Blanket '2's in Language Arts

[Anonymous]

Thus is the response after kids have been getting perfect grades all of these years. I’d finally be happy that someone was telling me the truth about my kid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My 3rd graders teacher said to expect lower grades than we're used to seeing for the first quarter or two because the new curriculum is a big adjustment for a lot of kids. They'll catch up once they adapt to the new format and how much more writing they're doing and be better for it.

Lower grades would be fine. The problem is all the grades on assignments coming home have been good. Nothing approaching a 2 level. If they are struggling with the new curriculum then shouldn't it be showing up in the classwork and homework as well?

Giving every single kid the exact same grade (2) means the report card is worthless for understanding how they are doing. Are they doing as expected with the new material, better than their peers, lagging behind? WTF is a report card even for if every child is unilaterally assigned the exact same grade? Parents shouldn't have to guess if it's a "real" 2 and we need to spend extra time helping, or if the teacher just peaced out on the grading workday and gave everyone the same grade regardless of performance.

Teacher here. The teacher either misinterpreted the info given or is lazy. The email was to prepare teachers if parents complained cause their kid went from 3s and 4s to 2s. No where did the email say, all students will get 2s. I teach AAP and my LA grades range from
2-4. Did I give a lot of 2s? Yes. But only if warranted.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My 3rd graders teacher said to expect lower grades than we're used to seeing for the first quarter or two because the new curriculum is a big adjustment for a lot of kids. They'll catch up once they adapt to the new format and how much more writing they're doing and be better for it.

Lower grades would be fine. The problem is all the grades on assignments coming home have been good. Nothing approaching a 2 level. If they are struggling with the new curriculum then shouldn't it be showing up in the classwork and homework as well?

Giving every single kid the exact same grade (2) means the report card is worthless for understanding how they are doing. Are they doing as expected with the new material, better than their peers, lagging behind? WTF is a report card even for if every child is unilaterally assigned the exact same grade? Parents shouldn't have to guess if it's a "real" 2 and we need to spend extra time helping, or if the teacher just peaced out on the grading workday and gave everyone the same grade regardless of performance.

Teacher here. The teacher either misinterpreted the info given or is lazy. The email was to prepare teachers if parents complained cause their kid went from 3s and 4s to 2s. No where did the email say, all students will get 2s. I teach AAP and my LA grades range from
2-4. Did I give a lot of 2s? Yes. But only if warranted.

+1
3rd Grade Teacher

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DP
My kids teacher said a 4 is only for 100% perfect all of the time.
So, what does that make a 3? 75-99? 85-99?

Previously I thought a 4 was like an A, a 3 like a B....but that can't be if 4's are only for perfection...

It's totally teacher dependent. My 7th grader had teachers who gave 4s to represent As and teachers who said they only gave 4s for kids who were already performing at end-of-grade-level. My kids vastly prefer a system where the grade corresponds to grades on individual assignments weighted by a pre-defined scale rather than fuzzy, subjective "mastery."

[Anonymous]

This teacher is misguided. As an elementary teacher and parent, I would protest in writing to the teacher and principal because I don’t let stupid things like that go, because then that opens the door to other stupid things. I would tell my kid not to worry about it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My 3rd graders teacher said to expect lower grades than we're used to seeing for the first quarter or two because the new curriculum is a big adjustment for a lot of kids. They'll catch up once they adapt to the new format and how much more writing they're doing and be better for it.

That’s what my kid’s 3rd grade teacher said too and said during his parent teacher conference that his 74% on the first assessment in the new curriculum was “a very high score,” so who knows. I agree the teacher in the OP sounds like she misunderstood the guidance, but I wouldn’t be surprised if my kid’s grades fell a lot because the work is much harder this year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DP
My kids teacher said a 4 is only for 100% perfect all of the time.
So, what does that make a 3? 75-99? 85-99?

Previously I thought a 4 was like an A, a 3 like a B....but that can't be if 4's are only for perfection...

Yeah, it doesn’t work like that on the ES. They don’t correlate to percentage grades.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DP
My kids teacher said a 4 is only for 100% perfect all of the time.
So, what does that make a 3? 75-99? 85-99?

Previously I thought a 4 was like an A, a 3 like a B....but that can't be if 4's are only for perfection...

Yeah, it doesn’t work like that on the ES. They don’t correlate to percentage grades.

Actually, for some of the upper elementary grades they do. I've seen a chart, I just can't find it... I'm pretty sure it was sent home by a teacher. And last year DC's teacher put %=# on graded assignments.
Clearly the graded assignments aren't the whole grade because dc can get 100% on all graded assignments and still get a 3 on report card.
Without knowing what was used to make that choice it's hard to know what to think about it, but I agree dc isn't perfect if that's the bar for a 4.

[Anonymous]

Our 5th grade teacher did not do grades like this. ELA for Q1 was all 4's and 3's in writing as usual. Giving everyone a 2 isn't differentiating between kids who are clicking with the new curriculum and kids who aren't.

[Anonymous]

Our teacher must have made grades up. We saw nothing come home graded all. It’s all a mystery.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DP
My kids teacher said a 4 is only for 100% perfect all of the time.
So, what does that make a 3? 75-99? 85-99?

Previously I thought a 4 was like an A, a 3 like a B....but that can't be if 4's are only for perfection...

Yeah, it doesn’t work like that on the ES. They don’t correlate to percentage grades.

Actually, for some of the upper elementary grades they do. I've seen a chart, I just can't find it... I'm pretty sure it was sent home by a teacher. And last year DC's teacher put %=# on graded assignments.
Clearly the graded assignments aren't the whole grade because dc can get 100% on all graded assignments and still get a 3 on report card.
Without knowing what was used to make that choice it's hard to know what to think about it, but I agree dc isn't perfect if that's the bar for a 4.

The chart was probably teacher specific. My kids' had different grading standards in each of the upper ES grades. In one case it was super easy to get a 4, another case was super hard, and the last was in the middle.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DP
My kids teacher said a 4 is only for 100% perfect all of the time.
So, what does that make a 3? 75-99? 85-99?

Previously I thought a 4 was like an A, a 3 like a B....but that can't be if 4's are only for perfection...

Yeah, it doesn’t work like that on the ES. They don’t correlate to percentage grades.

Actually, for some of the upper elementary grades they do. I've seen a chart, I just can't find it... I'm pretty sure it was sent home by a teacher. And last year DC's teacher put %=# on graded assignments.
Clearly the graded assignments aren't the whole grade because dc can get 100% on all graded assignments and still get a 3 on report card.
Without knowing what was used to make that choice it's hard to know what to think about it, but I agree dc isn't perfect if that's the bar for a 4.

I’m thinking that chart must have been specific to that teacher or grade level at that school. There isn’t a set correlation between % and the 1-4 grades. I’ve been teaching since before we switched from O, G, S, N grades and standards based grades are not percentage based or averaged.

https://www.fcps.edu/academics/grading-and-reporting/elementary-school/elementary-grading-and-reporting-handbook-parents

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DP
My kids teacher said a 4 is only for 100% perfect all of the time.
So, what does that make a 3? 75-99? 85-99?

Previously I thought a 4 was like an A, a 3 like a B....but that can't be if 4's are only for perfection...

Don’t try to match it up with percentages.
A 4 is pretty close to perfect all of the time, but not quite;

4 - Consistently demonstrates concepts and skills of standard taught this quarter

Frequency of behavior, nearly all the time
Requires no support when demonstrating understanding
Demonstrates a thorough understanding of content taught
Makes no major errors or omissions when demonstrating concepts or processes taught

https://www.fcps.edu/academics/grading-reporting/elementary-school/elementary-grading-and-reporting-handbook-parents

[Anonymous]

My daughter is in 5th grade she has an IEP for dyslexia and received 3 in reading & LA. In her one & one over the past years she has been concentrating on phonics. I think this new programs is a great fit for her disability.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My fifth grader's report card came back and every child received all 2's in the Language Arts section. The rest of the report card is mostly 4's as usual. We just received a group email from the teacher, probably because all the parents are hitting her inbox.

The district has provided guidance on how Language Arts grades should be reported this year. Since we will be teaching and reinforcing these learning standards throughout the entire year, students are not expected to demonstrate full mastery by the end of the first quarter. As a result, all students will receive a score of "2" for this first quarter. This approach is designed to allow students to show continued growth as the year progresses.

Talk about lazy and useless grading. How is this acceptable? Any other teachers / schools doing this or is it our teacher's own misguided take on (or stupid protest of) the new Language Arts curriculum? How can giving children "bad" grades who have always been good students help them to want to learn?

Yes, I realize these elementary school number grades don't matter in the long run. But I don't think telling my child, "don't worry, grades don't matter" is a good message either.

My DC is much younger but I do recall the teacher saying something different at the conference, so it sounds like this might be a specific teacher thing. The teacher made a point of telling me if the ratings go down in the next quarter it doesn't mean anything has changed and that the child's performance is worsening. Instead it may be because what is being evaluated changes (they are always learning new things).