What was the rationale for changing report cards in FCPS?

[Anonymous]

Just curious.

[Anonymous]

http://www.fcps.edu/is/elemprogreport/faq.shtml

[Anonymous]

They thought the little seed growing to a flower graphic was cute?

[Anonymous]

My wife and I are both teachers and we think that graphic is stupid. The progress reports themselves are good.

[Anonymous]

FCPC teachers are very understanding about a mistake in a grade. If you feel you have a good reason, talk with the teacher. I have twice, once was math error (teacher mistake) the other was my child was very ill and taking strong medicine. Retake. teachers were very understanding. maybe that is not waht the post is about?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:FCPC teachers are very understanding about a mistake in a grade. If you feel you have a good reason, talk with the teacher. I have twice, once was math error (teacher mistake) the other was my child was very ill and taking strong medicine. Retake. teachers were very understanding. maybe that is not waht the post is about?

I don't think this thread has anything to do with a mistake in a grade. It is about the change in the elementary grading and reporting system.

[Anonymous]

What bothers me about them is that they say repeatedly that a 4 is not an A, yet I get papers home with 4 ,3, etc.

If they mean a 4 is not an A then don't equate it. Just grade the papers with what's wrong or right or whatever and send them home. Kids in school (and I'm sure parents but I haven't discussed it with any) are equating them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What bothers me about them is that they say repeatedly that a 4 is not an A, yet I get papers home with 4 ,3, etc.

If they mean a 4 is not an A then don't equate it. Just grade the papers with what's wrong or right or whatever and send them home. Kids in school (and I'm sure parents but I haven't discussed it with any) are equating them.

Is there a grading rubric attached with the numerical score? The teacher should only be assigning a grade if it is being applied to a particular standard or benchmark. The grade shows how consistent the student is in demonstrating mastery of the concept.

[Anonymous]

No. Math papers will have something like -1 and then a 4 circled.

Some papers have a rubric, but others do not. They just a have a 4 or 3 or whatever.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What bothers me about them is that they say repeatedly that a 4 is not an A, yet I get papers home with 4 ,3, etc.

If they mean a 4 is not an A then don't equate it. Just grade the papers with what's wrong or right or whatever and send them home. Kids in school (and I'm sure parents but I haven't discussed it with any) are equating them.

This is what's happening at our school too.
I wonder if it would be better if they stuck with letter grades for classwork.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No. Math papers will have something like -1 and then a 4 circled.

Some papers have a rubric, but others do not. They just a have a 4 or 3 or whatever.

Ok. My understanding is any time you assess using the new scale, it should have a rubric and the standard (or benchmark) being assessed attached. Otherwise, we can just show the raw score or similar.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is there a grading rubric attached with the numerical score? The teacher should only be assigning a grade if it is being applied to a particular standard or benchmark. The grade shows how consistent the student is in demonstrating mastery of the concept.

If you keep the basic report card at hand -- you should have been given a sample one at your back-to-school night, or can find one online -- you will have the "rubric" right there whenever a paper comes home with the numbers on it. That is the benchmark and the meaning of the number you see. If the teacher uses a more specific rubric, ask to see that.

We are new to this too but so far it seems like it is a system much more tied to the child's really understanding things. A letter grade was something I think I understood, but this system relates a lot more information about whether the child fully gets the material, really is able to express the material well, etc. I think I am going to prefer it to letter grades -- but unfortunately we get only one year of it; my child will enter middle school next year so I think it's back to letter grades then.

[Anonymous]

make work so there can be more staff in non-teaching positions in Gatehouse

[Anonymous]

It's just a cycle. I went to elementary school in the 60's and we had the numbers then too. Lasted for 5-6 years then they realized they had to up the weighting on standardized tests for college & stuff. That hurt the feelings of other groups and they went back to GPA. It'll last until someone realizes they have no idea how to segregate academically different groups other than standardized tests.

[Anonymous]

20:58 They haven't changed the high school grades. Only the elementary ones and before they were numbers too. Not sure what your post is referencing.