My School Day

If you want to know one of the perils (my word) teachers face, I encourage you to read the following letter. This student had a B+ at the end of the term. He received a 75%D(high school scale) on his semester final test. Reflecting on the situation as presented in part by the parent response, I think this is the worst possible disservice this parent could ever do to his child. What is the lesson learned? How does this child overcome obstacles or adversity? How does he learn to grow up and face the "real world"? Or maybe there is no real world. Maybe this young man, through force of his over-indulging, over-protective, over-zealous yuppie parent won't face the "real world". Maybe he will not be accepted to whatever college he wants due to his ability or scholarship, but rather based on family connections and the almost-religious zeal as being exemplified here by his parent. This parent, BTW, is in education. I found numerous examples as cited on the web of his expertise. Never mentioned in any of these websites is the fact that he is a teacher-bully, that he is bullying one of his son's teachers into changing a grade undeserved. I changed the grade b/c I would rather play with my sons, help the other 137 students I have, would rather ride my bike, or would rather that this self-inflated jerk just go away. I really want to identify this cabron, but I'm not. I'm just going to allow people to read this and come to his/her own conclusion. If you feel that I am in the wrong, then we disagree on the educational system. That's a whole other topic, and you know what? It's less fun than Bikes, Buddhism, Music, or Fun. Let go. It's all passing.

Thank you Mr. XXX.
I found the information helpful and revealing. I well understand ethical decisions and also the need for professional judgement. We very much appreciate your teaching and dedication to students. However, in your note, you decided to select the lowest performance indicators to the exclusion of other indicators that would have produced a solid A average.
Of the 483 test points, how many students actually earned an A? It seems that over 443 would have been required?

Since the test points represent about 46% of the performance indicators, it seems that the other 54% of the other indicators were in the solid A range, so this 1 % issue (92.09 versus 93) is a substantial when gpas are considered for admission. While weighted, the message is that this is a B who knows....?, a B- student...
I know that regardless, this is a wake up call to the student and we appreciate it. However, I am most concerned about the overall fairness, timeliness and legitimacy of the process for all students. This student would have worked harder had he known earlier how fragile is A was; instead he concentrated of his 4 AP courses where more effort was also needed.

I am quite familiar with assessment and evaluation and also with what happens when the variance is constrained in most of the performance indicators, thus leaving just a few as the ones that actually count in the end. In the final analysis, as you know performance indicators help to assess true competence and ability and have a margin of error. One must make a reasonable and fair assessment based on the data as a professional.

You did not indicate the weight placed on each of the various indicators (if any) that are in the Excell sheet, nor what the class average of the 3 exams with most of the points ..and where most of the variability seems to lie.
As parents, we need to know how our students, who are given feedback on a variety of indicators and a progress report suggesting an A is being maintained during a semester..all of the sudden come to be depicted as average at the end as in your note.

Without knowing the distribution of letter grades (how many obtained A, B, C, D etc per exam, (or course) it is difficult to ascertain the quality and how authentic the assessment is in this case.
I suspect that since you use a strict point system, very few A's, if any, are earned accordingly. Since you are using percentages as the rule, do you also assign A's to the top 7, 8 or 10th percent of the class?
If not, then a course and teaching that is failing to help students learn at this level suggests a number of problems.
I am sure XXXXX could always study harder in this class and that we can all improve on our teaching and evaluations of learning. Given that you have made your decision and that I am NOT asking for any special treatment to a particular student, that I should take my concerns elsewhere. However, this is difficult since I do not want to upset you when we actually empathize and respect your work; nor do I want XXXXXXXX feel bad about his, he is already confronting quite a lot. (I use a similar grading system BTW).

Perhaps if you could help answer some of the above concerns and questions next, we won't have to set a meeting right away.
However, I do want to know what is the appeals procedure in Manual given that the grade issue remains; whether an A or B should be reflected in the record for his ability/performance last semester.
Also with respect to using a point system and percentages in a standard, not norm referenced test, how policy and practices are determined at the school and district level. If the point system is standards based, where can use find them?

Thanks again for your valuable time and consideration.

There are many problems in our educational system. Rarely mentioned is one like this. I'm a solid teacher. I have a good reputation and I feel VERY confident my students are ready for the university level when they leave my class and our school's program. To spend time dithering with an idiot like this just isn't worth it. BUT, this kind of bullying is happening all over the U.S. The parents and students are in control; most control has been taken away from teachers and administrators. That's fine, except parents and students want what is easy and cheap, just like in the marketplace. All A's and no scholarship. All Britney and Justin, and no literature. Consumers don't want good; they want cheap. They don't want quality; they want quantity. The ignorant don't want to be educated. The rich want to be served, just like they're served as their restaurants and at the designer clothing stores. I'm serious. This is how I see it. Now if a students errs at school, it's the teacher's fault or the school's fault. Automatically. I'm going to do everything I can to not ruin my weekend, but this kind of thing makes me hate my job b/c it either asks for me to become a confrontational jerk, or that I break my professional ethics. The kid deserved the grade b/c he performed poorly, or at least at a mediocre level (I couldn't really ensure that "mediocrely" is a word). Instead, he'll get what he wants. It's like a country full of unethical Republicans. End justifies the means. It's not what the Buddha says. It's not what Christ says. It's probably not what Muhammed says.

I'm done.