HODGDON, Maine — A change in grading methods for the freshmen class at Hodgdon Middle-High School created such an uproar from many parents that the school board opted to reimplement the old system. They will, however, also keep the new one.
At the November school board meeting, held Nov. 20, a group of about 30 parents and staff members filled the lobby of Hodgdon Middle-High School to express concerns over the way the freshmen class was being graded this year.
Those concerns ultimately resulted in the school board reversing course and instituting a dual grading system for the freshmen, even though it will mean requiring freshmen teachers to go back and regrade all of their students assignments since the beginning of school.
According to SAD 70 Superintendent Scott Richardson, the concerns were based on the district’s shift to the state-mandated “proficiency-based diploma” system for the Class of 2021, which is this year’s freshmen class.
“Proficiency based diplomas, which are the requirement of the state of Maine, are not dependent on any given grading system,” SAD 70 Superintendent Scott Richardson said. “In order to implement a true proficiency based system, the administration and leadership team at SAD 70 had chosen to utilize a 1-4 grading system as have many other school systems in Maine. It is a completely different system of grading and there is no real correlation between this system and the traditional 0-100 grading system. Therefore, it was difficult for parents and students to truly grasp how the system works.”
For the freshmen class at Hodgdon, under the proficiency based grading system, students are given a grade of 1-4 on their assignments and report cards. For example, if a student receive a “4” it means the student “exceeds the standards,” while a “3” is equivalent to “meeting the standards,” a “2” is “below standards. Fractional grades such as 2.5 and 3.5 also were used.
In comparison, RSU 29 in Houlton decided to use a dual grading method with its freshmen class still receiving traditional numerical grades in addition to a 1-4 proficiency-based grade.
During the meeting, a number of parents spoke out on the issue stating concerns about switching to only a 1-4 grading system for their children.
Parent Crystal Folsom said the abrupt change was “beyond frightening” and questioned why the students were being used as “guinea pigs” for this new grading method. She added that several teachers have told students the highest grade possible for some assignments was a “3,” which numerically would translate to about an 85, because the assignment did not require extensive critical thinking.
“Were our kids not allowed to score 100 under the old grading system?” she asked. “How can we look at our students and say no matter how much work they put in, an (85) is the best you can get?”
Parent Matt Oliver, an alum of Hodgdon High School and former school administrator in Old Town, echoed those sentiments.
“Students are being told a 4 is attainable only if they complete a higher order thinking activity related to the standard being taught,” Oliver said. “However, the students are unclear as to what higher order thinking assignment they need to do.”
Oliver added that his 13-year-old son related to him that it was like taking a test with 100 questions and automatically getting 15 wrong before they even start.
“For everything you do, you should have a chance to get a 100,” Oliver said. “My fear is we are going to develop a crop of average students.”
“Teachers who worked very hard to implement the new system of grading made some errors which were taken to be fatal flaws that could not be corrected,” Richardson said. “Given time, I believe our administration and teachers would have been able to implement the system with true fidelity and that all students would have been better served in the 1-4 grading system that matched the proficiency based diploma.
Richardson added he understood the school board’s decision to roll back to the traditional grading system.
“The parents who presented at the meeting were able to communicate a sense of urgency that continued use of the 1-4 grading system would have major negative consequences to the students and this urgency made the decision the prudent one for the school board to make,” he said. “The administration and teachers will work to implement the traditional grading system and will also continue to work out how student proficiency in standards will be tracked as required by state law.”
Additional compensation will be given to the teachers who have to go back and re-grade assignments, Richardson said.
The superintendent said he encouraged all parents and community members to become more involved in the schools and to attend board meetings so they are aware of all of the changes coming in the future.
“Change is a very difficult process for all people and I have found that it has been especially difficult in the SAD 70 school system,” Richardson said. “I wish I had done more to help people understand the research and reasoning behind the change.”
