HHS grading system
Hi I was reading the district overview on the HHS website and one of the district goals was to change to the 10 point grading system. Does anyone know if this is a definite or when it goes into effect or if it's just something they want to do ?
Missrx My kids are all excited by the news, which they received in school. I believe it starts next school year. But then again, my 'sources' are 11 and 14 :)
trekster3- I'm not familiar with the 10 point grading system...what is it? My kids aren't in Hackettstown school district now, but my oldest will be at the high school in two years.
Jersey Girl 90 - 100 A
80 - 89 B
70 - 79 C
60 - 69 D
59 and Below F
Or something thereabouts - in other words, back to what it was when I was a kid :)
Really you can get a 60 and pass. That's horrendous and being done to increase graduation rates. What a sham!!!!
CraftBeerBob I don't think that 60 is anything new. I'm 44 years old and that 60 passing grade was there when I was in HS.
emaxxman I am 42 and when I grew up it was a 70 to pass. If I only acheived 60% at work I would be fired.
Ms Fishy Try post grad - which Darrin can attest to where there is A B and fail - you need a 3.0 to graduate lol
skippy Yes it is going to a 10 point system. I was told by a member of the BOE.
Craftbeerbob, you can't compare your job to school. If you only accomplished 70% of your job you'd be fired too. What's your point? Kids all learn at different levels. You can't just cater to the academically strong student. If they want a challenge then that's why they make Honors classes. I can tell you by my own experience that if a 60 wasn't passing in Roxbury HS where I went, then I would have failed my math classes every year and wouldn't have graduated. Did me not doing well in math stop me from having a good career? Absolutely not. I think I built a pretty good resume over the last 16 years. I do mechanical design work... go figure. For someone who sucked at math I sure picked an odd career for myself. The reason is I didn't need to know advanced algebra or geometry to do well. I needed to know basic geometry, trigonomotry, and arithmetic which I actually understood in school. Basically 90% of what I learned in those classes was useless for me in my adult life. So if I got a 60% or so, it had no bearing on me being successful at what I do.
Can someone tell me if colleges do the 7 point system? Mine didn't. If not what is the point of doing it in HS...
Metsman I just turned 55. When I was in middle and high school we had the 10 point grading system. Anything under a 69 was a fail. I remember I was having a real hard year in my sophomore math class and I ended up with a 67 - but back in the day teachers had more leeway with grading - I was so upset because I had NEVER failed a class (mostly B's all through), so I begged my teacher to "give" me the 2 points I needed for a passing grade. He bargained with me that if I promised to stay after class twice a week for a month for extra help he would do it. He gave me the 2 points to pass and I stayed after school every Monday and Wednesday for a whole month (we had "late buses" back then) and lo and behold I got a B the next marking period with a solid 85! That's when school wasn't so rigid and people had choices and could make decisions without big brother state education system or helicopter parents.
Oh, the memories...
Heidi Metsman. I can compare anything I want. My points is that in my opinion 60 is to low. It's not done for the benefit of the students it is done to improve graduation rates. That is not an opinion. When Warren hills went to 65 last year from 68 is to was be on the same grading system as 70% of all colleges and to improve graduation rates. Said by the superintendent himself. Don't tell me what I can compare and can't compare.
If a student actually has to do work and learn something to pass with a 60, I'm OK with it.
Numbers are meaningless unless there are standards as to how to earn them.
As an adjunct teacher at WCCC, when I've received my first assignments from new students, I've often wondered ... how the heck did this kid make it through high school?
Andy Loigu Craftbeerbob, you live in a bubble. You are ok with people not graduating because they can't speak Spanish or can't complete a complex algebra problem. Most people wouldn't graduate then. You're an idiot.
Really , Metsman, you think ,most people wouldn't graduate? You do realize that Algebra has been a required course for a number of years, and 70 has been the cutoff for twenty or more years in Hackettstown, and is the cut-off in many other districts. With graduation rates over 95%. How does that correlate with 'most people' not graduating. Do you really think the education that will lead to success now is the same education we had? The world is a very different place today. Algebra is so much more than solving equations. It is critical thinking, problem solving, analyzing, making connections, overcoming difficulties. For years, a strong correlation between the amount of math taken in high school and college graduation has existed.
That being said, not all 13 year-olds are ready to think abstractly, but there is no way they can get through Algebra two without some grasp of Algebra one. For some kids, repeating the course is much more helpful then just being pushed on with their 60.
bac No I'm showing you only care about useless high school nonsense. Show me where advanced math matters?
I'm with CraftBeerBob,
I'm 41 and when I was in HS a 70 was needed to pass. 93 and up was an A. This was at NWR in Blairstown.
Meister was the class behind me there, I'm sure he remembers.
My son is a student there now and they only need a 90 to get an A but I don't remember what's needed to pass, luckily that hasn't been an issue for us. I don't know when the change went into effect but I remember that in my HS days I was surprised when most students I knew from other schools had the 60 and up passing status...
Lori...since '73 Does anyone know how the new grading will effect student's eligibility to play sports? I have a feeling that is metsman's biggest concern.
Darwin I am 29 and I went to Newton High School where the grading system was a 93 which was an A..and it was actually an A-. No one seemed to have a problem with it at all. I don't see why it's bad to push children and raise the bar. If they tried their hardest and the best they could get was a C then that is fine. However to me (have experienced both grading system types where an A is a 93 or 90) I preferred the 93 one because it pushed me to try harder. Again that's my case but what I prefer. I still find it interesting Mt . Olive doesn't have the letter grade D. Yes there is an adjustment numerically to incorporate that but still an interesting concept. Thought I'd throw that in there.
sunshinenj Pardon me, but as someone who has graded the academic 'work' of students who, I was told, were high school graduates... this stuff about letter grades in high school is all poopadoodle to me.
What I'm proudest of, is that, with the help of the College's Tutoring Center, I was able to at least bring most of them up to the C+ writing level where they should have been when they finished high school.
My questions are simply, what are they learning? What are they doing in those schools?
Andy, that is more a question for parents at home. That's where work ethic is taught.
Grade inflation only happens as a result of a child's failings being blamed on the teachers, especially by wealthy/influential helicopter parents.
The problem starts with the eroding moral fabric of this country. Don't push this on the teachers - they are the lowest on the totem pole when it comes to decisions.
DeaconBlus Most students are not strong in every subject. Just because they got a C in one or two classes doesn't mean they didn't learn anything and just maybe they got B's or A's in other classes.
When a teacher sees a student struggling but is really trying..this is where the teacher should spend more time helping, maybe by giving extra credit assignments to bring their grade up.
It's the teacher's and student's responsibility to put forth effort to either get a decent grade or a passing grade.
positive What I find interesting is that WCCC's grading system has been lower than HHS until now. When I attended and when even my daughter attended a 90 was an A. Also at the discretion of the professor they graded according to the "curve" system, which I'm sure many of you already know about. If you were doing better than most of the students in your class the professor would up your grade.
The tutoring center at WCCC helps those who are willing to apply themselves.
When I chatted about students' deficiencies, I was talking about the most rudimentary writing skills ... you need to be able to write a coherent sentence, no matter what the subject matter.
Absolutely Andy, thankfully both my daughter and I have decent writing skills. We both had a great experience at WCCC. My daughter graduated last year from WCCC with many honors.
Side note: My daughter struggled in high school but excelled in college..go figure.
"show me where advanced math matters."
Metsman, I am sorry that you had a horrible experience with math in school - many do - and it's clear that you, fortunately, were very able in other areas and have been quite successful in adulthood. As I shared previously, though I hated the "advanced math" that I was forced to take, it has been invaluable in my future career in an area that I didn't even know existed when I was in high school.
Advanced math matters - medicine, physics, engineering, business, information technology, etc., etc.,
In many ways, our future scientific gains rely on those for whom advanced math was not just a struggle but was enjoyed.
I am grateful that advanced math was part of my curriculum and that I had to develop the ability to learn things that were initially a struggle. I know that is not possible for everyone, and that for some learning certain things are more difficult than for others, but limiting learning is never the answer.
pmnsk Life does not end with high school. Community colleges exist to give young (and older) people a chance to discover who they are and what they can do ... at an affordable cost. I may have a master's degree but I still go back there to try and keep up with what's going on computers-wise. Learning never ends.
In the 1990s I used to create the ads for WCCC .... I know the schtick very well (-;
Those of you who were WRNJ listeners back then have heard the jingles.
Here it is. Now the OP of the other thread can read the same comments, plus more, here,
Metsman, I use advanced math in a business job. I am very happy with my salary. Most people will never use it. If you don't have it, many missed opportunities. Although, that doesn't mean you can't aquire the skills later on in life. Better than going to school for gym class though.
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