Grades Being Sent Home
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Anonymous
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I have a daughter in 5th grade in Montgomery County. I noticed that she has been unable to do problems for homework, such as 54 x 63, or many other concepts. According to the online guide, she should have been taught this and harder problems. I realized that I had not received a single grade home this entire school year (in any subject) so I contacted the teacher. She told me that she does not send graded work home, but to "rest assured" that she is doing great and earning all P's. I am not at all sure that she is learning and retaining the material.
Are teachers allowed to send nothing home? Do I have any way to question the teacher? Any suggestions from those that have been in my place? |
Anonymous
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My child just finished elementary school, and graded work was sent home at the whim of that year's teacher. Some years the teacher wasn't good with record-keeping, and nothing would come home for weeks. Last year in 5th we thankfully lucked out and got a teacher who sent home the graded week's work religiously in every Friday folder. This was doubly important as my child has special needs and I needed to know whether he was catching up or not. Has your child taken their MAP-R and MAP-M yet? You should know that score, it stays on the screen after the children are done. Or ask the teacher for it. If the score is below average, I think you will need to take action: meeting with the teacher to make sure she knows your child is struggling, and supplementing at home. I agree with you that "P" mean nothing at all. The letter grades they use encompass too wide a range of achievement, and a child can skate by on low Ps all year without truly grasping the material in depth. |
Anonymous
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Thank you for your response. How was your child's transition to 6th?
This teacher flat out stated that she is not going to send any graded work home. I get that some are disorganized, but do I need to accept that? I will ask about her Map-M scores as they were not sent home this year. |
Anonymous
No, I don't think you need to accept that. Tell her that you want to see corrected work so you can understand where your child needs to focus. You may need to offer to schedule time to come in and see it, if she really doesn't want to send it home. Or tell her to scan it and email you. But I would clearly tell her that you expect to see it. |
Anonymous
| I don't find that acceptable either. I would speak to the principal. I don't think 1 piece of work a week is unreasonable. |
Anonymous
| NP here, parent of a sixth grader who has experienced some "shock" after seeing straight Ps and ESs on DDs report cards in elementary school, to seeing a mix of As but also Bs and Cs in middle school. Do not assume that "all is fine" with straight Ps, and do not accept the teacher saying all is fine - you are entitled to, and should, see your child's work - wish I had pushed harder on that in elem school! |
Anonymous
| You don't need to accept it. My DD's 5th grade teacher sent home graded work every Wednesday and there was a place for me to sign and acknowledge I'd received it. |
Anonymous
| Small errors make a difference in Middle School so the kids with straight P's can have a hard adjustment. Mine certainly did. |
Anonymous
PP you responded to. My son is transitioning very well, because he's been placed in MCPS's gifted and learning disabled program, which better suits his needs. Homework counts for 10% of the grade and needs to be turned in daily. He has all As so far. Teachers update Edline, the online grade and assignments website, once a week minimum, and parents have their own password and can check their child's progress. Such a nice change from elementary school! I have heard that in some other middle schools, teachers are not as compliant in their use of Edline. As for your teacher's statement, I would take the matter up with the principal, because this doesn't seem to be in the best interest of the children, but more a sign that the teacher is really lazy. How are students and their parents supposed to correct their mistakes and evaluate their progress during the year? This is the year before middle school and a smooth transition is important. |
Anonymous
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19:12 again.
Just a quick note about the MAP results. When you request it, you should receive a sheet with your child's score, compared to a few baselines (can't recall, there was definitely county, and perhaps school cluster and state), as well as the percentile equivalent for that score, a graph with the previous years' results and a computer prediction of how your child could score for the next MAP (which turned out to be ridiculously wrong every time for my son!). This will be for both the MAP-R and MAP-M. I have found the data to be very informative. |
Anonymous
| 3rd grade parent here. We haven't received a single piece of graded work either. |
Anonymous
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OP here: I asked for the results and got a pdf of the scores. It has a percentage score (36%) so not good. It also looks like there has been little growth over the past year.
I am going to follow through by asking to see her graded work. is there anything else I should do? Should I be getting a tutor or ask the school for more assistance? |
Anonymous
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I have a 5th grader and I have never received any graded work. Last year I asked about it and was told teachers were not permitted to share any graded work. It all had to be kept for records. Frustrating I know.
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Anonymous
| Teacher here- of course work can be shared! No teacher can keep a parent from seeing their child's work. Please speak to the principal. It is not acceptable to not send any work home. |
Anonymous
You mean she's at the 36th percentile for either reading or math? This would mean that she scored better than 36% of her same-aged peers, and you're right, it's lower than the average. If this is recent, she could have fallen off the wagon during the summer and just needs either a little tutoring or systematic home review, with a patient parent(!), of all 4th and 5th grade math and/or English. The first step is to request a face-to-face meeting with the teacher, because she has to acknowledge that your daughter is not doing well quite right now; that her policy of not returning graded work is really hurting your daughter; and that she has to do something about it. It's not all on you, OP, and even if you're planning on hiring a tutor anyway, let the teacher suggest ways your daughter could be supported at school, too. It's part of their job after all. For example, is your daughter in the right math and reading groups? If she eligible for remedial classes after school, or pull-out help with a reading specialist or math teacher? If she is not, and you feel she should be, would you need to enter into a specific administrative process, such as a 504 plan? Do you need a diagnosis for that? I'm envisioning all scenarios here. Asking many questions is the best way to get the teacher to help. And I would announce to the teacher that you are planning on having regular meetings with her to check on your daughter's progress and read her classwork. This alone might motivate her to release grades quicker 
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