Last year the teacher didn’t give many 4’s until fourth quarter. Luckily my kid didn’t let it get her down. This year’s teacher has a different approach, and it’s been almost all 4’s all year.

I have 2 kids in AAP, one usually gets 3 and 4, while another one gets all A ( used to get 3 and 4 also one 2 in ES due to slowness). and I don’t feel concerned unless there’s 2 or 1, or C, not about the grade itself, but want to make sure kids understand the subjects. I feel funny that my ES kid gets all 4 in math but it averaged to a 3, so I really don’t care about report card grading much.

Pretty much all 4s for my AAP kid.

Mix of 3s and 4s. Doesn't seem terribly correlated with ability and strengths.

My child reads several years above grade level, yet has sometimes received a score of 3 in reading. Another child, whose reading is solid but not as advanced, received 4s in reading.

I think the grading system is terrible. I had a similar one as a teacher and I created a way to numerically define what a 1, 2, 3 or 4 correlated to. I get the feeling that a LOT of teachers don't do that- and they are more often hand-waving their grades.

Having said that my AAP kids have had almost all 4s across the board. My last kid has gotten a 3 here and there (particularly on organization) but in academics it was always 4s. I suspect that this is school and teacher dependent, and doesn't mean much.

I have been so much happier with my kids getting real grades in MS and HS

I assume my kid answered something incorrectly at least once in class when they get a 3. My kid does get a lot of 4s, but I don't think a 3 vs a 4 means much. Both are good and indicate the kid is performing where they should be for their grade level. That's all the info I need from a report card. Testing is how I figure out what my kid knows and needs to work on next.

Report cards should be a fast task for a teacher when a kid is performing on grade, imo. Personally, I'd rather have my kid's teacher spend more time lesson planning and as little time as possible figuring out if my child is doing well (3) or very well (4).

My children have all had at least one ES teacher that says they don’t use 4s, esp not before 4th quarter. They’ve also had teachers that do. If your child is doing well on tests, I wouldn’t worry. ES grades are meaningless and somewhat subjective.

I'm curious what grades kids are getting. My 3rd grader is in AAP and is especially strong in math. Every single math test has come home with 100%. I don't think he has ever gotten a 4 in math since Kindergarten. In general, he maybe has one or two 4s on his report card total each quarter. Do you see a correlation between your kids work, test scores, teacher comments and report card grades?