succeed at Wootton and Churchill is greater than perhaps other schools in the county," said Cabin John PTSA president, Merry Eisner.  and  both have."The reality is that here we are at Cabin John and that push for rigor has actually filtered down into the eighth grade."

Some parents, however, say a mid-year change would disrespect the students who chose not to take the advanced level class with the understanding that grades would be reflected on a high school transcript.

"This seems to me like a backdoor attempt to influence the grading for the current group of students who have already accepted the rules," Kumar Singam said. "I don't want to teach my child that if you find the class hard that Mommy and Daddy will find the way to take your grade off."

He would have no problem with a change if it didn't affect the grades of the current group of students.

Eisner said she was trying to find an option that satisfies the parents of the current students as well as find a plan for moving forward.

"Fundamentally the petition is about not having an A or a B on the transcript," Eisner said. "We'd rather have nothing than a B so that our children have the opportunity for rigor and can focus on the course and not worry about a grade," she said.

"If a student gets a C in this class, it does not appear on their high school transcript," the petition states. "This creates a paradoxical situation, where students are better off earning a C than impacting their high school GPA with a B. As parents, we want to encourage our children to succeed and earn the best grade possible, and we believe it is doing our children a disservice to set it up so that a C is a better long-range outcome than a B."

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Challenging students is more important than a grade point average, Wootton principal says

According to Wootton principal Michael Doran, Eisner and other parents supporting the petition are missing the point by suggesting their children aim for lower marks to avoid the grade counting toward high school.

“I would never say to any kid, ‘be so strategic that you’re playing games with the system.’ I think there’s a wrong message there,” Doran said. “You tell the kid to do the best they can in everything they do or don’t do it. … You knew going in what the deal was. You don’t want the kid to do the best they can do? Then don’t put them in there.”

Wootton’s reputation is not a valid reason to explain pressure to succeed at the eighth grade level and the school “isn’t going to take the blame for them scamming the system,” Doran said.

In fact, Doran said he believes colleges will be more impressed by an eighth grade student with a B in an advanced English class on his or her transcript than one who doesn’t have it show up at all.

“What the colleges are looking for is not so much grade point average, but are the kids challenging themselves in the most rigorous course,” Wootton’s principal said.

By aiming for a C grade, Doran said, students prevent themselves from earning recognition for going above and beyond.

“I can make just as strong an argument that that B still shows the college a very good transcript data piece,” Doran said. “This kid was in an advanced level, basically high school course, in the eighth grade? Cool. That meant they were challenging themselves. That’s the kind of kid [colleges] want.”

Advanced English course not unique to Cabin John Middle

Originated in the Middle School Magnet Consortium more than six years ago, the Grade 8 Advanced English is not a course unique to Cabin John Middle School. The course and was made available to all middle schools through the Middle School Reform Initiative, according to Linda Ferrell, director of middle school instruction with MCPS. The reform initiative was designed to provide Montgomery County middle school students access to challenging courses and college preparation.

A resolution adopted by the Montgomery County Council of PTAs in April 2010 states that MCPS considered offering Honors English 9 to eighth graders, but decided instead to create an Advanced English class intended to prepare students for Honors English 9. The resolution suggests that students getting an A or B in the course would receive a high school elective credit, but that MCPS should provide students and parents with clear information on how the student’s grade will affect the high school GPA at the beginning of each school year.

"Rules concerning such decisions as repeating a class later, or declining to take a final exam, as well as the impact of these decisions on the GPA, should be clearly stated in a uniform, county-wide policy," the resolution states. "Families should be permitted to accept or reject high school credits earned in middle school through the first month of ninth grade."

As the school curriculum was written, however, students can't opt out of the credits. Instead it was decided any grade over a C would move on.  According to Ferrell, in January 2010, MCPS distributed information about earning high school credit in middle school.

“The unique and specific credit/grade reporting procedures for Advanced English in Grade 8 were communicated so that parents and students could make informed decisions prior to enrolling the student in the course,” Ferrell said.  

According to Ferrell, the decision to award high school credit to Advanced English and not to other advanced classes in the middle school curriculum was dependent on factors including “grade level appropriateness, alignment to high school course content and compliance with state standards.

"It was a way to increase the rigor of the English opportunities in grade 8," said MCPS spokesman Dana Tofig of the advanced grading policy. "Based on [parents'] feedback at the time, it was something that was supported."

MCPS policy does not generally allow for policy change in the middle of a school year, but Tofig said that officials would consider the possibility.

"When parents bring concerns to us we are always willing to look at policies," he said.

Messages left at Cabin John Middle School and Winston Churchill High School were not returned in time for this posting.

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North Potomac-Darnestown Patch editor Greg Cohen contributed to this story.

What do you think? Should the PTSA be allowed to change the grading rules mid-year? Should students be able to opt out of something they and their families have agreed to? Tell us in the comments!


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