Reply to LD kid and grades

Forum Index » Kids With Special Needs and Disabilities

Reply to "LD kid and grades"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]My DS just started 6th grade.  I now see that we have been completely shielded by the faux "grades" for years.  He is now receiving real grades and I am worried.  He has an IEP and receives a lot of services at school, but I can't see anything reflected in his grades.  He was getting a few Fs and post complete freak out by me he has gotten some up to C-.  [b]My biggest concern is that quizzes and tests count for most of his grades -- and he does poorly on those regardless of accommodations.[/b]

So my question is, do I just accept that he is a "C student?"  I have told him that we expect him to get As and Bs -- but is that fair to him?  He does tutoring, both at school and after school.  He does his homework diligently (if not well) and actually really tries.  I just find it a bit depressing that his grades reflect mostly his poor testing rather than the hard work he puts into completing assignments, studying, etc.  
[/quote]

As a middle school teacher who teaches SPED kids, this bolded part sticks out to me.  Unfortunately, it is pretty hard to have quizzes and tests count for less than the majority of grades (and in my school, HW is not allowed to be counted for any grade at all, so that drives up the percentage of quiz/test scoring).  This really messes with the SPED kids who test poorly.  Every year there are probably 10 kids I teach who just can't seem to pass quizzes or tests, even with all accommodations being met, retakes, studying with me after school, etc.  So...I go the extra mile to help them.  If the kid can show me she/he has mastery of the material, I will count that in lieu of their test grade.  Most of the time that means alternate assessments that are not "tests", or allowing them to answer verbally in a non-stress environment.  Those kids do not get A's, but neither do they keep the F's that they get, regardless of how well they seem to know the material prior to the test.

Not every teacher is willing to do this, and some outright object, saying that they need to learn to do well on tests if they are going to succeed w/o grade inflation.  I would reach out to the teacher and see what their view is.  Perhaps a meeting with the teacher, you, AND YOUR CHILD (it is crucial that kids at this age are involved in processes like these and start taking responsibility for their own grades) where you come up with some kind of alternative solution for demonstrating mastery, if the teacher is open to that (and I would say your son should still continue to take the tests too, prepare for them, know the material, etc...there is just another way if he can't seem to pass them).

Lastly, I will say that there are some SPED kids, regardless of how hard they work, that are never going to be rockstars in the class.  It is heartbreaking for them to realize it, and so hard for them to accept it.  I remember a few years ago I had a kid who was athletic, cute, outgoing, mature...a great kid.  But he just couldn't do much in the classroom, no matter how many times we went over concepts.  It was so difficult for him to accept that he wouldn't shine here as he did in other areas of his life...and his father, unfortunately, contributed to this problem by insisting that he get A's.  This just wasn't going to happen, and this kid literally would be in tears when he got back yet another assignment that he failed.  He ended up, by working endless hours with me, getting a C- for the year.  I am certainly not saying your son will be like this, but I think it is good that you realize that it might not be fair to him to tell him he needs to get As/Bs...especially if his teachers are not super-accomodating.

Good luck with all of this-I hope you can work out something that suits you all.  My heart goes out to you both; middle school is hard enough without having to deal with this![/quote]

Thank you for this.  I really should meet with his teacher.  I speak with his special ed teacher all the time and have spoken with the Math teacher but now that we are a few months in I really need to sit down with her and see what her game plan is for him.  I feel like I may need to hide his report card from him.  I don't want him to give up.  I worry that may be a bigger challenge then any we have faced if we get to that point. [/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics