As someone who was experimented on already once (“Sight Reading” and “New Math” in the 1960’s), and has seen fads come and go (NCLB, Learning Styles, Common Core, Digital Learning, Computer-based Education, Early Childhood, Self-Esteem, Cooperative Learning, etc) with ever decreasing educational attainment, I’m glad my kids got a traditional education.
District leadership says it will revert to traditional grading at middle and high school levels, among other steps
Moscow School District leadership has vowed to slow down — and in some cases reverse course — on the districtwide implementation of a mastery-based education system.
In a board of trustees meeting Wednesday evening, Superintendent Greg Bailey said the district will take a more methodical approach in determining what steps, if any, will be appropriate to take in improving Moscow’s grading and reporting system. In the meantime, he said the district is preparing to address concerns voiced by the community with a number of steps, including reimplementing lettered grading at the middle and high school levels at the start of the spring semester.
“One of the things we’re going to do right now is we’re going to stop the process of our going to the 1-2-3-4 (grading scale) in middle school and high school — so we’re not using that,” Bailey said. “We are going to slow down. We listened to what you’re saying, we’re looking at making some changes.”
Mastery-based education seeks to emphasize a student’s mastery of a given subject rather than a cumulative score based on overall performance. Hallmarks of the system include replacement of the traditional letter grade with a 1-through-4 grading system and the ability for students to retake tests and redo assignments. Moscow elementary schools have already adopted numbered grading and the middle school made the change at the start of the current school year.