Did your kid get an ES in reading? First or Second Grade?

[Anonymous]

next time ask the teacher what percentage of the class got a P. when she says 80% you'll know that your kid is just like 80% of the class. all equal, all peachy. no further goals to have, just pass the low proficiency bar. check!

[Anonymous]

My DD did get an ES for reading literature in 1st grade, but not for informational text. We asked the teacher what the difference was, and she wanted to distance herself from it and said that "we plug the grades into the computer and that's what popped out."

We now consider the report cards to be information free zones, and schedule quarterly conferences with the teacher to get the real scoop.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: The goal is to understand what the teacher has taught, so the goal is a P. Again, you really shouldn't try to compare it to an A grade. It's not comparable.

This is correct. If your student gets a P, that's like an A. If you student gets an ES that's like the teacher recommends your student for AP classes. Every kid in high school can get an A... only a few get selected for AP classes.

This. DD started kinder at level J. Never got an ES. At level M now, with very ecperienced teacher.
Got ES in some reading categories. Explanation was that DD has "inferencing skills" and not only understands the story, but can also predict outcomes and comprehend details based on outside knowledge not expressly in text.

Agree that P is a fine grade. Means mastery of what she should be able to do now. Made sure DD knew ES was not the goal bc did not want her to feel let down (I wouldn't have talked grades at all, but the teacher told the class all the details). Also explained an I isn't a huge deal as long as she's working hard toward the P goal. Would use an I to help figure out what we could do some extra work on.

You can't make ES the goal, and P isn't the "bare minimum."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:next time ask the teacher what percentage of the class got a P. when she says 80% you'll know that your kid is just like 80% of the class. all equal, all peachy. no further goals to have, just pass the low proficiency bar. check!

If 80% of the class is getting a P, then that means that 80% of the class is learning what they're supposed to learn. That seems like a good thing to me. Would it be better if only 50% of the class were learning what they're supposed to learn, or 30%, or 10%?

[Anonymous]

Just wanted to echo the statement from an earlier poster that you really can't expect your kids to get ES grades no matter how bright they are. At some schools it is possible, at others it is not. Asking the teacher what percent of kids got ES is a good idea. I disagree with the poster that said that if you kid is not getting an ES they are not doing well. Mine was, just there was no way to show it.

[Anonymous]

I have kids in 1st and 3rd, and they have both now received some ES's, the older one more than the younger one.

I'd think of a P as an A (more or less). I'd think of an ES as EC, as in Extra Credit.

My child can have a math exit card with every single thing correct. 100%. Grade: P.

OR my child can have a math exit card with everything correct and grade ES. The difference? One that day, for whatever reason, instead of just "showing her work", she decided to show how to get the correct answer 3 different ways: number line, pictures, structured equation. She wasn't "more correct" on the second one, she just did lots of extra work.

Did your school show you the birthday cake analogy at Back to School Night? The beautiful round well-decorated birthday cake is the P. That is the goal. The castle-shaped Martha-Stewart-on-crack cake gets an ES.

Though they didn't actually use the word crack...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have kids in 1st and 3rd, and they have both now received some ES's, the older one more than the younger one.

I'd think of a P as an A (more or less). I'd think of an ES as EC, as in Extra Credit.

My child can have a math exit card with every single thing correct. 100%. Grade: P.

OR my child can have a math exit card with everything correct and grade ES. The difference? One that day, for whatever reason, instead of just "showing her work", she decided to show how to get the correct answer 3 different ways: number line, pictures, structured equation. She wasn't "more correct" on the second one, she just did lots of extra work.

Did your school show you the birthday cake analogy at Back to School Night? The beautiful round well-decorated birthday cake is the P. That is the goal. The castle-shaped Martha-Stewart-on-crack cake gets an ES.

Though they didn't actually use the word crack...

We did not get that visual at our ES! Helpful

[Anonymous]

We got the birthday cake analogy too.

[Anonymous]

This obsession with ES seems exceptionally misguided to me. Don't these parents pay attention to their child's actual progress? If your kid is reading above grade level, are you less proud of them because they didn't "score" high enough for you?

My 1st grade son got an I in writing, which I completely expected. However all I have to do is compare his writing to the start of the year to see the tremendous progress he's made in just two months, and I am so proud of his improvement. It doesn't even occur to me to share his progress report with him - those aren't "grades" for him to earn, but a measure of his developmental progress. He's an I because his fine motor skills are still forming, did goodness sake! We do extra writing practice to help his development, because the I indicates to me it's an area of extra work for him. The idea that I would get upset about an informative I is ludicrous.

I am thrilled we've moved away from As, Bs, C's, etc for this age. I wish parents could readjust their mindsets to fit the improved program.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This obsession with ES seems exceptionally misguided to me. Don't these parents pay attention to their child's actual progress? If your kid is reading above grade level, are you less proud of them because they didn't "score" high enough for you?

My 1st grade son got an I in writing, which I completely expected. However all I have to do is compare his writing to the start of the year to see the tremendous progress he's made in just two months, and I am so proud of his improvement. It doesn't even occur to me to share his progress report with him - those aren't "grades" for him to earn, but a measure of his developmental progress. He's an I because his fine motor skills are still forming, did goodness sake! We do extra writing practice to help his development, because the I indicates to me it's an area of extra work for him. The idea that I would get upset about an informative I is ludicrous.

I am thrilled we've moved away from As, Bs, C's, etc for this age. I wish parents could readjust their mindsets to fit the improved program.

Yes! This is it exactly!

[Anonymous]

We told our third grader - either come home with at least 3-4 ES's per quarter, or you will be punished and lose all TV, video games and toys. We expect DD to go to Dartmouth or Yale or another Ivy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We told our third grader - either come home with at least 3-4 ES's per quarter, or you will be punished and lose all TV, video games and toys. We expect DD to go to Dartmouth or Yale or another Ivy.

Dartmouth, poo. That's a second-rate Ivy. I know this because Ted Cruz said so.

[Anonymous]

I am horrified at 17:38.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am horrified at 17:38.

I'm fairly sure 17:38 was not serious. Likely he/she was trying to make a point about parents being too obsessed about grades and achievement at too young of an age.

But if it was a serious post I am also horrified.

[Anonymous]

Slightly OT, but what about math?

Do kids commonly get ESs in Math? What are they looking for to determine an ES in Math? Any ideas?