TESTIMONY OF MCCPTA BEFORE THE BOARD
OF EDUCATION
ON GRADING AND REPORTING --
Distinguished Members of the Board of
Education:
Good Evening. I am Cindy Kerr, President of
the Montgomery County
Council of PTAs and I thank you for the
opportunity to speak today again
on behalf of the approximately 140,000
pioneer children riding the MCPS
Grading and Reporting Wagon Train. I return
today to say that we are
lost. Our commitment to reaching the final
destination has not wavered
but we are not as prepared for the journey
as we should have been. Some
of the resources essential to our survival
- a firm definition of
mastery; elimination of gross
inconsistencies in grading scales and
reassessments; training for each and every
teacher being asked to drive
a wagon train and the technology that will
support and direct the
wagons- are not yet in place. For this
reason, we need to halt. The
time has come to circle the wagons and halt
any further progress until
we have had the opportunity to address the
essential issues and resolve
them in a way that best protects children's
interests and establishes
consistency and equity in the manner in
which the wagons proceed.
To be clear, the journey to date has
revealed major obstacles at the
middle school and high school levels: (1)
grading scales such as the
0,1,2,3,4 scale which compress student
grades and which are being
applied inconsistently throughout our
schools without equal intervals or
standardized cut offs; (2) reteaching and reassessment procedures that
fly in the face of the underlying purpose
of the new grading and
reporting policy and that are
inconsistently administered across
different schools and (3) widespread
concerns about a drop on
student motivation to complete homework
because despite the intent of
the policy and the implementing guidelines
some teachers still insist
that homework does not count. In addition
to these critical issues
perhaps the most fundamental question has
not been answered - what
constitutes mastery? With these essential
issues implicated by the
grading and reporting policy still
undecided, MCPS should not be moving
ahead with the grade 1 and 2 report cards
-- or any new
grading/reporting initiative-- until the
foundational issues are
resolved. We must confront these obstacles
now. We applaud the one text
process that MCPS has convened. It is a
careful deliberate process that
invites stakeholder input but it is slow.
Successful implementation
depends upon this process running its
course but it is crucial therefore
that we adjust our time frame accordingly.
MCCPTA Delegates voted just
last night to …. (fill
in after DA). Indeed, there should be no further
implementation until the foundational
issues have been resolved in the
best interests of our children. We should
not follow the letter of the
implementation schedule if it violates the
spirit of the policy-namely,
improving teaching and learning in all out
schools.
Second, we must learn from the hardship of
this year's journey that
no new wagons should be sent out on the
trail without adequate road maps
and supplies. The stakes are too high. We
urge the Board of Education
to exercise the oversight necessary to
ensure that no new initiative or
product related to grading and reporting
(and for that matter any new
curriculum) should be rushed to
implementation without adequate field
testing or piloting and without adequate
vetting among key stakeholders
including parents. Our children may be
pioneers but they cannot be
guinea pigs. There should be no rush to
implementation
- rapidity is not a higher virtue than
accuracy and fairness when it
comes to our kids. This is particularly
true given the enormous training
demands imposed by the grading and
reporting policy. Grading and
reporting represents a sea change in the
culture of MCPS. It is not
enough for MCPS leadership to understand the
goals and the strategy for
success-these must be communicated to every
teacher in our system. The
policy cannot be implemented out of central
office. It is the classroom
teacher who is the goodwill ambassador and
who must understand, accept
and feel ownership of the policy and its
implementation I order for this
venture to succeed. We have not done enough
yet to train our
teachers. Without giving these pioneer
wagon drivers a clear sense of
how to implement the new grading and
reporting standards, they will run
the wagons astray. Moreover, we must equip
them with technology that is
tested and reliable. As MCCPTA, we have
concerns about whether adequate
technology has been found and tested that
will provide the support
necessary to make grading and reporting
effective and meaningful. MCPS
should not rush implementation until the
supporting technology is in place.
In closing, we are not asking to derail the
mission nor are we
asking to go backwards. We are asking,
however, that we stop our forward
motion to allow the time for reflection,
learning, developing clear and
consistent implementation guidelines that
will protect the best
interests of our pioneers.
Thank you.