Grade Inflation???

Associated Press is report that national assessments are not correlating with grade point averages of students. Is this a sign of grade inflation? The article suggests that it is and I would agree just from what I see in my school district. Teachers through the district's approval do give students extra points on exams, quarterly grades, and semester averages just because they are taking harder courses such as AP. My district awards one-half point or .5 to each student who is taking an advanced course; however, even in regular courses, I have seen students given extra points if they passed semester exams. Our district even has an incentive that if you passed your Standards of Learning test, you can be exempted from the exam.

There have been many questions raised this year by the community with these additional points offered. Numerous individuals have written into our local paper, the Free Lance-Star to express their opinion.

I do not know if there is research that would show that grade inflation occurs more frequently has a result of NCLB but it certainly should be looked into for two reasons. First, do administrators and teachers of public schools feel pressured with the requirement of adequate yearly progress (AYP) within the federal mandate? Second have school systems feared the competition between charter, private, and speciality schools that grades within public school systems are showing signs of inflation?

Dyslexia Can Be Determined in 10 Minutes

Dr. Van der Lely has developed a ten minute assessment to determine if a child is dyslexic. This is extremely good news for parents and educators who often have trouble with assessing this issue. It has been tested on over 600 children and targets phonology, morphology, and syntax.

More information about the test, GAP, can be found here.

Texas Proposes a Bill to Fine Parents Who Miss Meetings

When I read that Texas was considering a bill to fine parents who do not show up for their child's school meetings, I thought this would be a great idea. I think the $500 fine would be enough to encourage parents to make sure they are partners in their child's education; however, I think the money should be for school supplies and transportation needs, not teachers' salaries as the article suggests. The reason I think this is important is that there is an ethical situation created by having teachers get raises off of students' who do not show up. Rather Texas should just pool this money only to school supplies.