I've been having some intense conversations with parents about SBG. Some people are really upset. Some people are more curious. Some people seem to come in expecting to find some kind of really dismissive grammar and translation Nazi, and then seem surprised to find that I'm passionate about a communicative approach and that I don't just grade students on pencil and paper tests.

It's almost as if the idea of linking academics to real life means throwing out an expectation of excellence. At no time is this more apparent than when the student who has an "A" in his English class e-mails me and a good percentage of words are misspelled. Capitalization has been flung to the wayside as if needlessly pedantic. Punctuation is only for formal situations, and we're all friends here, so why bother?

I had a parent ask me to what extent this system was in beta. I hear that. I didn't have a better answer than, "Well, you know, in education we are always experimenting." I wish that people would question grade inflation at the university level the same way they question a content mastery system.

The conversations I'm having with students are really different. For the most part, I'm seeing a lot of pride in their knowledge, an enthusiasm for learning that is not related to candy OR grades, and work that in all my years of teaching I have only been able to imagine my students doing.