When my oldest son entered first grade, we were informed that teachers would be piloting standards-based grading at his and one other elementary site in the district. I was pretty excited to learn about the switch, but I wasn't sure what that looked like for an elementary student. Having taught only high school students, I had a hard time wrapping my head around what kind of report card would be coming home that year.

Like many other parents, I attended the open house at the beginning of the school year, hoping to learn more. The multi-purpose room (a.k.a. cafeteria/gymnasium/auditorium) was pretty full for the 30-minute session that was scheduled for us to hear from the principal before the classroom visits began. He started with a quote from Grace Murray Hopper - "The most dangerous phrase in the language is 'We've always done it this way.'" In a community where excellent grades are an expectation of many parents, the shift in practice he was about to explain needed a strong setup. He continued the presentation with an interactive "quiz" in which he asked the parents to weight a hypothetical set of test questions so that their total points would equal 100.

As he gave time for the parents in the audience to think and divvy up the points, my neighbor leaned over on the cafeteria table bench and asked me what I thought. I told her it wasn't really fair because I "knew the answer." You see, I had studied up on standards-based grading for a professional pursuit of my own, so I knew where this exercise was heading. I felt like I had insider trading information and I wasn't sure if I should share it or let her make the discovery as the presentation continued. I pointed out to her the type of thinking that was required of each question - multiple choice recognition, short answer recall, compare and contrast, etc. She started to formulate her thoughts, and the principal resumed his speech.

As he led us through scenarios of fictitious classroom teachers who each assigned different point values to the same test questions and how those values affected the student's grade, you could literally look around the room to see open mouths, nodding, confusion, and even a little bit of outrage that this could be allowed to happen. The principal had made his point and set up the teachers well for the impending visits from parents whose children would now be fairly graded in their classrooms.

Of course, this was a 30-minute introduction to standards-based grading, and my account of this night is a memory from 2.5 years ago, but it was enough to make me want to resume my research in the area. Perhaps I knew the type of answer he was looking for, but I still had so much to learn.  When I arrived home and recounted the evening to my husband, he said something like, "So our kids are never going to get straight As?" I cringed a little and realized he was really the one who should have attended that night. 

I have known for some time now that I possess some fascinating insider information. This blog is my way of sharing it with you.

My name is Jennifer (Jen). I taught high school Spanish for 11 years before taking on my current role as a Professional Learning Coordinator. While I have only worked in two districts, they could not be more different, and I have learned a lot from each context. What has opened my eyes the most, however, is having my own children who are now part of the public education system. 

Seven years before either of my boys even began Kindergarten, my husband and I purchased a home in one of the top-rated school districts in the state. It was important to us that our children receive the best educational opportunities that we could afford. It is still important to us, but has become a much more complex goal than we originally thought. Buy a house in the right location, help kids with homework, keep open communication with teachers, and voila! Not exactly.

I have avoided social media for years now, but I finally feel like it can serve a purpose. My perspective on education has changed over the last few years and continues to change as I research more about professional learning and curriculum beyond my original scope of high school world languages.  I have decided to start this blog to share my insights with other parents who do not necessarily have the advantage of being immersed in academia. My hope is that I can build an understanding of current education practices so other parents can benefit from my insider perspective.