My kid started Jr. High last week. He couldn't stop talking about how much he loved his History teacher.
This afternoon we found him in tears, overcome by stress and self-doubt. His grade for his first short answer homework: 50/100.
...It was graded by an @EdgenuityInc algorithm.

Teachers, for your students' sake: I get it, teaching online is overwhelming and you can't do it all. _Please_, use the algorithm to track their learning. But don't post to them as if it's a measure of their performance. It's more destructive than you know.

I see this hurt unfold in my child, caused by an automatic grading algorithm that values only rote repetition, even as I'm reading @Jessifer and other beautiful writing about ungrading. Well, that's it, I'm done.

I should add that I told him how to game the @EdgenuityInc algorithm: write long answers, include lots of proper names, read the "right" answers and replicate them. This evening he got 80/100, a 30-point spread. What is he learning here?

Algorithm update. He cracked it: Two full sentences, followed by a word salad of all possibly applicable keywords. 100% on every assignment. Students on @EdgenuityInc, there's your ticket. He went from an F to an A+ without learning a thing.