Not in general.

It may help MCPS to try to get out of providing services for children with special needs, or so I've heard. I don't have any first-hand experience with that, though.

But don't you think this all Ps business will make the situation worse?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I absolutely know kids whose parents discovered later on there were holes in their education during the early years. For example, one of my friends was shocked to find out that their son's math was not up to par. Standard based grading absolutely made it hard to know where your kids are. This is even a bigger problem for private school kids. In the public school, the standard testing at least gives some clue.

Of course, if your dd is a good student then there is nothing to be shocked at at 6th grade. Some kids absolutely will fall through the crack.

I've discovered holes in my daughter's education, in classes she got an A in.

Sure. Going in without a grade, I know there will be some holes just due to the curriculum. But that is different than you think they know something but they don't.

I'm the PP. That's exactly what I was referring to.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I absolutely know kids whose parents discovered later on there were holes in their education during the early years. For example, one of my friends was shocked to find out that their son's math was not up to par. Standard based grading absolutely made it hard to know where your kids are. This is even a bigger problem for private school kids. In the public school, the standard testing at least gives some clue.

Of course, if your dd is a good student then there is nothing to be shocked at at 6th grade. Some kids absolutely will fall through the crack.

I've discovered holes in my daughter's education, in classes she got an A in.

Sure. Going in without a grade, I know there will be some holes just due to the curriculum. But that is different than you think they know something but they don't.

Anonymous wrote:

I absolutely know kids whose parents discovered later on there were holes in their education during the early years. For example, one of my friends was shocked to find out that their son's math was not up to par. Standard based grading absolutely made it hard to know where your kids are. This is even a bigger problem for private school kids. In the public school, the standard testing at least gives some clue.

Of course, if your dd is a good student then there is nothing to be shocked at at 6th grade. Some kids absolutely will fall through the crack.

I've discovered holes in my daughter's education, in classes she got an A in.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For what it worth, OP, I think a lot of kids are going to be in the same boat. The first time they get ABC grades will be a rude awakening. I think it is fine to not grade the real little kids. But by 3rd, 4th, 5th grade, they should be getting grades that reflects performance. This way, a lot of middle schoolers are going to realize that they are behind and it will take a lot of efforts to catch up or they may never catch up.

Do you actually know that this will happen, or are you just assuming that it will happen?

My daughter is in sixth grade. She got the standards-based report card last year. She hasn't had any problems with ABC grades this year. I'd like to hear from other parents of sixth-graders about their adjustments.

I absolutely know kids whose parents discovered later on there were holes in their education during the early years. For example, one of my friends was shocked to find out that their son's math was not up to par. Standard based grading absolutely made it hard to know where your kids are. This is even a bigger problem for private school kids. In the public school, the standard testing at least gives some clue.

Of course, if your dd is a good student then there is nothing to be shocked at at 6th grade. Some kids absolutely will fall through the crack.

In Art, music and PE, grading becomes quite tricky.
P is the norm for many teachers, while others give an ES to at least 25 % of the class.
Each teacher does it differently. We've discussed this during all county meetings and have not come to a consensus.
Email your teacher if you have concerns.

Anonymous wrote:For what it worth, OP, I think a lot of kids are going to be in the same boat. The first time they get ABC grades will be a rude awakening. I think it is fine to not grade the real little kids. But by 3rd, 4th, 5th grade, they should be getting grades that reflects performance. This way, a lot of middle schoolers are going to realize that they are behind and it will take a lot of efforts to catch up or they may never catch up.

Do you actually know that this will happen, or are you just assuming that it will happen?

My daughter is in sixth grade. She got the standards-based report card last year. She hasn't had any problems with ABC grades this year. I'd like to hear from other parents of sixth-graders about their adjustments.

For what it worth, OP, I think a lot of kids are going to be in the same boat. The first time they get ABC grades will be a rude awakening. I think it is fine to not grade the real little kids. But by 3rd, 4th, 5th grade, they should be getting grades that reflects performance. This way, a lot of middle schoolers are going to realize that they are behind and it will take a lot of efforts to catch up or they may never catch up.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Anyone know the reasoning behind switching the grading from the traditional to what we have now?

http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational_leadership/oct08/vol66/num02/Seven_Reasons_for_Standards-Based_Grading.aspx

OMG, what an awful article. Challenge the status quo. What if the tried and true method works? Know what quality looks like? The OP's DD's teacher said the P covers A to C. How is that teaching quality?

Anonymous wrote:Anyone know the reasoning behind switching the grading from the traditional to what we have now?

http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational_leadership/oct08/vol66/num02/Seven_Reasons_for_Standards-Based_Grading.aspx

Anonymous wrote:I agree. Without any connection between an I, P, and ES, my DS doesn't seem to worry about what he is doing and what he is getting. Get everything right, get a P. Do something wrong (but who knows what), get an I. Something magical happened, get an ES. He doesn't feel like he has much control over the grades so he decides to just do what he wants and see how it turns out.

It is also harder to help motivate because I can't say "work hard and get an ES." I feel like my message is more "avoid an I. Just turn stuff in so you get a P".

Now my kid is going to HGC and I think there is going to be a rude awakening because they seem to require more accountability. However, there are tons of bright kids who are going to have to go through the grade conversion in middle school and that will be rough.

My message is "Do your best." What's more, it's my message for A/B/C/D/E grades, it's my message for P/I/N grades, and it's my message for things that are ungraded -- music lessons, monkey bars, baking cookies, washing the dishes.

Also, I never got any grades in elementary school, and the conversion to A/B/C/D/E grades in middle school was not rough in the least.

Anyone know the reasoning behind switching the grading from the traditional to what we have now?

I agree. Without any connection between an I, P, and ES, my DS doesn't seem to worry about what he is doing and what he is getting. Get everything right, get a P. Do something wrong (but who knows what), get an I. Something magical happened, get an ES. He doesn't feel like he has much control over the grades so he decides to just do what he wants and see how it turns out.

It is also harder to help motivate because I can't say "work hard and get an ES." I feel like my message is more "avoid an I. Just turn stuff in so you get a P".

Now my kid is going to HGC and I think there is going to be a rude awakening because they seem to require more accountability. However, there are tons of bright kids who are going to have to go through the grade conversion in middle school and that will be rough.

I'm worried that my 4th grader is going to a be B/C student in middle school because of this P system in upper elementary school. My kids are smart but are more math oriented.

When my older child was in MCPS, she received B/C at first in upper elementary school. Getting a B or a C and knowing that if she did specific things differently motivated her to work harder. Since the grading system was more specific the teacher had to give specific reasons why a paper was a C or B and not an A. This really helped my older child learn how to improve. She put in a lot of effort and became an A student in writing. By the time she reached middle school, she knew that she could still achieve an A in a subject with hard work even if she wasn't as naturally talented in that subject. It was a great life lesson on how to achieve success when you aren't naturally gifted in something. It helped teach her good study skills, paying close attention to expectations, seeking help to understand the expectations and gave her a huge sense of pride. She's the type of student now that believes she can do anything even if its hard. She doesn't get upset if she doesn't do well on the first assignment. She digs deep into what she did wrong and works hard to achieve the highest level because she knows its possible.

My younger child is very similar to my older child but she gets all Ps. I pulled out old writing samples from older DD and younger DD's writing work in 4th grade looks like what my older child was doing when she was in 3rd grade and getting B/Cs. I spoke to younger DD's teacher. She told me that proficient means that they can satisfactorily do everything which is a range of a A-C. She agreed with me that if my younger DD was getting traditional grades then her work would be a C or maybe a B. She also made a point that a C or a P is perfectly fine. She thought it wasn't worth getting tutoring and she could only give general, vague guidance on what DD should do to improve. She agreed that it will be hard for DD to substantially improve because she is at grade level and within P range. The new system doesn't reward achievement beyond proficiency so she'll never get assignment by assignment specific feedback or grades that reflect whether she reached what would be a C or A level. She said that she'll just need to learn this in middle school.

The staff development specialist, who is awful, added that not all kids should be A students anyway. She pointed out that DD would probably always be an A student in math and science but a B/C student in writing. She inferred that its a better social emotional balance for kids who are not naturally talented in a subject and able to easily earn As to just accept a C grade. She went on to say that many kids aren't naturally good at math like my DD is and that those kids should learn to accept Cs in math later on too. WTF!!!

This is worst advice that I have ever heard in my life! I don't want my younger DD believing that you can't change your outcome, she only deserves B or Cs because she isn't naturally gifted, and achievement doesn't exist.