Second grader got a lot of 2s on final report card

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Which school district is this in? I have a 2nd grader in an Arlington school and they don't use numbers. It's interesting how different the grading styles are in the same area.

We are at Taylor and 2nd grade has the numbers. I think it’s standards based grading?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Which school district is this in? I have a 2nd grader in an Arlington school and they don't use numbers. It's interesting how different the grading styles are in the same area.

We are at Taylor and 2nd grade has the numbers. I think it’s standards based grading?

I thought all APS elementary schools used the numbers, or that's what our principal has told us when we (many sets of parents) have complained about how confusing the system is since you never know where they're "supposed" to be at a point in time in the school year.

Does ATS use a different system, or letter grades? I think I may have heard that.

In any case, I have two kids in the same grade (twins) - my more at-grade-level kid got all 3's, and my slightly-above-grade-level kid got a mix of 3's and 4's.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Which school district is this in? I have a 2nd grader in an Arlington school and they don't use numbers. It's interesting how different the grading styles are in the same area.

We are at Taylor and 2nd grade has the numbers. I think it’s standards based grading?

I thought all APS elementary schools used the numbers, or that's what our principal has told us when we (many sets of parents) have complained about how confusing the system is since you never know where they're "supposed" to be at a point in time in the school year.

Does ATS use a different system, or letter grades? I think I may have heard that.

In any case, I have two kids in the same grade (twins) - my more at-grade-level kid got all 3's, and my slightly-above-grade-level kid got a mix of 3's and 4's.

Our second grader is reading fairly advanced; they finished Harry Potter series and now reading Percy Jackson. From quizzing them they seem to have a good grasp of what they read, and complained about movies differing for HP. But they only got 3s — no 4s. Is that grade level reading?

[Anonymous]

Next year APS is changing the elementary grading to be based on what was taught that quarter, not based on the end of year standard. Some schools have already decided to do this but it was not the APS directive to schools this year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Next year APS is changing the elementary grading to be based on what was taught that quarter, not based on the end of year standard. Some schools have already decided to do this but it was not the APS directive to schools this year.

2s on the end of year report card are still below grade level. It's worth following up and considering tutoring and/or screening for LDs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:2’s are concerning

No, they’re not. It’s second grade, fer cryin’ out loud.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:2’s are concerning

No, they’re not. It’s second grade, fer cryin’ out loud.

Right, a foundational year where kids are learning basics. Being below grade level in 2nd means they may not have mastered foundational skills on which they will be expected to build in 3-5. By the end of 2nd, kids are expected to be competent readers so that they may begin using reading to explore other concepts (science, social studies, math word problems). So reading deficiencies at the point can snowball. Math concepts get much more complex in upper elementary. If a child has not mastered addition, subtraction, basic geometry and fractions, skip counting, etc., they are going to struggle with complex multiplication, division, and other concepts.

No one is suggesting a child should be above grade level at this stage. But you want your kid to be on track.

[Anonymous]

I would follow up with the teacher just to get get some insight into whatever is going on. Going from 3s to 2s seems concerning because it seems like your child is capable of being at grade level but has had a marked performance decrease

[Anonymous]

My 5th grader had mostly 3s but a couple of 2s and I think a single 4. She also scored pass advanced on her SOLs, and above 90th percentile on reading and math MAP tests. The one year they used letter grades (3rd), she had straight As.
I think the report cards have become fairly meaningless for APS elementary schools. Wouldn’t worry about it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:2’s are concerning

No, they’re not. It’s second grade, fer cryin’ out loud.

Ignore this ignorant response.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:2’s are concerning

No, they’re not. It’s second grade, fer cryin’ out loud.

Ignore this ignorant response.

+1… “fer cryin’”…. Clearly academics don’t mean much to this person.

[Anonymous]

No one pushes their kids anymore…. Yes, 2’s concerning.

[Anonymous]

I'd investigate and get tutoring. Nothing to panic about, but this is something to work on. I'm a teacher. The early years are really important. Figure out where his weaknesses are and work on them, not just over the summer, keep going with tutoring throughout the school year too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'd investigate and get tutoring. Nothing to panic about, but this is something to work on. I'm a teacher. The early years are really important. Figure out where his weaknesses are and work on them, not just over the summer, keep going with tutoring throughout the school year too.

Agreed. — Another teacher

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'd investigate and get tutoring. Nothing to panic about, but this is something to work on. I'm a teacher. The early years are really important. Figure out where his weaknesses are and work on them, not just over the summer, keep going with tutoring throughout the school year too.

What can people do if they can't afford tutoring? $75-100/hour seems the norm around here and that's a lot of $$ over a year. If 2s on a report card are that concerning, shouldn't the child be offered summer school or other remediation?