Re: Is "Grade Level" A Load of Hooey?

["ElsaHaas" <ElsaHaas@si.rr.com>]

Peter, 

Yes, a load of hooey. Forget grade level - why do most schools even have
grades (in either of the two senses of the word)? 

Have you read John Taylor Gatto's Dumbing Us Down?

Albany Free School doesn't have grades (of either kind), and they seem to do
well with kids of various backgrounds (in the long run, which is what
counts). 

Elsa (unschooling mom to an almost-ten-year-old who didn't read until he was
eight and who now reads 500-page novels of his own free will)

-----Original Message-----
From: arn-l-owner@interversity.org [mailto:arn-l-owner@interversity.org] On
Behalf Of Peter Campbell
Sent: Monday, April 06, 2009 11:30 PM
To: ARN State; ARN Main List; arn2-strategy; ndsg Study Group
Subject: [arn-l] Is "Grade Level" A Load of Hooey?

At the heart of the "achievement gap" is the contention that lots of  
low-income minority kids are "not at grade level" and are often said  
to be several "grade levels" behind.

But what do we mean by "grade level"? Grade level is the score of the  
average child in a particular grade on a norm-based test. But, by  
definition, 50% of all children are always below grade level. [...]

Peter