Going by the median grade for my kid’s humanities classes, there has been some grade deflation since then.
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English was my kiddos challenge this trimester. The only class she was 1 point under the median, and about 7-8 points below her typical English grade. I do have to say I really love the thoughtful comments from all of the teachers. So very different from the check a box comment on public school report cards.
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At Parents’ Weekend a few weeks ago both History and English teachers mentioned that they are discovering that current freshman writing ability is slightly behind what they would typically expect from the incoming class.
They suspect that it is because middle schools may have dialed back writing assignments/teaching during the pandemic. Perhaps that it why my kids median English class grade is so low.
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Not just middle schools. Mine is a repeat Junior. She transferred to a cyber charter last year. They did not even write a complete paper until January. And it was an advanced class.
Here is a report from teacher survey on the topic
I have decided we should refer to this thread as the “DIG” - which stands for Deerfield Interest Group 
Here is more to dig into about DIG!
One of the complaints some students have is how certain teachers at DA use a computer program or APP to track class participation. As you know “class participation” is a significant factor in grading (sometimes as much as 20%). The problem with this app/program tracker is that it tracks the amount of time a student speaks up NOT quality of what was said. My kiddo has noticed that certain students (use your imagination) are arrogant Harkness Hogs who jump in and dominate time with much to say (usually their opinions rather than facts). The students with the most time calculated may have participated “the most” because the teacher does not shut them off. These students often say a lot, but with little substance. My kiddo has observed that these bombastic students tend to be males from affluent families. By contrast, the students whose messaging is brief and to-the-point are scored lower. Yes, this is a generalization (so sue me) but it is the observation of my kiddo and several classmates who are female that this APP/program favors boys by its design. Several females we know received lower participation grades based on the amount of time tracked, rather than the quality of their statement. At DA, it has been observed that females tend to be less likely to spend a lot of time dominating the table conversations at Deerfield (see January 1, 2019 Boston Globe article on “Better Dead Than Co-Ed”). Why is the school using such a biased form of tracking class participation?
BTW…I am fairly certain that if you ask about this during Revisit, the faculty will deny that they do this….DM me after May 29 for details on which faculty members have used this system.
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Interesting…it seems like the teacher would override any grades that are computer generated if they do not reflect the actual contribution from the students.
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Nah…too much work 
I wonder how many kids will stay at school for long winter weekend now that it is an option?
Hmmmmm….I think a lot of kids might stay home….but ours has a knee to be looked at so going to Boston
Stay home or go home? 
I am hearing “going home” from my student and friends
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I just booked a VRBO house for May 2023 graduation. Does Deerfield graduation (normal- not Covid), have a certain number of family/friends each student can invite?
Smart move! Because there are 5 colleges and 2 boarding schools in the greater Pioneer Valley region, hotels and VRBO’s can get booked up a year in advance! The other thing to do is make your dinner and lunch reservations MONTHS in advance for the Deerfield Inn…you can always cancel within their allowed time period as you get closer to next year’s graduation.
I do not know the answer to the # of guest questions because we have not witnessed a “normal” outdoor graduation since 2019 
….
Helpful hint: Call the Development Office… those folks are super nice about answer questions and if they do not know the answer directly, they will connect you with the right person.
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Is Deerfield as fun as it looks? They are crushing the social media game:
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Yes ….it is very fun……I believe it has got to be one of the top schools for spirit and having fun. This weekend “A Hoodie” is performing. Many dances.
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Yes! There is always something going on. And lots of school spirit, kids go to all of the sports home games, there is a lot of support for theater, music, dance, lots of performance opportunities for kids in those programs. And there seem to quite a few weekend activities you can attend, although my kiddo’s extra curricular activity takes up a ton of her weekend time.
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Are kids able to do a sport and participate in a play in the same season? If not, for someone who isn’t a singer/dancer and does a fall sport, are there options to do a play in the spring instead of a musical?
Yes, you can do many combinations of the above. You can take dance or theater as an actual class, and do a sport as your after school co-curricular. As a dancer there are many performances and you can audition for as many or as few pieces as you want. I am not as familiar with theater. I know they did at least one play already, and I just saw an ad for another. They are also doing a musical towards the end of the year and are coordinating with the dance department.
My daughter does this now, but I wonder if it is feasible to do both a play after school (not during class time) and a sport. Most schools seem to do a play in the fall and a musical in the spring and unfortunately, my daughter takes after me in that there is no way she would be able to dance and sing, but she also excels at a fall sport and would want to do a fall play and a fall sport. Just not sure how boarding schools deal with this or if she would be stuck not being able to do a play because it conflicts with her sport.