K report cards. Help me understand Ns and Is. And does it matter?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would not mention grades but I would also not let this attitude persist. I might ask the teacher to send home the incomplete work and make DD do it at home. Not because she actually needs to learn how to make V's purple, but because she needs to learn that you can't skip your work to do something fun at school, or else you will be skipping something fun at home to redo the work. It's just a bad habit and mindset to get into. The grades are not important.

This is what we do, plus the ones DC got wrong.

[Anonymous]

I don't think it matters what the grading rubric is. Even if it was P for pass or NP for Not Passed, if a child is not completing the work, then wouldn't the teacher give an NP because the child is not able to show consistently (by completely the work correctly) that he/she understands the material?

No proficiency is not supposed to factor in effort, achievement or other skills than the one being assessed. Students can demonstrate proficiency through various assessments. The teacher needs to deem that a child understands the materials or concept. We had the complete opposite problem as OP. DS was getting P's because he understood the material but all his work was blank or illegible because he had dysgraphia. It was an uphill because all the way up MCPS proficiency is about meeting the standard so if DS could verbally demonstrate he understand the concept then it didn't matter that he couldn't do the worksheet. While they conceded that he had an impediment with writing, their position was that he was still performing at grade level and it wasn't adversely impacting his ability to access education. We finally prevailed and got him on an IEP but it took thousands in outside testing and graduating up to a different teacher. Its insane and this system really harms kids with special needs.

Conversely many parents hate the new system because it only factors in reaching proficiency for the basic skill. Your kid can write the most amazing paper, do it in record time, exceed all expectations, do it five language, get it published and on the national best seller's list and its the same P as the illegible halfway completed one that the kid was able to verbalize to meet the rubric.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

I don't think it matters what the grading rubric is. Even if it was P for pass or NP for Not Passed, if a child is not completing the work, then wouldn't the teacher give an NP because the child is not able to show consistently (by completely the work correctly) that he/she understands the material?

No proficiency is not supposed to factor in effort, achievement or other skills than the one being assessed. Students can demonstrate proficiency through various assessments. The teacher needs to deem that a child understands the materials or concept. We had the complete opposite problem as OP. DS was getting P's because he understood the material but all his work was blank or illegible because he had dysgraphia. It was an uphill because all the way up MCPS proficiency is about meeting the standard so if DS could verbally demonstrate he understand the concept then it didn't matter that he couldn't do the worksheet. While they conceded that he had an impediment with writing, their position was that he was still performing at grade level and it wasn't adversely impacting his ability to access education. We finally prevailed and got him on an IEP but it took thousands in outside testing and graduating up to a different teacher. Its insane and this system really harms kids with special needs.

Conversely many parents hate the new system because it only factors in reaching proficiency for the basic skill. Your kid can write the most amazing paper, do it in record time, exceed all expectations, do it five language, get it published and on the national best seller's list and its the same P as the illegible halfway completed one that the kid was able to verbalize to meet the rubric.

OP didn't say anything about her kid having an LD. I would agree, that is a different scenario. But barring any LDs, I would imagine a child must show consistently that he understands the material to get a passing grade, and to do that, the child must be completing the work.

Same thing would apply to a HS kid. If the teacher knows that a HS kid knows the math inside/out, but the kid doesn't complete the HW assignment or even the tests, then I'm pretty sure the kid would not get a passing grade.

[Anonymous]

She's receiving scores for the work she's completing. If she rushes through it and completes it incorrectly, then that's what she will receive scores on.

[Anonymous]

In K, teachers are not supposed to confuse behavior with proficiency. There is clear direction on this. There is a section that assess behavioral skills and finishing tasks, working a group, taking risks are all measured. The teacher is in the wrong per 2.0. This child should have Ps in the specific skill areas if the teacher knows that she understands it but not DEM in the behavioral skills areas.

[Anonymous]

The old system did measure performance not proficiency. The teacher may not understand the new grading system.

[Anonymous]

We went through a similar phase with my son in k and first grade. Solution was to have the teacher send home the unfinished work (not every day but maybe once a week) and then have him finish it at home on a weekend when he would so rather be doing other things. Gave us a chance to reinforce that it was a problem, we were disappointed, etc. problem resolved and now we have the opposite issue: DS will remain and finish all work no matter how long it takes!

[Anonymous]

Could be she will get the Ns for the behavior part of the report card but no the academic sections.

[Anonymous]

As an aside, I think this seems like the kind of problem that a lot of kindergartners would have. I don't think I'd worry about it going forward. I'd just explain to the kid and encourage her to finish the work. I suspect it's boring for her and the class is big and she need some reminders and help staying on task. She probably won't be like this next year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would not mention grades but I would also not let this attitude persist. I might ask the teacher to send home the incomplete work and make DD do it at home. Not because she actually needs to learn how to make V's purple, but because she needs to learn that you can't skip your work to do something fun at school, or else you will be skipping something fun at home to redo the work. It's just a bad habit and mindset to get into. The grades are not important.

+1. If not doing assignments is becoming a pattern I would likely choose this approach. Especially in elementary, my focus would be on character training and habit formation, not grades. I consider both of those things far more important than grades. Two main things I would like to instill in my kids are that we take pride in our work, and we meet our obligations. I'm sure she's a great kid and very smart, but there seems to be a disconnect where she isn't yet understanding the importance of completing all of her assignments with careful effort. She's young, so there's still plenty of time to work on that, and that would be my focus.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In K, teachers are not supposed to confuse behavior with proficiency. There is clear direction on this. There is a section that assess behavioral skills and finishing tasks, working a group, taking risks are all measured. The teacher is in the wrong per 2.0. This child should have Ps in the specific skill areas if the teacher knows that she understands it but not DEM in the behavioral skills areas.

How can the teacher know she understands if she's not doing the work to demonstrate what she does or does not understand?

She may be a very smart kid who truly does understand all of the grade-level concepts, but in life just *being* smart isn't enough, you also have to do something in order to demonstrate what you do or do not know. Now is a good time to start helping her understand this vital fact.

[Anonymous]

I would not worry about it in K, OP.

However.
My 4th grader has exactly the same problem and at his age it is reflective of his learning disabilities. He knows what the stakes are and for the life of him cannot finish classwork by the due date. It relates to his extremely slow processing speed and distractibility, both stemming from ADHD.

So if this pattern persists next year, OP, and you notice other areas of concern, have your child evaluated.

[Anonymous]

How can the teacher know she understands if she's not doing the work to demonstrate what she does or does not understand?

The teacher told OP that she is confident that the child understands and knows the skills. The problem is that she doesn't complete tasks in class either due to inattention, fooling around/behavior or something else.

In the old system, the grade would be lowered and a child would not receive a Satisfactory or Outstanding even if they knew the skill but weren't finishing work in class. in 2.0, the academic skill, should not be lowered but the task completion skill should be an N.