Bleary-eyed teachers in different places around the city are grading Regents exams this weekend - including this bleary-eyed teacher at Perdido Street School.
That so much is riding for students, teachers and schools on a grading process that has exhausted teachers working through the day, then grading at night and on weekends, really ought to trouble any fair observer of education policy.
That's all I got today - sorry, the brain has turned to liquid from all the grading.
Maybe you have some good Regents grading or state test grading stories to tell?
A.It's amazing charter schools get to grade their own tests in the comfy confines of their own schools within the school day.
ReplyDeleteB. I remember years ago many teachers said they would not grade the Regents after hours in a defiant show against new state rules of teachers not being allowed to grade their own tests. I realize people would like the extra per session money. But, attitudes seemed to have changed about it.
C. A "3" is a super-crappy grade on the essay.
Let me address B:
DeleteI don't give a shit about the per session money.
In fact, if you want some, write me and I'll send you a check.
What I do care about is my own students who took the exam getting fair grading.
I'm grading the Regents tests because I have two classes of students who have failed the exam who took it in June.
Professionals must grade those exams or the students are screwed.
Fortunately people are doing the best job they can to grade under very difficult circumstances.
There are other ways to protest the Endless Testing regime than holding out from grading.
Just offering observations on what I've noticed over the course of several years. Many teachers in my building now look at grading Regents "after hours" as good per session money.
ReplyDeleteNot judging. Just noticing a difference from when the state policy first took effect.
Wasn't commenting on the endless testing policy. Just not happy with the disparate grading policies of charter vs. public.
I won't grade them no matter how much they pay me.
DeleteI understand, Pogue - I just wanted to get across the responsibility I feel toward grading the exams.
DeleteI volunteer to grade them in January when it's not per session.
I feel a responsibility to be in the norming room, to do some of the grading, to make sure that somebody's students across this city get a fair and just grade.
The thing is, the process is run in such a way that many do not - and I think that sucks.
I've been grading U.S. history exams and was sitting at a table with a guy who's been teaching social studies for many years who would give out zeros like candy. He poisoned the whole table into giving out lower scores. To me, a zero means the student wrote nothing or nothing that he wrote made any sense whatsoever or it was just copied from the test booklet. But if you wrote something that vaguely relates to the topic, it's at least a 1, no? This guy wanted to give a zero because the student wrote that Dred Scott belonged to his master at the time of the Supreme Court Decision but really it was to his wife. Also the student wrote that the Dred Scott decision led to the Civil War and this teacher said that was bullshit. He was seriously going to give it a zero. I never want to grade history again. Some of these teachers need to get over themselves.
DeleteAnd, by the way, I'm not a licensed history teacher and this guy (the zero giver) is. But I think that a reasonable person can read a rubric and grade. But there has to be some more oversight because some people want to act like they're interested in "high standards" but can't read or interpret a rubric. He said the rubric was not what we were supposed to grade from. I couldn't get him to understand that a 1 or a 2 are not high grades. I told him that I've read that the Dred Scott decision IS considered a contributing factor to the Civil War by many sources and for a high school student to make that connection shows that the kid knows something. He was totally condescending and scoffed at everything I said. He was a bully and got the other graders at the table to follow suit so that when I asked for a third reader on a couple of them, his grades stood. I got the essay above to be graded a '2' anyway, but it's terrible that some kids will fail the exam because of that blowhard.
ReplyDelete