Parent teacher conference

[Anonymous]

I was so impressed with my 4th grader's teacher at the parent teacher meeting. We were given my
Son's report card, shown samples of his work (which I think all schools do) but then also

1) given map-m and map-r scores and shown a chart of where those
scores fall within his class and the county as a whole

2) given his reading level and a 6 page handout explaining what that meant.

It's more information than I've ever been given before on my kid.

He's doing well but not a prodigy on any level and there are many kids clearly brighter than
My child in his class.

Did other people receive this much information? Is this typical? Our last elementary school was fine but did not share as much
Information at parent teacher conferences.

[Anonymous]

We got this for our third grader as well. Almost information overload, but it definitely gave us areas where we could help our kid do better (like not rushing through work, checking his work, helping others) despite his P's and ES's, even though he is at the top of his class for his "scores".

[Anonymous]

+10000 - this is along the lines of the information we were given...which means a lot more and more indicative of my child's 'learning' than simply seeing grades, whether they are "A"'s and "B"'s or "P" 's and "ES"'s

[Anonymous]

I'm impressed with how your child's teacher handled the map-m and r scores. At our school, you have to specifically ask for those. Of course, they have them, so, once you ask, the scores are readily available. However, the teachers act as if they have no idea what the context of those scores are. I've done research online, so I know generally what the numbers mean. But it would be nice if our teachers addressed them directly.

[Anonymous]

Granted I'm new at this, but I was impressed with the data they were able to supply for a Kindergarten parent teacher conference. We saw individual assessments of numbers and math for September, October and November and were able to get a good understanding of the progress our child is making.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm impressed with how your child's teacher handled the map-m and r scores. At our school, you have to specifically ask for those. Of course, they have them, so, once you ask, the scores are readily available. However, the teachers act as if they have no idea what the context of those scores are. I've done research online, so I know generally what the numbers mean. But it would be nice if our teachers addressed them directly.

Me too, had to ask for the scores. Why would teacher not have had that ready? Then I said I was shocked at my son's MAP-M and MAP-R scores because he went down 13 and 10 points, respectively -- which is really huge. Some drop would be okay but these are serious drops. Math went from 231 to 218 -- yikes. The teacher said, 'Oh, I don't have last year's scores. But I will take a look." Talk about unprepared.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was so impressed with my 4th grader's teacher at the parent teacher meeting. We were given my
Son's report card, shown samples of his work (which I think all schools do) but then also

1) given map-m and map-r scores and shown a chart of where those
scores fall within his class and the county as a whole

2) given his reading level and a 6 page handout explaining what that meant.

It's more information than I've ever been given before on my kid.

He's doing well but not a prodigy on any level and there are many kids clearly brighter than
My child in his class.

Did other people receive this much information? Is this typical? Our last elementary school was fine but did not share as much
Information at parent teacher conferences.

That's great, OP. You should consider writing a quick note to the principal and teacher sharing your impressions, as I am sure the teacher spent a lot of time preparing to that level of detail for each conference.

[Anonymous]

It's what everyone gets. Hand outs as fillers. I didn't really care about the crap but it was still nice I suppose.

[Anonymous]

No this isn't standard. My son's teacher does the minimum so while many teacher may do this, I would not hesitate to give feedback if you were happy. Tell the Principal but also send a thank you to the teacher. I'm sure it takes a lot of time to prepare and it will motivate her if she thinks it is appreciated.

[Anonymous]

We did get the standard Map R handout and were given the scores for Map M. No examples of student work. We were told 2.0 involves more teacher observation. No detail on how he is doing because he is all Ps. Any question on how he was doing in an area was met by well he's doing great, he's a P. She's not a rude or bad teacher but the new system does not require teachers to record as much data. Some teachers just don't know how a kid is doing as long as he's within the wide range of a P. They aren't hiding the answer, they just don't know nor are they required to know.

The report card itself is useless. A great teacher may be able to "sub in" for a useless report card by giving great feedback but this is not an acceptable solution. This approach will always be inconsistent and lacking. It isn't fair to the teachers either. They should have a system that supports and enables fair, consistent, and defensible assessment processes.

I would also caution parents not to stake all your opinions on one standardized test. Some kids do well on these tests and some don't. Its one measurement point only. Its easy to think your child is doing amazing because they scored high on a standardized test but then completely miss that they are not working up to their academic potential or may actually be struggling without you knowing it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We did get the standard Map R handout and were given the scores for Map M. No examples of student work. We were told 2.0 involves more teacher observation. No detail on how he is doing because he is all Ps. Any question on how he was doing in an area was met by well he's doing great, he's a P. She's not a rude or bad teacher but the new system does not require teachers to record as much data. Some teachers just don't know how a kid is doing as long as he's within the wide range of a P. They aren't hiding the answer, they just don't know nor are they required to know.

The report card itself is useless. A great teacher may be able to "sub in" for a useless report card by giving great feedback but this is not an acceptable solution. This approach will always be inconsistent and lacking. It isn't fair to the teachers either. They should have a system that supports and enables fair, consistent, and defensible assessment processes.

I would also caution parents not to stake all your opinions on one standardized test. Some kids do well on these tests and some don't. Its one measurement point only. Its easy to think your child is doing amazing because they scored high on a standardized test but then completely miss that they are not working up to their academic potential or may actually be struggling without you knowing it.

At our school, it is very, very data driven. Teachers record lots of grades, send home graded work, etc. The issue you describe is with your school and teacher, not with the new curriculum or grading system as a whole, because it does not have to be the way you describe it.

[Anonymous]

At our school, it is very, very data driven. Teachers record lots of grades, send home graded work, etc. The issue you describe is with your school and teacher, not with the new curriculum or grading system as a whole, because it does not have to be the way you describe it.

How is everything marked with a P data driven? I would be OK if there were more granular grades being record AND being shared with the parents even if they all ended up within a final "P" range (which is still stupid in my opinion but you could ignore it).

On a different issue, has anyone noticed that math homework and assignments have very few problems on them? The font is extra big and there is lots of white space but hardly any work to do. If using a bigger font supposed to fool us into thinking its deeper?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

At our school, it is very, very data driven. Teachers record lots of grades, send home graded work, etc. The issue you describe is with your school and teacher, not with the new curriculum or grading system as a whole, because it does not have to be the way you describe it.

How is everything marked with a P data driven? I would be OK if there were more granular grades being record AND being shared with the parents even if they all ended up within a final "P" range (which is still stupid in my opinion but you could ignore it).

On a different issue, has anyone noticed that math homework and assignments have very few problems on them? The font is extra big and there is lots of white space but hardly any work to do. If using a bigger font supposed to fool us into thinking its deeper?

Because the teachers record lots of grades, send home graded work, etc. If you have concerns, ask your child's teacher.

No, I have not noticed this.

[Anonymous]

PP I have never seen teachers record anything more granular than N, I, or P. The system doesn't have a shadow scale with more granular scales. A record book full of Ps isn't any more helpful than a report card with a big P on it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

At our school, it is very, very data driven. Teachers record lots of grades, send home graded work, etc. The issue you describe is with your school and teacher, not with the new curriculum or grading system as a whole, because it does not have to be the way you describe it.

How is everything marked with a P data driven? I would be OK if there were more granular grades being record AND being shared with the parents even if they all ended up within a final "P" range (which is still stupid in my opinion but you could ignore it).

On a different issue, has anyone noticed that math homework and assignments have very few problems on them? The font is extra big and there is lots of white space but hardly any work to do. If using a bigger font supposed to fool us into thinking its deeper?

Just as one example, when DD brings home a spelling test, I can see how she did on sorting the words, how she did on the part of spelling them in isolation, and how she did on using them in a sentence. There is a key at the bottom indicating how many correct are needed for P, I or N. Another example, when she brings home writing assignments that are graded, there is a cover sheet listing various elements of the grade, and each element is checked P, I or N. There is a comment on any section that is not a P, explaining why it is not a P. Then there is an overall grade for the assignment.