It seems some members of the D86 BOE have implicit trust in the administration and feel that there will be bumps in the road that will iron themselves out. And with the most recent grading alignment — which includes curves and retakes in some classes — they probably will iron themselves out, but only after wildly experimenting with student’s grades and emotions.
Shoving higher weights to tests in student’s faces, in some cases with ratios weighted 90 and even 100 percent to summative assessments, upon return from a year off of normal school, is cruel and unusual punishment. Why jolt the kids coming back? Why not ease into the grading overhaul with more reasonable percentages and, then, if admin wants to pilot a few classes to be weighted more heavily, try that out. Fifty-two percent of classes with adjusted scales tipped heavily to summative assessments is not a pilot.
The reason people/parents are noticing this change is because it is being done to the extreme. It’s almost as if the admin has zero regard for the students. They just want to check this massive project off of their list, say it’s done and move on to the next big project.
The problem is that this administration has too much time and people (and money?) for these projects. How about just getting the train back on the tracks and running smoothly first? How about putting projects aside and focusing on catching kids back up from a lost year of learning and social/emotional growth? How about that project? — Angela Sartori, Clarendon Hills
