Reply to How do you respond to "C" grades? Is this reasonable?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I'd give a consequence for not retaking the test, not necessarily for the C, but I would consider a tutor.[/quote]

Yup.  There is more going on here. Waiting until after break and after any opportunity to relearn what wasn't mastered... that was your error.  Too focused on grades, you are, and not on process.  Most likely she didn't fill out the form because she didn't see a retake resulting in a different approach.

Also, if she got a C for the year, it isn't due to one test. Focus on process, not on outcomes.[/quote]

NP here. OP, can you take this post above to heart? The focus on process is key. Does your DD use a planner notebook and/or an online planner, whichever her school issues? She should know each teacher's retake policies and deadlines for retakes and test corrections and should have those deadlines in her planner calendar (even if she doesn't need them -- those deadlines are probably available from the very start of each quarter and she can put them in as a matter of course, so she knows for instance that there is a test on April 3 and the form to do a retake will be due April 14, and the last day to actually retake the test will be April 20 or whatever the teacher does).

Check SIS more often if you are concerned. You'll see what's not done yet. But be very aware -- not all teachers fill in the SIS assignments updates on time, or at all in some classes. You cannot rely just on SIS for the most up-to-the-moment grades, assignments or anything else, for some teachers. Communicate with your DD and make it so that she wants to tell you how she's doing.

As for taking the phone, are you certain she doesn't need it for anything IN school? Probably not in eighth grade, but in high school, she may be expected to have a phone in class (or she'll be expected to share with a kid who does have a phone if they're doing something where they need one). I was surprised when in 9th grade my DD said they were doing certain games as part of the class and needed phones to do them (she got a phone in 10th, finally).

Unless there is real reason to think that phone time was why she didn't do her retake and/or failed the initial test and quiz -- taking the phone isn't related to the academic issue. I do understand the idea of taking away something she values and has to earn back, for sure, and maybe the phone is it. But I would not have taken the phone; I would have sat down with her and gone through the process her teachers use for retakes and corrections, and worked with her on a way to be super organized about ensuring she does not miss deadlines and that you too know those deadlines (for a while, until she manages them better).

Did you ask the teacher what subject matter your DD seems to be missing or not understanding that she failed a quiz and a test? Or did you ask more about how DD missed the retake opportunity? I would focus on the details of subject matter because next quarter will build on that same subject matter, probably. The teacher could give insights into what, exactly, your DD didn't do or didn't understand--did she not know some specifics about poetry they were reading? Did she seem not to have read material she was asked about on a test? Or did she write an essay much more poorly than in the past? What changed between her better grades earlier and the failed quiz and test? Was it about a subject that she actually found boring and she didn't bother to push through the boredom to get the information into herself before the test (but she did fine on earlier units that interested her)? What does the teacher advise her to do to push through that next time it happens?

If you focus just on the grades and the fact she had the fails and didn't do her job to retake--you're missing at least half the issue. The content does matter, as does the organizational part of scheduling retakes etc. 
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