Reply to MCPS report cards -- how common is ES?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote]I think that's the point. Elementary school (in this school of thought, not saying I agree or disagree) is to acquire skills and show that you acquired them. They need to learn the material. If it takes them 10 tries or 2 tries, they need to become "proficient." Once they have learned it, time to move to something else, or go deeper. It's a different mindset than in MS/HS, where students learn the matieral and then get graded on what they choose to do.[b] In a perfect world in which all students learn everything they are taught, the grading system of MS/HS is really grading effort. [/b]The elementary school system with these report cards is showing what they have actually learned. The work study skills grades tell you about their effort, which is essentially they part the student has the most control over. That's what I immedaitely turn to now when report cards come home. [/quote]

This is exactly why I hate this new grading system and curriculum. Effort that leads to achievement should be rewarded over achievement that required little effort. If the ESs are only given when a child goes beyond any material spontaneously then it isn't effort driven, its interest driven. I believe that education is about rewarding merit not inheritance. Education is about opening opportunities for everyone. Kids should be learning in elementary school that if you keep trying and work hard you will able to achieve the highest level. Kids get ESs in subjects where they have natural talents but there is no motivation at all for them to do anything but the minimum in other subjects. They are not working harder in areas where they get ESs, the subjects simply are ones where they are more talented or have independent interest.

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But the point of the elementary "grading" is not to reward, really.  It is to show where the students are.  There is a clear difference between the elementary and MS/HS report cards.  I agree with much of what you are saying, maybe all of it.  The report card is a report: this is what your child knows.  Your child has master this, this and this, and has not yet mastered this and this.  In MS/MS, the report card shows what your child knows AND what they are demonstrating they know.  My use of the word "effort" was not to convey that effort is all that counts, or that students can get As for simply trying really, really hard.  I meant that students who do NOT receive top grades may know the material but choose not to put forth the effort to show it.  The elementary school report is meant to side-step this, and report what the student knows, even if they put forth very little effort to show that they know it.

The elementary report card is not about "achieving the highest level."  This could be a flaw, but it is important to understand this.  There is a different mindset from elementary to MS/HS.  I would not argue that this system would be beneficial in MS/HS, and even in upper elementary I'm not 100% convinced it will be better than the traditional grading system.  Yes, kids will receive ESs in a subject for which they have a natural talent and perhaps do very little, because ES means they have shown exceptional [i]understanding[/i].  They understand and "get it."  Doesn't mean they've done anything.  Maybe a case for moving away from rewarding young children for grades.[/quote]

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