Could you explain how you not knowing how the class performed on the AP test is a downside?
Similarly, how would you know that students other than your child were not remotely prepared for any actual college course? Or were you only referring to your child?
My kid did fine, but frankly she would have done so with or without a teacher. She teaches herself naturally and independently, so I really didn’t care what, if anything, happened in the AP economics class. There were 15 kids in the econ class in a small private school; I know them all. The kids, or their parents, complained that the AP scores were lower compared to prior classes. I care about AP scores, though you may not. I didn’t see the aggregate score report.
While I understand how nice it is to have multiple bites at the apple, so to speak, none of the 15 kids attended colleges that offered that, and some adjustments were required on the kids’ part. Fortunately it was just one class in their high school, so they recovered quickly for the most part. I did say there were nice aspects about the hs class-no stress during senior year, a nice boost to everyone’s GPA, and a boost to everyone’s self-esteem leaving high school on a warm upbeat note. For one class, it was fine. I wouldnt want it for more than one.
You just wrote that you didn’t know how the class performed on AP exams, yet now you do know but by parental anecdote, expressed in terms of their test score expectations not being met in comparison to past years? Do you know that the approach this year was markedly different? Do you know that all their scores were actually lower, or were a few parents just disappointed in their child’s score? With regard to preparedness, do you know for certain that none of the fifteen colleges ever offer “another bite at the apple?” Because it sounds like some colleges are going the same route as described above.
In short, it seems like you are just speculating here with regard to both mastery of the material and preparedness for college. While we are all entitled to our opinions, we may not have the information necessary to draw much of a conclusion based on anecdotes from this one class. Especially because the one data point you do know, your child, seems to have done just fine.
It would require colleges to look at transcripts and GPAs a little differently, though, but not radically so.
They are looking at rigor and GPA, so in this case, they would look at the level of each subject that is mastered and the associated GPA. So students would reach different levels of math, based on their math abilities, and, within each group of students who achieved a specific level, there would be different GPAs, based on how well they do at each level.
It would be really helpful for those students who are academically strong, but go through a difficult time. So rather than having a D or an F sitting on their transcript, never to be removed, they could catch up, maybe through summer courses, or another method, and end up at the same level that they would have been, had their parent not been going through a divorce, or had they not had to be hospitalized for three weeks. Yes, a counselor can write about this, but that is only useful if the AOs are reading every application carefully, which is not usually the case.
I think that people forget that the problem of grade inflation is not that it increases that average GPA of the graduating class, but that the problem is the ease at which As and Bs are achieved.
This methods does not make an A or B any easier to achieve. In fact, teachers will be a lot less reluctant to give a student an I, as opposed to a D or an F, since it doesn’t destroy the student’s GPA, to keep them from graduating. So there will, in fact, be fewer students getting Cs who have not achieve C-level mastery of the material.
Moreover, the increased average GPA would be because students would actually be achieving Cs, Bs, or even As instead of Ds or Fs.
Seriously, I know the 14 other mothers quite well for 12 years. 8 of them were disappointed in the AP score. As I stated, I didn’t see the class scores as a whole., so maybe the other 6 were thrilled. I keep in touch with the moms and follow the kids’ progress. Really, that is not rare in my town. Not sure why you are so argumentative about this, or doubting my experience.
Those 15 did not attend colleges where they got multiple bites. Maybe the other 3985 colleges in the US do offer multiple bites, but I have seen nothing to suggest that is common other than the assertion of one poster. I offered it as just my experience, and really do not appreciate your hostility. One of my other kids would have loved this kind of experience, and it would have helped her self esteem greatly. But I am glad she learned to juggle actual hard deadlines and consequences in high school, as that has served her well in the subsequent decade. As always, YMMV
It would be best to ignore each other
I didn’t doubt your experience when you first said you didn’t know how the class performed on the AP, and I’m not doubting your experience now that you are saying you know in detail. Either way, I don’t find such second hand anecdotes all that helpful in understanding the “negative side” of the approach, but maybe that is just me.
Added: About half your post above wasn’t there when I responded, but I’ll leave my post as is. Feel free to have the last word if you’d like, either above or below.
I’m not sure why you think they’re taking out the education. That’s what is being emphasized.
Also, discipline is not removed from the class. Only from the grade. Things that do not reflect knowledge and mastery are removed. There is actually a lot of grade inflation due to teachers heavily counting homework, behavior, and participation. Kids who don’t actually understand the material are passed onto the next level. This ends that.
Yes, this was my impression. Rather than getting an F and repeating the class, you get an I and repeat the class.
Hopefully no one this thinks that any ”stigma” of an F won’t immediately transfer to an I.
Okay I’ll bite . . . what’s an “urban testing school?”
Lowell. Stuyvesant. Boston Latin. and plenty in mid sized cities enjoying less fame
Okay. Then your post isn’t really relevant to the current discussion as defined by the title and first post, is it?
It is. Posters are debating the state of American education. I am saying it has declined at a remarkable rate, which others agree with. You will hear more of this decline as the escape valves, called test schools, disappear.
The OP linked an article on a specific education approach called “mastery based learning” and the subsequent discussion has pretty much focused on that. It is a very interesting topic.
Do you really need to turn yet another thread into an anti-“urban” screed?
I read the article, but I don’t understand how it works. If a term paper worth a large percentage of the grade is assigned and expected to be turned in by mid-terms, kids can decide to submit it later and not lose points? Why would anyone encourage their kids to complete an assignment in half a semester when others are taking an entire semester to do it?
It is at best debatable whether that article was centered on mastery based learning. The gist is that they want more student to go to college regardless of whether entering the workforce at 22 with debt or entering at 18 at a zero net worth makes more sense. Something tells me a student artificially receiving a C or incomplete will work retail or wash dishes either way. You should read Freddie de Boer’s work on education policy. A lot of students’ lives would be more fulfilling and productive if they dropped out at 13 rather than sit in glorified babysitting.
Anti- Urban screed? I have lived in major cities, East and west coast, at all major stages of life. Those schools I cited are terrific.
Or maybe you can submit it by mid terms but if you don’t like your grade you can rewrite it for a better grade?
It doesn’t work. California is a bottom ten state for public education. This isn’t saying much five how bad most are. California is trying to slowly phase out calculus.
Internationally, we don’t get much bang for our buck when we consider how much we spend per pupil.
A California superintendent or education bureaucrat is similar to a high level Vietnam officer. They know we are losing with no end in sight and will continue to distract the public with “mastery based learning” while they lower the definition of success and competence.
In a number of his posts above, @s318830 has kindly provided a terrific overview of the general methodology. If you are curious you should check them out.
I’m actually a mom. 
The numbers in my username aren’t randomly generated. They’re “DEBBIE” upsidedown on a calculator. My last name used to be “smith” and that made it incredibly hard to come up with a username in the old AOL years (just dated myself big time.)