David, In Jerusalem, at least, I know that the logs are assessed by the Inspectorate not only for quantity but for quality as well - Pat and Judie go through each log and then send letters to the schools / teachers letting them know what was or wasn't good in their logs. So while they have both said that students would not get penalized if their teacher didn't do the log correctly, they've also made it very clear that teachers / schools that didn't do the log correctly would be under close scrutiny the following year(s). This includes following the table of specifications for writing a summative assessment (much harder than the lit tests I used to give, and the students' grades reflect that) and using a rubric for assessing post-reading tasks. Now, that is not to say that there still aren't different standards amongst the teachers. I can spend 2-3 months teaching one short story, and I demand quite a bit from my students. I'm sure that there are teachers who spend much less time on each unit, and may not give as many basic understanding or analysis questions. But I do think that you're overestimating the impact that that has on students' Bagrut grades. Take into account that even with students taking the literature exam, 50% of their grade is their teacher's assessment, and we all know that many, many teachers are NOT giving school (Magen) grades according to Ministry specifications, but giving the highest grade that they think they can get away with so as to help their students. There is no way for the Ministry to track that. So even assuming that some log teachers are getting away by doing the minimum, they are still doing that minimum, and since they know that some logs will be taken for random sampling, they can't ridiculously inflate the grades. And honestly, I personally don't know of any log teacher who does that - in my classes this year, grades ranged from 63 to 95, with most grades in the 70s-80s, and believe me that they worked very hard to achieve those grades, much harder than they would have worked had they taken the exam. My feeling is that the teachers who do play around with the grades are in the minority because, as I said, they know that their logs will be inspected. So I think that it would be correct to say that my students, who are doing the log according to the Ministry requirements and get school (Magen) grades according to the Ministry specifications, have Bagrut grades that are much more accurate than those students who are doing the exam but have inflated school grades. In other words, even if everyone were to do the exam, the current Bagrut system simply cannot ensure fair and accurate grades for all the students. So why try to do away with the logs, specifically, when that is the one thing that I think is probably being done most fairly by the majority of teachers? All the best, Rivka David wrote: I was very pleased to read the number of reactions to the long missive that I wrote last week. It made all the time that I spent on it worthwhile. However, I donæ° understand why there are teachers who will reply to me personally not contribute to the general discussion on the ETNI list (although one did proffer an explanation.) This, by the way, is not the first time that I have received a number of replies offlist and leads me to wonder whether people are afraid to express themselves in public. Anyway, I feel that I must respond to those who wrote defending the log claiming that because a number are randomly checked by representatives of the Inspectorate, it is an objective and fair method of assessment. I would like to point out that, as far as I know, the logs are checked for QUANTITY not QUALITY. In other words, they are checked to see if all of the components have been done for each piece, not how they were done or on what they were based. Even if pupils from different schools do the whole log properly, their grades will still not be commensurate with the amount or the level of work that they have done if their teachers are allowed a free rein with the pieces they teach and the assignments that they set. The log remains, therefore, an unfair method of assessment and the fact that it is worth so much in the final Bagrut grade means that the whole Bagrut exam itself has ceased to be an accurate measure of the pupilæ¯ knowledge of English. In fact, I have heard that this salient point has reached the Israeli academia, which is now seriously reconsidering the value of the English Bagrut exam in university acceptance procedure. David Graniewitz Jerusalem ************************************** ** Join ETNI on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/groups/31737970668/ ** ETNI Blog and Poll http://ask-etni.blogspot.co.il/ ** Etni homepage - http://www.etni.org ** post to ETNI List - etni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx ** help - ask@xxxxxxxx ***************************************