Brian Cohen
  • Making the Grade Blog
  • About Me
  • Tutoring
  • Press
  • Resources to Share

Chalkbeat Crosspost: NYC credit assignment causes frustration

5/13/2014

0 Comments

 
This piece appears on the Chalkbeat news source on May 13, 2014. It is the continuation of my foray into the New York media.

---------------

At the end of January, high school students are usually up in arms about their grades. There’s a good reason: transcripts have a lot of power to validate students’ work throughout the semester or become a self-fulling prophecy of failure.

If I hadn’t taught in Philadelphia for four years before moving to Brooklyn this year, I wouldn’t have given any thought to the fact that students at most high schools here, including mine, earn credits for their classes each semester. Coming from a system where students earn credit for a course only at the end of June, I’ve noticed that this seemingly small difference has a significant effect on students’ emotions and motivation throughout the school year.

In Philadelphia, my students simply kept track of the mid-year grades on their report card, but they knew those grades were not yet official. Students who weren’t happy with their grades could aim higher over the next five months in the hopes of earning full credit for the course at the end of the year.

As a teacher at the Brooklyn School for Collaborative Studies, I watched students who didn’t receive passing grades respond with disappointment and, in some cases, anger at their teachers when grades came out in January. I realized that here, failure at the end of first semester signifies the loss of a credit, one that, in most cases, students can’t make up by working harder during the second half of the year. Instead, they have to make up the credit by repeating the class, attending summer school, or participating in another credit recovery program.

There are merits to each system, and I’m not sure which makes more sense in the long term.

On the one hand, students in Philadelphia have more time to transition into a class before receiving a definitive grade, and students who struggle during first semester know their performance during the second half of the year can have a real effect. Stress around grades only peaks once rather than twice per year.

On the other hand, at my school in New York, the possibility of losing a credit first semester means that students prone to procrastination–as many are–have an incentive to make up missed work toward the end of first semester. A student here who fails a class gets a fresh start second semester, whereas a student in a similar position in Philadelphia might not have the drive to dig himself out of that hole. I’ve also noticed that when students’ fall semester grades have already cost them a credit, they approach mid-year conferences more seriously than their counterparts in Philadelphia, whose poor behavior or performance haven’t yet formally affected their credits.

It seems unlikely that this policy will ever make it to the top of the policy-making agenda in New York City, but it should be part of the conversation. Like many seemingly small decisions, when students receive credits has a real impact on their learning.

0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Author

    I am a math teacher in the New York Department of Education. I infuse technology and real-world problems into my curriculum in order to prepare my students for the future. I would love for people across the country to recognize we teachers can't do it alone. If you don't believe me, come visit my classroom!

    Picture

    Contact Me

    Picture

    Email Updates

    Enter your email address:

    Delivered by FeedBurner

    Archives

    March 2022
    September 2021
    August 2021
    September 2020
    August 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    August 2018
    June 2018
    April 2018
    September 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011
    February 2011
    January 2011

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.