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[quote=Anonymous]Short answer: the occasional below-B grade on an assessment is nothing to worry about as long as end-of-quarter averages are coming out to B- or higher. Over time in high school you want your child’s grades to trend upwards and for your child to feel reasonably confident and engaged.

Checking in with your child’s advisor never hurts.

More nuanced answer: Low grades may be a teacher issue if the teacher is not providing adequate preparation and feedback.

As a unit begins, students should know its content. If following a textbook, then the table of contents suffices. A syllabus can be helpful, as can a unit plan or other outline. The redundancy of a study guide is helpful, but teachers will sometimes expect that a high school student be independent enough to make his or her own guide.

Timely feedback is essential. Long before a formal summative assessment, students should have a mix of formative self-assessment and teacher assessment to gauge how well they are doing. This might be self-corrected homework, classwork, lab reports, pre-tests, or other assignments. No quiz or test grade should truly be a surprise. Students should already know how well they comprehend the material in a unit. It’s then their choice to get more help, study harder, etc.

The assessments need to be fair. There are a lot of qualifications for fair. They should be announced as far in advance as possible. Assessments should only practice skills previously taught. For example, if students are only asked recall-style questions in class and for homework, then it’s not fair to ask them to do analysis for an assessment. A teacher should be able to show how every test question connects to previous written work. Teachers should also keep statistics on their tests. If a large number of students botch a question, it was poorly written or did not connect to prior learning. If the statistical distribution of the scores is odd, it suggests a bad test or cheating.

A lot of parents and administrators will tell you that tutoring support is an option. I’m of the opinion that unless your child has an unaddressed learning disability, tutoring should not be necessary if teaching is adequate. Your child’s teacher should make plain where resources for additional help are available. Does he or she recommend websites for each unit? Does the teacher have office hours or review sessions? Are there extra worksheets or other practice materials available from the teacher? Are there student tutors or an academic support center on campus?

— a former private school teacher [/quote]

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