School district officials around the country are struggling to define how instruction will continue, and more importantly how students will be evaluated, given that school sites will be closed through the end of the school year. Some district administrators have decided to emulate the actions of many US colleges, and implement a Pass/No Pass grading…
Tag: Grades
Top 25 Nationally Ranked Universities Adopt Pass/No Pass-Style Grades for Spring 2020
To date, thirteen of the top twenty-five US News & World Report nationally ranked universities, all adopted Pass/No Pass-style grading systems for the spring term, due to the COVID-19 health crisis: Although Pass/No Pass is the default system at UC Berkeley, University of Pennsylvania, Brown, Princeton and Yale, students can still “opt-in” to be awarded…
Who’s the Class Clown?
Teachers got jokes Some advice for those students wanting to be the next Jack Ryan: If you’re looking to hide top secret information, insert it into a syllabus or an assignment’s instructions. No one will ever read it. — Typical EduCelebrity (@EduCelebrity) December 2, 2019 And, just to shake things up for those parents who…
SAT Adversity Scores
The Wall Street Journal recently unveiled of what’s being called, “SAT Adversity Score”, which is an attempt to address the question of fairness in college admissions, as well as the “nature vs. nurture” debate about what most influences a human to develop their full human potential. In their own executive summary, The College Board reasons…
AP Exam = Stress?
Now that AP (Advanced Placement) tests are imminent, the stress level of high school students (and by extension—their parents) is noticeably increasing. Not only are students taking multiple tests in a few short weeks, students are also in the last month of a long school year, and the pressures of thinking that college admissions officers…
The Unveiling of the Educational Meritocracy
As the saying goes, “For every system, there is a counter system.” And, the recent Federal indictments of 50 individuals only becomes the latest example of an educational counter-system. College coaches, athletic department administrators, parents, and Rick Singer, the independent college admissions consultant, collectively found a way around the admissions office, the “front door” of…
Grade Inflation Exposed
I often listen to students’ and parents’ worries about high school grades that are any other letter but an A. The A grade has become synonymous with “smart”, “the key to college acceptances” and “bragging rights”. But, in the quest to “achieve”, often the confidence in knowing oneself and one’s strengths, so as to boldly…
ARGGHHH…#$%@^ Sickness
The days of Calvin-esque thinking are gone. Now, to miss school and recover from illness is more trouble than worthwhile. Missing assignments means hours of make-up work on top of already multi-hour nightly homework sessions, and missing tests is a complex, logistical hassle to coordinate already busy teacher’s, kid’s and parent’s carpool schedules to find time…
The Junior Dilemma
Right about now, junior parents’ anxieties about college applications begin rising. Thus, they begin asking, imploring, nagging, begging, commanding their 16 or 17 year old teenager to discuss the details of their college plans. However, juniors may resist their parents’ attempts to initiate conversation about their futures—mostly demonstrated by not applying for summer programs, not…
In the Midst of College Admissions, Brilliance is Born
The Daily Academic Dilemma Director: Surya Sundararajan with an assist from Hubbubbaloo Creative
The Middle Class Squeeze
In the last several years, our middle class clients are being confronted by flattening incomes and college costs that have risen over 1000%. More and more families are finding themselves not only planning to pay for college when their children are quite young, but asking for more financial assistance when their children are ready to…
Guest Post: Life After Getting Into College
Kai is a Midshipman at the U.S. Naval Academy (USNA), Class of 2016. He will graduate with an Aerospace Engineering degree, as well as completed the requirements for medical school. He also runs on the USNA Cross Country and Indoor/Outdoor Track and Field Team. Below are Kai’s reflections on the transition from high school to college: __________________________________________________________…
Homework Blues
Presented for parents who contend daily, sometimes through a full 12 rounds, with their teenagers about their homework assignments: Published May 13, 2015
Ahead of the Curve: March 18, 2014
From Our Clients: The New SAT: current high school freshman (Class of 2017) will be the first students to take the recently updated SAT. The newest version with an optional essay section, will be given for the first time in Spring 2016. Stay tuned for how the new SAT will or will not affect the college…
“When You Cheat You Only Hurt Yourself”
Although, generally cast in moral terms, academic cheating can be explained by examining practicality and circumstance, rather than attributing to simply a character weakness. Understanding when people cheat can help show the complexity of why people cheat. In 2012, 125 Harvard undergraduates were investigated for sharing answers on a take home final exam, and approximately…