{"id":7960,"date":"2019-03-10T16:05:15","date_gmt":"2019-03-10T22:05:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.parkrag.com\/?p=7960"},"modified":"2019-03-10T16:05:15","modified_gmt":"2019-03-10T22:05:15","slug":"the-real-issue-with-standards-based-grading-at-park-city-schools","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/v2.parkrag.com\/index.php\/2019\/03\/10\/the-real-issue-with-standards-based-grading-at-park-city-schools\/","title":{"rendered":"The REAL issue with standards-based grading at Park City schools"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Last week Park City School District (PCSD) put on the full-media-blitzkrieg<\/a> regarding standards-based grading. They called it, \u201cThe Facts About Standards-Based Learning.\u201d They wrote a letter to the Park Record on the subject. They published that letter on their website. They even texted every parent in the district with a link to that same letter. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here is a point-by-point paraphrasing of what they said:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SBG is good. SBG is good. We want to do SBG because SBG is good. Three years ago teachers at Ecker went to a conference, took some classes, did some research and determined that SBG is good. This year SBG was implemented at Ecker. The grading scale is 1-4, with a 3 meaning your kid is proficient at something. Teachers drove this Ecker thing, but now every school wants to use it, so the District Administration has gotten involved. SBG will be at every school in PC by 2022. Because of that, the District is only beginning to educate parents on why SBG is good.

Right now more than half of Treasure teachers use SBG and by 2020 they all will. Some teachers at the high school also use SBG. The District will convert 1-4\u2019s to A-Fs for secondary students and transcripts will look the same. Elementary schools may use SBG at some point.

SBG is good. SBG is good. Parents, talk to your teachers or Principals if you have questions.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After spending over 50 hours on this topic, I have concluded that the School District still doesn\u2019t quite get it. I\u2019d say 95% of the people I have spoken with about SBG say it SOUNDS great. People love the idea of it. However, when you look at the district\u2019s communication blitzkrieg, the predominant message is \u201cSBG is good.\u201d Yes, we get that. Unfortunately, they completely miss the point. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

THE PROBLEM HAS BEEN IMPLEMENTATION.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not since the 2015 bond, have I received so many emails and calls from parents concerned with the school district. The calls aren\u2019t wanting to discuss the merits of SBG. The calls are about the implementation. They want the school district to explain how this new paradigm works, in detail.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Parents want to know how SBG works. They want to know specifics on how it will impact their kids in the future as they progress through grades into college. They want to know why they are seeing inconsistencies in how teachers implement \u201cstandards\u201d based grading. They want to know why some teachers are teaching to mediocrity. They want to know why parent FAQs said there would be no conversion to traditional grades, but now the district says they will convert to traditional grades. They want to know why teachers complained about poor (or non-existent) training. They want to know why a random teacher said something about SBG to their child that made absolutely no sense to the kid. They want to know why some teachers have changed childrens\u2019 grades after the facts because \u201csomeone told the teacher they couldn\u2019t give a 4.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While maybe it sounds like a communication problem, it\u2019s not. It\u2019s an execution problem. That\u2019s what PCSD needs to understand. While parents and children are asking questions, they are asking questions because the implementation has been problematic. The details haven’t been figured out. The process isn’t consistent. Teachers haven’t received adequate training. Those things manifest themselves as a communications issue but have a deeper root cause.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Solving that is much harder than making a press release and holding community meetings. The Park City community has been jaded by government meetings designed to push an agenda. People show up to school bond hearings, Mountain Accord meetings, truth in taxation meetings, random development meetings, and many other meetings about issues and find their opinions make little difference. Many times, their concerns are dismissed. It’s not hard to see why people don’ show up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, the school district shouldn’t discount the anger just because people don\u2019t show up to meetings that the district has designed. People are showing their fury in other places. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The constructive question is where do we go from here? It\u2019s pretty clear the district isn\u2019t reversing course on SBG \u2014 and they probably shouldn\u2019t because the SBG CONCEPT seems to have broad support. So, how do they fix the implementation at Ecker? They probably can\u2019t fix it this year or maybe even next year. SBG is not only a complete shift for students, but it\u2019s also a complete shift for teachers. Ecker needs to find a way to instill consistency across all teachers at the school. Before that can happen, all teachers and administrators need similar training, so they share a common understanding. Then computer systems need to be in place that entirely work with SBG. Along the way, decisions need to be made about appropriate goals for students and the standards that are going to be taught.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If we view standards-based grading as beneficial because EVERYTHING IS STANDARDIZED, then the people who implement this have to all be using the identical playbook. It will take a while to get there. It\u2019s a work in progress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you have a kid at Ecker and are concerned over this issue, I wish there was a better answer. However, perhaps it\u2019s one of those real teaching moments for your kid. This experience could teach them that, “humans are fallible. Your teachers have bosses who make them do things. Not everything is perfect. Doing something is harder than talking about it. This is middle school, and in the end, it probably won\u2019t matter much (so don\u2019t let it get to you). Use this an opportunity to try and learn and not worry so much about grades. Your school did something unfair to you, but you have no choice other than to make the best of it. This won\u2019t be the last time you’ll be treated unfairly. You’re going to get a great education in Park City, regardless of this. C\u2019est la vie.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I also understand that the above is easy for me to say. I don\u2019t have kids going through it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That said, if you have kids at Ecker, you have a chance to make things better for the next generation of kids (and your kids once they hit TMJH and PCHS because eventually, SBG will be everywhere ). So, please do what that school district directed in their \u201cThe Facts About Standards-Based Learning.\u201d Ask every question you can think of to your school\u2019s Principal and your child\u2019s teacher. In a transition like this, no question is a dumb question. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If I had a kid in Ecker, here are the things I’ ask:<\/p>\n\n\n\n