mater, Poughkeepsie Day School, who's never given grades in PreK-12, in its
75 year history.
It is the nature of school communities that their membership changes
constantly, so no matter how much you slay "education" and give birth to
"learning" in an institution, it's useful to have structural elements built
into the place to guide new community members towards a shared understandin=
g
of your values. The choice to eschew grades entirely, not just at the lower
grade levels, is, IMO, the finest example of such a structural element. Ove=
r
the years, I've seen many many students, teachers, parents and admins come
to the school with hefty skepticism about our assessment practices, and it'=
s
rare that they don't end up wondering what the big deal about grades was to
begin with.
Obviously, there are those who would vigorously justify the value of grades=
.
I'd just like to see them do it one letter or less :)
Thanks all for this discussion,
Peter Vinogradov
On Thu, Mar 4, 2010 at 7:05 AM, Laurie Bartels <
laurie_bartels@ryecountryday.org> wrote:
> Hi Norman, Joel, and everyone else,
>
> Regarding independent schools that do not (or no longer) give grades to
> students=85
>
> I am a huge fan of [ http://www.saintannsny.org/ ]St Ann's (spent my firs=
t
> six years of teaching there) in Brooklyn, NY. St Ann's has never given
> grades; report cards consist of anecdotal comments. There is a heavy focu=
s
> on the arts and in the early years of lower school there are no "grades"
> (i.e. 1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc). Rather, students spend as much time as
> necessary in the lower school (switching each year to another class, with
> classes named by teacher) until they are ready for middle school.
>
> If anyone out in ISED land is from St Ann's, please chime in with more
> info. Thanks!
>
> Cheers,
> Laurie
>
>
>
> [ For info on ISED-L see https://www.gds.org/podium/default.aspx?t=3D1288=
74]
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--=20
Peter Vinogradov
845-475-8466
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