How much grade inflation is there in elementary schools?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:When they used to do the P ES grades our school's teachers were really harsh with the grading. Most kids got Ps but rarely ES, even if they were way many grade levels ahead. Did they get rid of this for the lower grades too?

At our school, I don't think they ever gave anyone an ES. It was applied inconsistently and seemed to mean different things to different teachers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My child cannot write a grammatical, non-run-on, punctuated complete sentence. And they get almost all A's. Grades being used to try to get rid of IEP. 4th grade. Honestly I don't know if anything is even being graded as we never see anything come back home.

This you should discuss with your kids teacher,AP, and principal, as this is not the same across all MCPS schools. I’ve seen work come home every week in ES. That makes this a school level problem not a district level problem.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My child cannot write a grammatical, non-run-on, punctuated complete sentence. And they get almost all A's. Grades being used to try to get rid of IEP. 4th grade. Honestly I don't know if anything is even being graded as we never see anything come back home.

This you should discuss with your kids teacher,AP, and principal, as this is not the same across all MCPS schools. I’ve seen work come home every week in ES. That makes this a school level problem not a district level problem.

Or, maybe this poster's kids needed a tutor or parents to supplement at home. The ES curriculum is poor but those of us who worked with our kids, aren' having these issues. This poster should be working for 10-15 minutes a day with their kids to work on these things. MCPS does not teach grammar or punctuation so its up to the parents. Kumon has good workbooks.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:My kids just got their report card--mostly A's with no studying in 4th and 5th grade. Cerebrally, they are your average Potomac/ Bethesda kids, nothing more. Do schools just give everyone A's for showing up? It looks like grade inflation is rampant at MCPS, perhaps as a way to appease parents. Does anyone else agree?

What grades do you think they should have received? I don't feel like there is grade inflation at our schools. I've had two graduate from MCPS and end up at competitive colleges where they have done very well. My kids earned great grades in MCPS as well.

OP here.

I think my kids should of received mostly B's and a few C's--barely doing any homework and having average writing ability. To me that does not qualify for almost strait A's.

My kid used to get straight As too. I switched him to Catholic school and they went away. Now he gets an equal number of As, Bs and Cs. I shouldn't have to pay money to get an accurate measure of my kid's mastery of the subject.

But Catholic schools are not challenging and are well known to be far less vigorous, especially in math and science, than MCPS. So you are basically PAYING a religious school that is academically inferior to MCPS to give your child subpar grades and you are happy with this? You do realize your kid eventually has to apply out to high school or college and this no name Catholic transcript with average grades is not going to help your kid at all, right?

- Signed a parent who has had kids enrolled in both MCPS and Independent schools

Hmmm. Not challenging? My kid used to get 5-10 minutes of HW in public school. No spelling, grammar or reading except for an optional reading log. So basically nothing. Now he is expected to write and rewrite drafts of essays at home in addition to reading chapters in the assigned novel they are reading. He also prepares for class discussions for homework. This is in addition to vocab and grammar homework. He actually has math and occasional science lab write-ups to do at home. Yep, I'd say he is finally challenged. I actually am a public school teacher so I see the difference every day. My kid will be much better prepared for college than he ever would be coming from a district where it takes so little to earn top grades.

Mcps doesn’t have homework in elementary school. But there is an insane amount starting in sixth grade. So you could have saved yourself some money.

You’d better tell my kid’s 4th grade teacher there is no homework in elementary school as he has an hour a night most nights, or more.

He shouldn’t have more. The general recommendation is 10mins per grade level starting in 1st . So by 4th about 30-40 mins. Some students will finish quicker and some will take longer, but on average that should b the time.

He certainly does have more quite regularly. This is CES, btw.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kids just got their report card--mostly A's with no studying in 4th and 5th grade. Cerebrally, they are your average Potomac/ Bethesda kids, nothing more. Do schools just give everyone A's for showing up? It looks like grade inflation is rampant at MCPS, perhaps as a way to appease parents. Does anyone else agree?

What grades do you think they should have received? I don't feel like there is grade inflation at our schools. I've had two graduate from MCPS and end up at competitive colleges where they have done very well. My kids earned great grades in MCPS as well.

OP here.

I think my kids should of received mostly B's and a few C's--barely doing any homework and having average writing ability. To me that does not qualify for almost strait A's.

My kid used to get straight As too. I switched him to Catholic school and they went away. Now he gets an equal number of As, Bs and Cs. I shouldn't have to pay money to get an accurate measure of my kid's mastery of the subject.

But Catholic schools are not challenging and are well known to be far less vigorous, especially in math and science, than MCPS. So you are basically PAYING a religious school that is academically inferior to MCPS to give your child subpar grades and you are happy with this? You do realize your kid eventually has to apply out to high school or college and this no name Catholic transcript with average grades is not going to help your kid at all, right?

- Signed a parent who has had kids enrolled in both MCPS and Independent schools

Hmmm. Not challenging? My kid used to get 5-10 minutes of HW in public school. No spelling, grammar or reading except for an optional reading log. So basically nothing. Now he is expected to write and rewrite drafts of essays at home in addition to reading chapters in the assigned novel they are reading. He also prepares for class discussions for homework. This is in addition to vocab and grammar homework. He actually has math and occasional science lab write-ups to do at home. Yep, I'd say he is finally challenged. I actually am a public school teacher so I see the difference every day. My kid will be much better prepared for college than he ever would be coming from a district where it takes so little to earn top grades.

Mcps doesn’t have homework in elementary school. But there is an insane amount starting in sixth grade. So you could have saved yourself some money.

You’d better tell my kid’s 4th grade teacher there is no homework in elementary school as he has an hour a night most nights, or more.

Well that’s lame. But wait until middle school! At many schools it gets much, much worse. You will realize that the 30 minutes you are talking about don’t even register as a blip.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kids just got their report card--mostly A's with no studying in 4th and 5th grade. Cerebrally, they are your average Potomac/ Bethesda kids, nothing more. Do schools just give everyone A's for showing up? It looks like grade inflation is rampant at MCPS, perhaps as a way to appease parents. Does anyone else agree?

What grades do you think they should have received? I don't feel like there is grade inflation at our schools. I've had two graduate from MCPS and end up at competitive colleges where they have done very well. My kids earned great grades in MCPS as well.

OP here.

I think my kids should of received mostly B's and a few C's--barely doing any homework and having average writing ability. To me that does not qualify for almost strait A's.

My kid used to get straight As too. I switched him to Catholic school and they went away. Now he gets an equal number of As, Bs and Cs. I shouldn't have to pay money to get an accurate measure of my kid's mastery of the subject.

But Catholic schools are not challenging and are well known to be far less vigorous, especially in math and science, than MCPS. So you are basically PAYING a religious school that is academically inferior to MCPS to give your child subpar grades and you are happy with this? You do realize your kid eventually has to apply out to high school or college and this no name Catholic transcript with average grades is not going to help your kid at all, right?

- Signed a parent who has had kids enrolled in both MCPS and Independent schools

Hmmm. Not challenging? My kid used to get 5-10 minutes of HW in public school. No spelling, grammar or reading except for an optional reading log. So basically nothing. Now he is expected to write and rewrite drafts of essays at home in addition to reading chapters in the assigned novel they are reading. He also prepares for class discussions for homework. This is in addition to vocab and grammar homework. He actually has math and occasional science lab write-ups to do at home. Yep, I'd say he is finally challenged. I actually am a public school teacher so I see the difference every day. My kid will be much better prepared for college than he ever would be coming from a district where it takes so little to earn top grades.

Mcps doesn’t have homework in elementary school. But there is an insane amount starting in sixth grade. So you could have saved yourself some money.

You’d better tell my kid’s 4th grade teacher there is no homework in elementary school as he has an hour a night most nights, or more.

Well that’s lame. But wait until middle school! At many schools it gets much, much worse. You will realize that the 30 minutes you are talking about don’t even register as a blip.

We have very little in MS and it’s really bad for math.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kids just got their report card--mostly A's with no studying in 4th and 5th grade. Cerebrally, they are your average Potomac/ Bethesda kids, nothing more. Do schools just give everyone A's for showing up? It looks like grade inflation is rampant at MCPS, perhaps as a way to appease parents. Does anyone else agree?

What grades do you think they should have received? I don't feel like there is grade inflation at our schools. I've had two graduate from MCPS and end up at competitive colleges where they have done very well. My kids earned great grades in MCPS as well.

OP here.

I think my kids should of received mostly B's and a few C's--barely doing any homework and having average writing ability. To me that does not qualify for almost strait A's.

My kid used to get straight As too. I switched him to Catholic school and they went away. Now he gets an equal number of As, Bs and Cs. I shouldn't have to pay money to get an accurate measure of my kid's mastery of the subject.

But Catholic schools are not challenging and are well known to be far less vigorous, especially in math and science, than MCPS. So you are basically PAYING a religious school that is academically inferior to MCPS to give your child subpar grades and you are happy with this? You do realize your kid eventually has to apply out to high school or college and this no name Catholic transcript with average grades is not going to help your kid at all, right?

- Signed a parent who has had kids enrolled in both MCPS and Independent schools

Hmmm. Not challenging? My kid used to get 5-10 minutes of HW in public school. No spelling, grammar or reading except for an optional reading log. So basically nothing. Now he is expected to write and rewrite drafts of essays at home in addition to reading chapters in the assigned novel they are reading. He also prepares for class discussions for homework. This is in addition to vocab and grammar homework. He actually has math and occasional science lab write-ups to do at home. Yep, I'd say he is finally challenged. I actually am a public school teacher so I see the difference every day. My kid will be much better prepared for college than he ever would be coming from a district where it takes so little to earn top grades.

Mcps doesn’t have homework in elementary school. But there is an insane amount starting in sixth grade. So you could have saved yourself some money.

You’d better tell my kid’s 4th grade teacher there is no homework in elementary school as he has an hour a night most nights, or more.

Well that’s lame. But wait until middle school! At many schools it gets much, much worse. You will realize that the 30 minutes you are talking about don’t even register as a blip.

We have very little in MS and it’s really bad for math.

What middle school is this?

[Anonymous]

I switched my kids in elementary school from public to private for similar reasons- no HW, teaching to standardized tests and overall dumbed down curriculum. Complaints to MCPS got me no where. Took a while for them to catch up at Catholic school - which was much more rigorous education.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I switched my kids in elementary school from public to private for similar reasons- no HW, teaching to standardized tests and overall dumbed down curriculum. Complaints to MCPS got me no where. Took a while for them to catch up at Catholic school - which was much more rigorous education.

There is a forum for private schools. Why are you posting here???

[Anonymous]

MCPS is horrible overall.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:MCPS is horrible overall.

And ya'll still can't compete with it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I switched my kids in elementary school from public to private for similar reasons- no HW, teaching to standardized tests and overall dumbed down curriculum. Complaints to MCPS got me no where. Took a while for them to catch up at Catholic school - which was much more rigorous education.

There is a forum for private schools. Why are you posting here???

Backdoor private recruiting again, of course!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I switched my kids in elementary school from public to private for similar reasons- no HW, teaching to standardized tests and overall dumbed down curriculum. Complaints to MCPS got me no where. Took a while for them to catch up at Catholic school - which was much more rigorous education.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I switched my kids in elementary school from public to private for similar reasons- no HW, teaching to standardized tests and overall dumbed down curriculum. Complaints to MCPS got me no where. Took a while for them to catch up at Catholic school - which was much more rigorous education.

I had the opposite experience. When I switched my kids from catholic to MCPS I considered holding them back to allow them to catch up. It wasn't easy but after a lot of hard work they're now doing well again. The catholic school spent so much time teaching religion and pro-life brainwashing that school was suffering.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kids just got their report card--mostly A's with no studying in 4th and 5th grade. Cerebrally, they are your average Potomac/ Bethesda kids, nothing more. Do schools just give everyone A's for showing up? It looks like grade inflation is rampant at MCPS, perhaps as a way to appease parents. Does anyone else agree?

What grades do you think they should have received? I don't feel like there is grade inflation at our schools. I've had two graduate from MCPS and end up at competitive colleges where they have done very well. My kids earned great grades in MCPS as well.

OP here.

I think my kids should of received mostly B's and a few C's--barely doing any homework and having average writing ability. To me that does not qualify for almost strait A's.

My kid used to get straight As too. I switched him to Catholic school and they went away. Now he gets an equal number of As, Bs and Cs. I shouldn't have to pay money to get an accurate measure of my kid's mastery of the subject.

But Catholic schools are not challenging and are well known to be far less vigorous, especially in math and science, than MCPS. So you are basically PAYING a religious school that is academically inferior to MCPS to give your child subpar grades and you are happy with this? You do realize your kid eventually has to apply out to high school or college and this no name Catholic transcript with average grades is not going to help your kid at all, right?

- Signed a parent who has had kids enrolled in both MCPS and Independent schools

Hmmm. Not challenging? My kid used to get 5-10 minutes of HW in public school. No spelling, grammar or reading except for an optional reading log. So basically nothing. Now he is expected to write and rewrite drafts of essays at home in addition to reading chapters in the assigned novel they are reading. He also prepares for class discussions for homework. This is in addition to vocab and grammar homework. He actually has math and occasional science lab write-ups to do at home. Yep, I'd say he is finally challenged. I actually am a public school teacher so I see the difference every day. My kid will be much better prepared for college than he ever would be coming from a district where it takes so little to earn top grades.

Mcps doesn’t have homework in elementary school. But there is an insane amount starting in sixth grade. So you could have saved yourself some money.

You’d better tell my kid’s 4th grade teacher there is no homework in elementary school as he has an hour a night most nights, or more.

Well that’s lame. But wait until middle school! At many schools it gets much, much worse. You will realize that the 30 minutes you are talking about don’t even register as a blip.

So you're saying there a lot of homework or no homework in middle?