**** ETNI on the web http://www.etni.org.il http://www.etni.org **** -------- Original Message -------- Subject: Re: giving school ("magen" grades) From: "Rita G. Braunstein" <ritabr@xxxxxxx> Thanks to Laurie for describing the situation in what I believe is common in many schools. Up until last year I 'went with the flow' and gave Magen grades according to their expected Bagrut grade. Last year I finally put my foot down and gave a school grade that the pupils deserved - sometimes a lot higher than the Bagrut grade but, more important, for some pupils it was a lot lower than their potential Bagrut grade if they were not attending class, handing in assignments and not making any effort. Can I say it felt good? Certainly not. But I am convinced that this is more fair in the long run and although it hurts me to be 'mean', I will continue from now on. Rita Braunstein Laurie wrote: > > School Grades ("Magen") > > > > Just like Aviva Shapiro has written, we had a situation 3 years > > ago (?) (the second to the last year of the 'old' bagrut test) where > > many of the 12th grade 4 point students (spread over 2 classes) > > were convinced they didn't have to bother with book reports, > > literature, homework, or even acceptable behavior in the classroom. > > It was just one of those years, where the dominant tone of the class > > was set by those who don't study rather than those who do. > > For a few it became ideological - why put in extra effort into anything > > besides practice tests, which is what our grades should reflect? > > Try to convice students like this that what is not on the bagrut but > > required by the Ministry as part of their final class grade is > > important. > > (This is a huge problem for us, in general, the fact that there are all > > these requirements for their school grade which are unrelated to what > > they are tested on for the bagrut). > > > > In short, because of the discrepancies between class grades and > > bagrut scores, the students who didn't fulfill bagrut requirements and > > didn't study much that year were the big winners. 90% was their > > bagrut score and 10% was their class grade. The message to me was > > to inflate grades. This infuriates me, lowers standards and sends the > > message to students that they will get what they don't deserve in the > > end anyway. The reply from the Ministry was that there must be > > something wrong with the way we taught. I think there is something > > wrong with being expected to teach one set of things and being > > tested on another. > > > > I subsequently began to pay more attention to this probem, of course. > > I have heard how other schools 'encourage" their teachers to make > > students grades fit their prospected bagrut scores. At English > > conferences I detected from teachers' remarks, that the non - bagrut > > related requirements were not always being taken seriously or even > > taught. Every year since then, I secretly hope that only a small > > percentage of students will have this gap between class grade and > > bagrut score, so that I don't have to face this moral dilemna over > > again. ##### To send a message to the ETNI list email: etni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx ##### ##### Send queries and questions to: ask@xxxxxxxx #####