Okay just going with the theory that you are right, though I think that isn't a definite by any means:

As a teacher this is my opinion. Try not to approach this so adversarily. That won't be helpful. Ask to see grading rubrics, standards or anything else that will help you interpret your childs grade. Ask to sit down with the child and the teacher and have the teacher walk you both through what their expectations are for a sample assignment, what your child did, and how your child could have received a better grade. Ask to see exemplars of the type of work the teacher is expecting. Ask about how grading is explained to the kids - do they know what the expectations are? But try framing this in a partnership - ie can we have a meeting to work together to figure out what is keeping my childs grades low and how we can all work together to improve their grade?

Approaching them with hostility may shut down lines of communication.

OP here. As I said in my post there are a lot of wonderful teachers. But as in any profession there are also some with low moral values. Unfortunately we happen to encounter one of them. If you are not one of them or never seen any of them, does not mean they don't exist. So assuming that what I briefly elaborated was true, I was only looking for ideas on how to deal with the situation. I heard a couple of suggestions like talking to the principal or getting them out

Anonymous wrote:Honestly, you sound a bit paranoid. I don't know of any teacher who "punishes" a student they he or she doesn't like.

Not only that, but OP said they are really punishing the *parents* they don't like! Really?

Anonymous wrote:I am sure the suspected teacher can provide tons of paperwork trying to back up her grade, making every silly excuse to dismiss the student's work. But how about a side by side comparison with other students' work and grades in the classroom? That's where you will find the truth.

How the heck would that work? Would parents get to see the evaluations of all the other kids in the class to see how their kid measures up? Have we become that adversarial? If there is a particular conflict between one student and one teacher, it should be brought up with the principal.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am sure the suspected teacher can provide tons of paperwork trying to back up her grade, making every silly excuse to dismiss the student's work. But how about a side by side comparison with other students' work and grades in the classroom? That's where you will find the truth.

Children should not be graded against other students' performance-they are held to a standard, which is where the new standards-based grading is going in elementary schools. They are either meeting the standard, or they aren't. LOOOONNG gone are the days of the standard bell curve from when you were in school.

NP here. i think what she is trying to say is student X may be given a lower grade than Student Y, even though Student X had a better work. and you can find this out by a side by side comparison.

Anonymous wrote:I am sure the suspected teacher can provide tons of paperwork trying to back up her grade, making every silly excuse to dismiss the student's work. But how about a side by side comparison with other students' work and grades in the classroom? That's where you will find the truth.

Children should not be graded against other students' performance-they are held to a standard, which is where the new standards-based grading is going in elementary schools. They are either meeting the standard, or they aren't. LOOOONNG gone are the days of the standard bell curve from when you were in school.

Anonymous wrote:Well, with so little transparency and so much flexibility in grading, I'm not surprised some rotten eggs get back to parents by denying what the kid deserves. Solution ? "Out them" as PP suggests.

+1

Haven't we all had teachers that we thought weren't fair to us? At the margins this seems like it falls into "life's not always fair." If you really think it's a serious issue then I guess I'd ask to speak to the teacher about the rationale for the grade.

I am sure the suspected teacher can provide tons of paperwork trying to back up her grade, making every silly excuse to dismiss the student's work. But how about a side by side comparison with other students' work and grades in the classroom? That's where you will find the truth.

Anonymous wrote:Honestly, you sound a bit paranoid. I don't know of any teacher who "punishes" a student they he or she doesn't like.

Agree. But I think there are some parents who would prefer to believe their kids's teacher is punishing them than believe their kid doesn't perform at the level the parents would like to believe their kids perform. Also, I don't find that much subjectivity in the grading. If you have a question about your kids's grade, ask for the basis and I bet you get a pile of worksheets and assessments to back up the grade.

Well, with so little transparency and so much flexibility in grading, I'm not surprised some rotten eggs get back to parents by denying what the kid deserves. Solution ? "Out them" as PP suggests.

MCPS is in the process of eliminating grades in favor of bench marks that will either be met or not met. The first draft was vetted by a group of patents and a second draft is being created.

Honestly, you sound a bit paranoid. I don't know of any teacher who "punishes" a student they he or she doesn't like.

Out them.

Saw this comment in another subject area and decided to start a new topic since it was also our experience. For better or worse, we always knew that MCPS elementary school grading guidance is highly subjective and the average grade varies widely from teacher to teacher. While there are truly wonderful teachers out there, there are also some teachers who use the grades to punish the students that they don't like, or especially whose parents they don't like. What is the most effective way to deal with this kind of low integrity teachers?