Anonymous wrote:

Sure, the district has published a ton of information about curriculum 2.0. I do not dispute that. The problem is that it still does not make sense to a parent. It may make sense to a school administrator trying to create some aggregate analysis of how the school district is doing as a whole, but it does not tell me much about my kid. No amount of explaining will matter if the system itself does not make sense. My child got all Ps. All I know from this is that she did not fail. I do not know if she is better at math or reading. I do not know if she just met this baseline expectation, or if she exceeded it by a lot or a little, etc. It is just not enough information, or at least enough meaningful information.

It depends on which parent you're talking about. If you're talking about me, then yes, it does make sense to a parent. So I don't think it's valid to generalize.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am so confused. My child is above grade level in reading but his avg grade in reading was an I.

That's why this new grading system makes no sense. Nobody is worried about providing parents with directly conflicting information.

Well, actually, you could start with the MCPS explanation of the report card, here:

http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/curriculum/2.0/reportcardfaq.aspx

and the curriculum guides here:

http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/curriculum/2.0/outcomes.aspx

And I'm almost certain that MCPS sent home the information about the record card format at the end of the first quarter.

And at least at my school, we had a curriculum night, and the teachers explained about the report card then too.

Sure, the district has published a ton of information about curriculum 2.0. I do not dispute that. The problem is that it still does not make sense to a parent. It may make sense to a school administrator trying to create some aggregate analysis of how the school district is doing as a whole, but it does not tell me much about my kid. No amount of explaining will matter if the system itself does not make sense. My child got all Ps. All I know from this is that she did not fail. I do not know if she is better at math or reading. I do not know if she just met this baseline expectation, or if she exceeded it by a lot or a little, etc. It is just not enough information, or at least enough meaningful information.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am so confused. My child is above grade level in reading but his avg grade in reading was an I.

That's why this new grading system makes no sense. Nobody is worried about providing parents with directly conflicting information.

Well, actually, you could start with the MCPS explanation of the report card, here:

http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/curriculum/2.0/reportcardfaq.aspx

and the curriculum guides here:

http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/curriculum/2.0/outcomes.aspx

And I'm almost certain that MCPS sent home the information about the record card format at the end of the first quarter.

And at least at my school, we had a curriculum night, and the teachers explained about the report card then too.

Anonymous wrote:I am so confused. My child is above grade level in reading but his avg grade in reading was an I.

That's because they are using different data for each. The report card (ES/P/I/N) grade is based on the graded papers that *should* have come home with ES (ha!), P, I, or N on it. If you saved those you could go back and look and see what your kid got an "I" on. It doesn't seem to take many I grades to get an I on the report card.

The reading level is based on M-class testing which is a scored test based on a leveled reader and questions on the text.

My son got an I earlier in the year on a math task, yet scored 99% on the inview math assessment and recently passed the math portion of the Johns Hopkins Center for Talent Youth. I wouldn't be too worried about a single I grade, especially if they are reading above grade level.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am so confused. My child is above grade level in reading but his avg grade in reading was an I.

That's why this new grading system makes no sense. Nobody is worried about providing parents with directly conflicting information.

Well reading level I believe is strictly based on the evaluation by the reading specialist. Grading is done by the teachers assessments which I'm afraid I can't help you with

Anonymous wrote:I am so confused. My child is above grade level in reading but his avg grade in reading was an I.

That's why this new grading system makes no sense. Nobody is worried about providing parents with directly conflicting information.

Anonymous wrote:I am so confused. My child is above grade level in reading but his avg grade in reading was an I.

What are his grades in the various reading components? That's where I would start.

I am so confused. My child is above grade level in reading but his avg grade in reading was an I.

I wouldn't worry about it.

I would be less concerned about an I in an individual topic for 4th marking period if the child received an average of P for the subject for the year. . So, and I in opinion writing in 4th marking period wouldn't worry me much if the final year average writing grade was a P.

Anonymous wrote:I had understood that an I meant that a student was "in progress" toward meeting the goals set for the end of the grade, and that "P" meant the child had a achieved the level set for the end of the grade. Does this mean that receiving an I at the end of the year mean that the student "failed" to meet the goals for the year?

I'm more confused by what the grades mean at the end of the year than I was at the mid-year. (My child is in kindergarten)

Parent of rising 4th grader here.

We were told repeatedly "the goal for students is to be P at the end of the year." So I do assume that logic applies to Kindergarten and they wanted kids "P" at the end of the year. And thus, an "In progress" end-of-year grade would mean the student wasn't fully proficient in that area.

My big question for MCPS is "If your child wasn't Straight Ps, WHAT are we going to do about it?" ("We" refers to everyone in the learning process - parent, student, teacher, principal/staff, and MCPS.)

Anonymous wrote:I'm not too concerned but if it was writing math or reading I would take some sort of action.

I agree with this.

Essentially yes... It means that standard was not met but child is on the right path. How serious this is depends on what the subject matter is... DC got an I for phys Ed and following instructions which makes sense based on what we've seen. I'm not too concerned but if it was writing math or reading I would take some sort of action.

Mid year DC had an I in writing so I immediately began working on this at home and by end of the year it was resolved.

Here is the other thread about this:

http://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/314956.page

Some posted that as soon as the child makes one mistake when evaluated, he or she receives an I instead of a P.

If this is correct, then I think the grading scale should be expanded, because there is no way for a parent to judge whether the I his child received is close to a P or close to an N. The teachers should also write comments about each child.

The report cards are extremely uninformative in this respect and I am quite disappointed.

I had understood that an I meant that a student was "in progress" toward meeting the goals set for the end of the grade, and that "P" meant the child had a achieved the level set for the end of the grade. Does this mean that receiving an I at the end of the year mean that the student "failed" to meet the goals for the year?

I'm more confused by what the grades mean at the end of the year than I was at the mid-year. (My child is in kindergarten)