Please bear with me a moment. I am TRULY ranting! I am so fed up with the education system that I am begging for someone to just say I am the insane one and put me out of everyone’s misery.
Slept in today, something our family does not do often. I have two active teens. Soccer, archery, marching band, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, friends, family and everyday life. My husband and I both work full-time doing what we can to provide for our kids and family. We depend on the education system to educate our children and prepare them for the “REAL WORLD”. So…as I said, we slept in. No activities today. A relaxing day at home. I check my email as I always do first thing, sorry, never have enjoyed reading the local newspaper. Much to my surprise, I received an email, forwarded to me via archery coach, forwarded to them by other coach, forwarded to that coach by our school athletic director…indicating that my eldest is “not eligible for archery effective 1/11/14”. No explanation, no prior notice.
Of course, I am PISSED. Why is a parent hearing this through a third-party for the first time? That is my main question. So, I take a moment to calm my nerves and begin an email:
“I do NOT appreciate receiving an email on a Saturday morning regarding the academic status of my child from a coach via an athletic director via another coach!!!!!
Furthermore, what makes **** “not allowed to participate”? Which class? Where’s the letter home to parents? Where’s the phone call to parents? Did you forget **** is still under 18 and has an adult that is ultimately responsible for **** well-being?
I cannot get access to grades via infinite campus. When I did have access, the grades were “never correct” because of the teachers not updating or correcting grades to reflect the “edgenuity” portion of classes. Speaking of edgenuity, **** edgenuity work could not be done over the Winter break because the teachers NEVER unlocked the quizzes for **** to work on them. We contacted them via the app and never received a reply, until school was in session, of course the reply was nothing more than “OK” from a teacher. It wasn’t unlocked until later in the week. How can you send a letter home bragging about the effectiveness and importance of a program and insisting students work on it over the winter break if you will have NO ONE MONITORING THE TECHNICAL ASPECTS REMOTELY? The fact that I am pretty sure this is all a result of edgenuity really upsets me because the program is NOT being used properly. As a parent, I’ve done everything I know to do short of being at school EVERY DAY.
To top all of this off, as a student this should NEVER come to this point. **** teachers have been told to contact ME personally anytime **** falls behind or at academic risk. I’ve received NOTHING from any teacher.
The situation has me highly upset and I want this fixed TODAY!”
Now, I figured I would probably be waiting for a while…so while waiting, I did some more research. Learning that once again, grades are NOT what they seem. Our school has gone to a weird system giving out 1, 2, 3 and 4 or E, M, PM, M, N and I – multiplying these by 1.0% in most cases. I notice an entry for this edgenuity and it’s multiplied by 1% and 13.33% in others. So, I look into the edgenuity and discover that my kids cannot work on it because it’s locked.
WHAT IS THIS EDGENUITY I SPEAK OF ?? edgenuity is an online education ‘tool’ to be used as a supplemental program in conjunction with regular courses. Designed for ‘blended learning’.
In our school, it’s an ‘experiment’….our students are NOT in the class with the teacher that ultimately grades them during edgenunity lab. They are sent ONE DAY A WEEK to a “lab” where they spend the entire class with ‘proctors’, watching a video by yet another teacher, they will probably NEVER meet in person. These proctors may be certified teachers, who they may know names, who smart off to kids and never lecture or help instruct during this lab. Then they return students to their regular day. Modern day study hall if you ask me. Easy job. Why didn’t I hear about it? YES, this is done for EVERY CLASS, even electives. So, for gym, one day a week kids are put in front of a computer screen watching videoed lessons and taking a quiz three times then the grade translates to their class weighted at as little as 1% or up to 25%. I say the 25% because I’ve heard SEVERAL kids saying they were told that at one point during the semester.
If you are reading this and you are a part of our school system; I beg of you to speak up. Quit letting the school toy with your kids….they are not for experimenting.
I have received e-mail responses and I will refrain from posting them here; but in a nut shell, I was told that:
- grades are not all in and won’t be until the deadline Wednesday
- it’s the athletic director’s job to check grades weekly and report them to coaches
- my student could have done some retakes (the joy of standards based grading) to potentially increase the grade
- the teachers are all open about reaching out to parents and don’t know why this didn’t happen
- there’s a staff expert on staff that will have to answer other questions
- there’s one staff member that did resets over the break
- this is a short term, still have all semester to get grades up
In other words, I must be over reacting. Right? It’s not a big deal, it’s just the first semester. The funny thing about the “staff expert” – trust me readers of this rant….that person is NOT an expert!!
Of course, my response to these points were:
“Thank you for a quick response. I apologize others have been brought into this discussion. This would have been avoided if teachers had contacted me in the beginning.
If grades are NOT in, then why are we worrying about eligibility?
Why aren’t grades in? If modern technology is expected to be used by parents and students, it helps if teachers use it. The computer is only as good as the user.I still find it interesting that I find out about grades via a third party and NOT the teacher. I have no doubt **** would do retakes if given the opportunity. That is not the issue. The issue here is.. .WHY AM I NOTIFIED ABOUT GRADES VIA AN ATHLETIC DIRECTOR VIA A COACH VIA A COACH ? I’m also confused as to why retakes is even mentioned at this point if the semester is closed?
Standards based, common core and edgenuity are the downfall of education. Give them books. Make them do term papers. Use edgenuity for supplemental purposes the way it is intended. I’m tired of our kids being guinea pigs for education. First it was the iPad program and now edgenuity….both potentially great programs IF the district had the staff with experience. Perfect example….expecting ONE person to unlock assessments for students. When students are told to contact the ‘edgenuity proctor for that class to get it unlocked’. We did just that over break and it was never unlocked. I never heard *******’s name uttered from my kids when they were telling me who is in those labs that unlocks assessments. HOW can you hold a child responsible for the actions of an adult?
I would like BOTH of my kids removed from edgenunity “labs/experiment” and put back into their classes with Jessamine County teachers who lecture during those times. I’ve spoken to parents with kids in archery, soccer, football, bowling, swimming and band – the common things I keep hearing are:
- “this is NOT how they told us edgenunity was going to be used”
- “my child is passing the class until edgenuity grade goes in”
- “this experiment is a waste of time and money”
- “my child can’t get the work done because they don’t have time in class and we have no internet at home”
- “I have no clue how my child is doing on edgenuity”
- “edgenuity? what is that?”
- “I was told it was just a lab and didn’t count”
- “I was told it counts 25% of their grade!”
- “my child does not have edgenuity on their schedule, when do they go?”
- “if it is an experiment, then why are they even grading them?”
As you can see, I have been trying to grasp this whole concept. It’s a great concept if it is used correctly. I looked at grades via an app on my kids ipads and I cannot make heads or tales of grades. What is a 4? SERIOUSLY!?!? That is so pre-k. Let me see A, B, C, D, F. How about E, PM, M ?? Can we just make it simple for EVERYONE involved? I finally accessed grades via computer and to my surprise…I find edgenuity so inconsistently used. Most classes I see a 1% weight. In US History, I see a 13.33% weight? WHY? In health (gym), I see NO WEIGHT given. I saw an “I” in one class, indicating **** had not even DONE edgenuity when in fact **** has.
During the break, I checked both of my kids’ edgenuity percentages based on the letter sent home. To my surprise. MATH was ***** ONLY class **** was behind in and it was only by a slight percentage and it was because the quizzes were not unlocked for ***** to take the remaining two. In History, ***** percentage was greatly above that target…yet ***** gets an “I” on grades?
***** is falling through the cracks of this experiment. ***** is NOT the type A personality that is required for this experiment. ***** needs structure. ***** needs accountability. ***** needs a challenge. ***** will easily quit once ***** feels defeated. I would expect teachers to know these things about my child….especially given all the time they spend with *****.
This edgenuity experiment is last semester.”
Of course, I’ve gotten no response. At this point, there is nothing that can be said beyond, an apology for using my kids and the counties as an experiment.
We cannot afford to home school our kids. I don’t feel I have the credentials to do so. I am beginning to think they would be better prepared for the real world ahead of them if I did. I figure that what the schools don’t teach during their 6 hours, 5 days a week, I can teach them in the short 3 hours 5 days a week and 24 hours two days a week I get…like how to sign their name (IN CURSIVE), how to balance a check book, how to fill out a job application, how to read a map, how to drive a car and of course, how to push through when others do not care about you.
I think a school board meeting is in my future!!!!!
CLIMB ABOARD MY SOAPBOX 