Middle school grading

[Anonymous]

My 7th grade DD has been pretty frustrated with her math grade. She studies hard and gets nearly all the answers right on her tests but is being graded down for technical nits in her work.

For example, at the end of a long word problem, she ended up with the correct answer of 1.96 (example). However, she forgot to put x=1.96 on the “show your work” section and only wrote “1.96” at the end. She was correct with x=1.96 in the answer box, but lost half the points for that problem anyway. Another example is that she’ll use the “not equal” symbol at the end of her “show your work”, gave the correct answer in the yes/no format the test asked for; however the teacher also wanted her to write “False” at the end of her “show your work” so lost points for that.

It’s very strange to me, since we were graded on the final answer when I went to school. Show your work was needed to show your thinking, but we weren’t graded down for these types of “errors”. Has that changed? Is this teacher-specific or how it works in FCPS math? It seems that even if you get the answer right, there’s always risk of getting graded down for technical matters in how you show your work.

[Anonymous]

Showing your work is nothing new in math. It demonstrates understanding/process and helps the teacher see what steps was missed/incorrect if the question is incorrect. It’s fairly common practice to split the points by work shown and correct answer.

[Anonymous]

OP,

A few things. For one, if you have any questions about DD's teacher's grading, ask the teacher about it. You can set up a conference through email. Secondly, we've all had bad teachers. It's a fact of life. Some teachers are actually horrible. So, maybe tell DD you understand her frustration but to tough it out until the end of the year. You can't shield DD from everything. But you should definitely talk to the teacher because that situation does seem kind of odd.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP,

A few things. For one, if you have any questions about DD's teacher's grading, ask the teacher about it. You can set up a conference through email. Secondly, we've all had bad teachers. It's a fact of life. Some teachers are actually horrible. So, maybe tell DD you understand her frustration but to tough it out until the end of the year. You can't shield DD from everything. But you should definitely talk to the teacher because that situation does seem kind of odd.

Thanks, we’ve tried. I had to ask here because discussions with the teacher have not been productive. Very defensive and not at all any technical discussion or reasoning. Just that it’s not them, it’s how FCPS does it. Maybe that’s the case, but seems unfair to grade down for yes/no instead of true/false when the question clearly asks for yes/no as the answer. Why write both? I’m starting to wonder if they’re going off of an answer key and marking every little thing that doesn’t match up.

We’re trying to determine if it’s worth asking to be placed with a different teacher next year or if it’s graded this way consistently.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP,

A few things. For one, if you have any questions about DD's teacher's grading, ask the teacher about it. You can set up a conference through email. Secondly, we've all had bad teachers. It's a fact of life. Some teachers are actually horrible. So, maybe tell DD you understand her frustration but to tough it out until the end of the year. You can't shield DD from everything. But you should definitely talk to the teacher because that situation does seem kind of odd.

Thanks, we’ve tried. I had to ask here because discussions with the teacher have not been productive. Very defensive and not at all any technical discussion or reasoning. Just that it’s not them, it’s how FCPS does it. Maybe that’s the case, but seems unfair to grade down for yes/no instead of true/false when the question clearly asks for yes/no as the answer. Why write both? I’m starting to wonder if they’re going off of an answer key and marking every little thing that doesn’t match up.

We’re trying to determine if it’s worth asking to be placed with a different teacher next year or if it’s graded this way consistently.

This is not how FCPS does it. This kind of micromanagement for math drives me nuts!.

[Anonymous]

I still remember the time I for some reason drew a line through my zero on the math test and got the answer wrong because apparently that also means empty set.

This isn’t new. What’s new is parents who think they can complain about this stuff.

[Anonymous]

^^

Ps my oldest is in 8th. I never contact their teachers now. If he has a problem - he should contact his teacher. They have to learn responsibility.

[Anonymous]

Attention to detail is very important in math and many math heavy careers. Leaving off the “x=“ is akin to not including units. The number by itself means nothing. Hopefully she now has a better understanding of the teachers expectations and won’t make this mistake again. Even if she doesn’t end up in a math heavy career, this type of attention to detail and checking her work will pay off in almost all aspects of life. You should encourage her to meet the challenge and have her practice correcting details in her work.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Attention to detail is very important in math and many math heavy careers. Leaving off the “x=“ is akin to not including units. The number by itself means nothing. Hopefully she now has a better understanding of the teachers expectations and won’t make this mistake again. Even if she doesn’t end up in a math heavy career, this type of attention to detail and checking her work will pay off in almost all aspects of life. You should encourage her to meet the challenge and have her practice correcting details in her work.

Explained it to mine that while some teachers may give more leeway, theirs does not and now that they know that, make sure to be careful with answers. If continues to bug them, can give example that a writing teacher would likely take points off for incomplete sentences, wrong use of punctuation, verb/subject agreement, etc.

[Anonymous]

Since the teacher’s grading does not reflect the child’s actual math skills, it’s poor. By all means, if possible, make sure the child is not in her class again.

[Anonymous]

My kid hates this part of the algebra class as his teacher is detail-orientated and requires the same thing. I, as someone who teaches science in college, TRULY appreciate this teacher's approach. I have seen so much bad work in my college class, some students could not even explain what was written by themselves when I asked. I understand your frustration but please know and please tell your kid this is the right way to do math, the systematic habit needs to be established when they are still young.

I also want to mention that it is actually much less work for teachers if they do not check the work or do not check them in detail. Try to appreciate this teacher....

[Anonymous]

A large, and often overlooked, part of mathematics is the ability to speak "the language" of mathematics correctly. If your education taught you only to value a correct answer, you probably did not study much advanced math, where the focus is (rightfully) less on a single, ultimate, final number, and more on the actual proof and application of logical processes to come to a conclusion. Mathematical proofs have a grammar and syntax all their own and the study of more advanced mathematics should rightfully focus on a student's ability to use them to communicate the process of finding solutions correctly, as well as expressing those solutions in the correct form.

If mathematics was only concerned with answers, there would be no need to study it at all, since calculators and computers can find solutions much more quickly and accurately. If you want your child to learn mathematics well, then she will need to pay attention to these small errors and correct them, same as she would fix spelling mistakes in Language Arts. You would not argue that spelling and grammar make no difference in writing, as long as you can understand the conclusion, would you? So why are you promoting that idea for mathematics?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A large, and often overlooked, part of mathematics is the ability to speak "the language" of mathematics correctly. If your education taught you only to value a correct answer, you probably did not study much advanced math, where the focus is (rightfully) less on a single, ultimate, final number, and more on the actual proof and application of logical processes to come to a conclusion. Mathematical proofs have a grammar and syntax all their own and the study of more advanced mathematics should rightfully focus on a student's ability to use them to communicate the process of finding solutions correctly, as well as expressing those solutions in the correct form.

If mathematics was only concerned with answers, there would be no need to study it at all, since calculators and computers can find solutions much more quickly and accurately. If you want your child to learn mathematics well, then she will need to pay attention to these small errors and correct them, same as she would fix spelling mistakes in Language Arts. You would not argue that spelling and grammar make no difference in writing, as long as you can understand the conclusion, would you? So why are you promoting that idea for mathematics?

I tutor several math students who parents asking for enrichment. They are fairly smart and can find the answer, but they have no idea what to do when the questions require that they need to work the formula/steps in a different way. They can rarely explain their thinking or justify their answer. I also find that those who don’t show their work make quite a few mental math mistakes or skip steps erroneously.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A large, and often overlooked, part of mathematics is the ability to speak "the language" of mathematics correctly. If your education taught you only to value a correct answer, you probably did not study much advanced math, where the focus is (rightfully) less on a single, ultimate, final number, and more on the actual proof and application of logical processes to come to a conclusion. Mathematical proofs have a grammar and syntax all their own and the study of more advanced mathematics should rightfully focus on a student's ability to use them to communicate the process of finding solutions correctly, as well as expressing those solutions in the correct form.

If mathematics was only concerned with answers, there would be no need to study it at all, since calculators and computers can find solutions much more quickly and accurately. If you want your child to learn mathematics well, then she will need to pay attention to these small errors and correct them, same as she would fix spelling mistakes in Language Arts. You would not argue that spelling and grammar make no difference in writing, as long as you can understand the conclusion, would you? So why are you promoting that idea for mathematics?

Yes. But if the work is correct and all they forgot is x=, why should they be docked? They should not be docked full points and some teachers do this. A kid can get the work correct and the answer correct and can get a bad score.

[Anonymous]

In math, I harassed my child for years about making sure that they follow the instructions closely, put things in their proper place, and place everything as neatly as possible.
He's always been really good at math in elementary school and now middle school though a little lazy, but I know that his carelessness in math will hold him back at some point. When he was younger, he would push back, but in algebra and now geometry, he has to admit that I was right and he's trying to take charge of it.

I can't get a sense of how nitpicky your child's teacher is (sure, some can be excessive) but if my grade depended on it, I would figure out how to do it the teacher's way.