Social discussion of CS in K-12

[Charles Schultz <sacrophyte AT gmail.com>]

Good morning,

Wondering if I could plumb your thoughts about how parents and students should appropriately respond to issues with the implementation of standards-based grading. Note, I realize this email list goes out to a very broad audience, so to be very clear, it is not my intent to complain or expect any kind of resolution from this email. I am looking for advice, from a parent's point of view, as to how I can best support my child. (and yes, we will be talking to building teachers directly in the near future)

What I hear from my child is that the expectations are not clear, thus it is a great big mystery what it takes to "Exceed", "Meet", "Approach" or be "Below" expectations. Additionally, my child has expressed frustration when attempting to voice these questions in the classroom itself, due to a completely unsatisfactory response from a teacher in a specific case.

What is also puzzling is that I have read a number of online articles about the great benefits of standards-based grading, and yet the reality I am perceiving is not that great at all.

Thoughts/comments?

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Charles Schultz