A+ Student

[Anonymous]

What does your middle school or high school student do to get straight A's in your DCPS or charter school? What would they say if they were to advise a student one year younger to get straight As? I realize this varies based on many factors (difficulty of class, teacher preference, etc). I'm interested in hearing real stories for insight. Thanks!

[Anonymous]

Does all the work on time and complete and legible, with her name on it. Does not lose it, forget it, allow it to marinate in backpack slime, etc. A solid set of organizational habits will help. Consider having designated "homework time" explicitly part of your week. Read That Crumpled Paper Was Due Last Week, it's really good. They're not looking for works of genius, they're looking for the work to be done, every time.

[Anonymous]

Listen and participate in class, be respectful of the teacher, do your homework and on time. that's it. also, ask questions and look for help if you dont understand something, dont hide problems because eventually they become bigger and harder to overcome

[Anonymous]

This is good advice, thanks!

[Anonymous]

If you are a reasonably bright kid, straight As boil down to turning things in on time. DCPS doesn't seem especially rigorous, so my kid's issues are always that they forgot to turn something in or forgot to do it and had to slap something together at the last minute.

[Anonymous]

Understand the rubric and make sure all assignments have all the required components, complete work on time, participate in class, pull more than your own weight in group projects, help others (the teachers do notice this), don’t rely on the ability to redo work.

[Anonymous]

A reasonably intelligent kid is capable of a 4.0. But there is so much arbitrariness to the grading. The key is to check aspen constantly and to follow up on every grade that is not an A.

[Anonymous]

Do you mean straight As on the final year long transcript? Get three A-s and 1 A for the four quarters. You’ll get an A. DCPS grading has zero accountability or rigor.

[Anonymous]

you do need to get your kid to identify the opportunities for redoing work or doing extra credit. These are pretty common and help grades.

There are also situations where a kid who is doing something for school (field trip or something) isn't in class and an in-class assignment happens and the kid gets no grade. You need to tell the kid to talk to the teacher quickly and ask what they can do to make it right. (Waiting too long makes it complex and can jam up the teacher.)

Check ASPEN and identify the situations where the kid got an incomplete or 60 or 70 grade and figure out what to do about it, as it could be unique to each situation and it could be just something was ungraded or it could be an assignment slipped off the teacher's desk and into the trash (or whatever).

[Anonymous]

I have a straight A kid at BASIS. I think the secret to success is:

(1) Luck. Child was born without learning difficulties and is bright. She tests well.
(2) Works hard to do all of the assignments. Does extra credit when offered.
(3) When she gets a question wrong, she wants to know why. She does not make the same mistake again.
(4) Studies for tests.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a straight A kid at BASIS. I think the secret to success is:

(1) Luck. Child was born without learning difficulties and is bright. She tests well.
(2) Works hard to do all of the assignments. Does extra credit when offered.
(3) When she gets a question wrong, she wants to know why. She does not make the same mistake again.
(4) Studies for tests.

I have not considered #3. That’s great advice. I will follow up with DC to make sure she goes over wrong answers. Thanks

[Anonymous]

I think a lot of student grade success comes from the student being organized and knows how to study.

These are skills rarely taught.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
There are also situations where a kid who is doing something for school (field trip or something) isn't in class and an in-class assignment happens and the kid gets no grade. You need to tell the kid to talk to the teacher quickly and ask what they can do to make it right. (Waiting too long makes it complex and can jam up the teacher.)

Check ASPEN and identify the situations where the kid got an incomplete or 60 or 70 grade and figure out what to do about it, as it could be unique to each situation and it could be just something was ungraded or it could be an assignment slipped off the teacher's desk and into the trash (or whatever).

This happened to my kid. Kid was traveling for a school event and did not know to turn on a class assignment until end of year when grades were being finalized. Got 0 credit which brought down GPA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a straight A kid at BASIS. I think the secret to success is:

(1) Luck. Child was born without learning difficulties and is bright. She tests well.
(2) Works hard to do all of the assignments. Does extra credit when offered.
(3) When she gets a question wrong, she wants to know why. She does not make the same mistake again.
(4) Studies for tests.

Yes! I teach at Ida B Wells and when I saw this post I thought about two students in last year's class who are both now at Banneker. Definitely true for #2-4 for each of them and especially #3. They would ALWAYS look back at their work, ask a BUNCH of questions and really want to know why even if they couldn't redo it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a straight A kid at BASIS. I think the secret to success is:

(1) Luck. Child was born without learning difficulties and is bright. She tests well.
(2) Works hard to do all of the assignments. Does extra credit when offered.
(3) When she gets a question wrong, she wants to know why. She does not make the same mistake again.
(4) Studies for tests.

I have not considered #3. That’s great advice. I will follow up with DC to make sure she goes over wrong answers. Thanks

Number 3 is key. I'm a former teacher (high school and also GRE and GMAT test prep) and looking at wrong answers, understanding what went wrong and then never making that mistake again is the key to A+s and also very high scores on standardized tests.