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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's super annoying to receive these report cards as a parent. Like, I my bar was already pretty low for DCPS, but when I get these report cards I just feel kind of depressed that the place I send my kid to school every day doesn't even really know who he is. For example, he got all 4s in ELA, which I know he's okay at but not amazing. Then he got a 3 in music, when he's amazing at music - has been in piano since he was 3 years old, and just has always been very musically gifted. Also, iReady scores didn't seem to show much correlation with report card.

Yes, it's this exactly. I'd rather receive nothing at all.

We had a good PT conference where the teacher clearly "got" my kid and his strengths/weaknesses/interests. Without that, this very generic, maybe inaccurate report card would have been kind of alarming.

Yeah, same exact feeling about the DCPS report card. Always depressing, even though our PT conferences are great and it's clear that the teacher really does know my kid as an individual and has a very nuanced understanding of how well they are doing in every single subject and sub-category. Somehow it doesn't come through at all via the report card.

my one solace is that our older son is now in middle school (at a charter, but still) and the assessements are SO MUCH more detailed. So, I know better information is coming, i just need to wait a few years.

If you have good PT conference experiences and the teacher demonstrates real understanding and interest in your kid, I don't understand why the report card is "disappointing." Because there's not a narrative description by the teacher describing their impressions? If you get this at the conference who cares if it's in the report card?

I think some of you are expecting way too much of what is basically a way for schools and teachers to document whether a child is meeting grade level expectations. That's it. If you need more that's what PT conferences are for and most teachers are happy to provide additional feedback between conferences if you have questions or concerns-- I've only had one teacher in 5 years in DCPS who wasn't responsive to an email with a direct question requesting feedback on my child's academic performance or classroom behavior/experience. And that one teacher was very responsive in PT conferences-- she was just older and I think struggled with email communication. i
If the report card is your only interaction with the teacher, that's on you.

This! 100%. Why are you getting so worked up about one means of communicating your child's performance, especially in elementary school? Don't you have bigger fish to fry?!

The issue is that they're NOT communicating about my child's performance. It's not individualized at all, and some of it doesn't even seem applicable to my kid.

For example, does my child who has been reading fluently for over a year really need to focus more on isolating the individual sounds in CVC words? Based on DIBELS, iReady, conference, and what I know about my child, the answer is "no", but why are they sending out nonsense that makes me have to second guess that?

+100

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's super annoying to receive these report cards as a parent. Like, I my bar was already pretty low for DCPS, but when I get these report cards I just feel kind of depressed that the place I send my kid to school every day doesn't even really know who he is. For example, he got all 4s in ELA, which I know he's okay at but not amazing. Then he got a 3 in music, when he's amazing at music - has been in piano since he was 3 years old, and just has always been very musically gifted. Also, iReady scores didn't seem to show much correlation with report card.

Yes, it's this exactly. I'd rather receive nothing at all.

We had a good PT conference where the teacher clearly "got" my kid and his strengths/weaknesses/interests. Without that, this very generic, maybe inaccurate report card would have been kind of alarming.

Yeah, same exact feeling about the DCPS report card. Always depressing, even though our PT conferences are great and it's clear that the teacher really does know my kid as an individual and has a very nuanced understanding of how well they are doing in every single subject and sub-category. Somehow it doesn't come through at all via the report card.

my one solace is that our older son is now in middle school (at a charter, but still) and the assessements are SO MUCH more detailed. So, I know better information is coming, i just need to wait a few years.

If you have good PT conference experiences and the teacher demonstrates real understanding and interest in your kid, I don't understand why the report card is "disappointing." Because there's not a narrative description by the teacher describing their impressions? If you get this at the conference who cares if it's in the report card?

I think some of you are expecting way too much of what is basically a way for schools and teachers to document whether a child is meeting grade level expectations. That's it. If you need more that's what PT conferences are for and most teachers are happy to provide additional feedback between conferences if you have questions or concerns-- I've only had one teacher in 5 years in DCPS who wasn't responsive to an email with a direct question requesting feedback on my child's academic performance or classroom behavior/experience. And that one teacher was very responsive in PT conferences-- she was just older and I think struggled with email communication. i
If the report card is your only interaction with the teacher, that's on you.

This! 100%. Why are you getting so worked up about one means of communicating your child's performance, especially in elementary school? Don't you have bigger fish to fry?!

The issue is that they're NOT communicating about my child's performance. It's not individualized at all, and some of it doesn't even seem applicable to my kid.

For example, does my child who has been reading fluently for over a year really need to focus more on isolating the individual sounds in CVC words? Based on DIBELS, iReady, conference, and what I know about my child, the answer is "no", but why are they sending out nonsense that makes me have to second guess that?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's super annoying to receive these report cards as a parent. Like, I my bar was already pretty low for DCPS, but when I get these report cards I just feel kind of depressed that the place I send my kid to school every day doesn't even really know who he is. For example, he got all 4s in ELA, which I know he's okay at but not amazing. Then he got a 3 in music, when he's amazing at music - has been in piano since he was 3 years old, and just has always been very musically gifted. Also, iReady scores didn't seem to show much correlation with report card.

Yes, it's this exactly. I'd rather receive nothing at all.

We had a good PT conference where the teacher clearly "got" my kid and his strengths/weaknesses/interests. Without that, this very generic, maybe inaccurate report card would have been kind of alarming.

Yeah, same exact feeling about the DCPS report card. Always depressing, even though our PT conferences are great and it's clear that the teacher really does know my kid as an individual and has a very nuanced understanding of how well they are doing in every single subject and sub-category. Somehow it doesn't come through at all via the report card.

my one solace is that our older son is now in middle school (at a charter, but still) and the assessements are SO MUCH more detailed. So, I know better information is coming, i just need to wait a few years.

If you have good PT conference experiences and the teacher demonstrates real understanding and interest in your kid, I don't understand why the report card is "disappointing." Because there's not a narrative description by the teacher describing their impressions? If you get this at the conference who cares if it's in the report card?

I think some of you are expecting way too much of what is basically a way for schools and teachers to document whether a child is meeting grade level expectations. That's it. If you need more that's what PT conferences are for and most teachers are happy to provide additional feedback between conferences if you have questions or concerns-- I've only had one teacher in 5 years in DCPS who wasn't responsive to an email with a direct question requesting feedback on my child's academic performance or classroom behavior/experience. And that one teacher was very responsive in PT conferences-- she was just older and I think struggled with email communication. i
If the report card is your only interaction with the teacher, that's on you.

This! 100%. Why are you getting so worked up about one means of communicating your child's performance, especially in elementary school? Don't you have bigger fish to fry?!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's super annoying to receive these report cards as a parent. Like, I my bar was already pretty low for DCPS, but when I get these report cards I just feel kind of depressed that the place I send my kid to school every day doesn't even really know who he is. For example, he got all 4s in ELA, which I know he's okay at but not amazing. Then he got a 3 in music, when he's amazing at music - has been in piano since he was 3 years old, and just has always been very musically gifted. Also, iReady scores didn't seem to show much correlation with report card.

Yes, it's this exactly. I'd rather receive nothing at all.

We had a good PT conference where the teacher clearly "got" my kid and his strengths/weaknesses/interests. Without that, this very generic, maybe inaccurate report card would have been kind of alarming.

Yeah, same exact feeling about the DCPS report card. Always depressing, even though our PT conferences are great and it's clear that the teacher really does know my kid as an individual and has a very nuanced understanding of how well they are doing in every single subject and sub-category. Somehow it doesn't come through at all via the report card.

my one solace is that our older son is now in middle school (at a charter, but still) and the assessements are SO MUCH more detailed. So, I know better information is coming, i just need to wait a few years.

If you have good PT conference experiences and the teacher demonstrates real understanding and interest in your kid, I don't understand why the report card is "disappointing." Because there's not a narrative description by the teacher describing their impressions? If you get this at the conference who cares if it's in the report card?

I think some of you are expecting way too much of what is basically a way for schools and teachers to document whether a child is meeting grade level expectations. That's it. If you need more that's what PT conferences are for and most teachers are happy to provide additional feedback between conferences if you have questions or concerns-- I've only had one teacher in 5 years in DCPS who wasn't responsive to an email with a direct question requesting feedback on my child's academic performance or classroom behavior/experience. And that one teacher was very responsive in PT conferences-- she was just older and I think struggled with email communication.

If the report card is your only interaction with the teacher, that's on you.

At our old school the report card was digitally sent to parents and kids never knew about unless you told them. DD7’s dcps teacher hands them out with great importance and then I have to explain why these metrics make no sense and don’t matter to us.

This is our first year in dcps. 2nd grade. Completely pointless report card and deflating that they find this useful. Thankfully the conference was informative and personal.

Another Specials teacher here - I do end up with the majority of 3's in Q1 because 4 is supposed to be mastery, and very few students have mastered the material in Q1. That being said, I would say 4-5 students per class do end up with 4s even in the fall.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's super annoying to receive these report cards as a parent. Like, I my bar was already pretty low for DCPS, but when I get these report cards I just feel kind of depressed that the place I send my kid to school every day doesn't even really know who he is. For example, he got all 4s in ELA, which I know he's okay at but not amazing. Then he got a 3 in music, when he's amazing at music - has been in piano since he was 3 years old, and just has always been very musically gifted. Also, iReady scores didn't seem to show much correlation with report card.

Yes, it's this exactly. I'd rather receive nothing at all.

We had a good PT conference where the teacher clearly "got" my kid and his strengths/weaknesses/interests. Without that, this very generic, maybe inaccurate report card would have been kind of alarming.

Yeah, same exact feeling about the DCPS report card. Always depressing, even though our PT conferences are great and it's clear that the teacher really does know my kid as an individual and has a very nuanced understanding of how well they are doing in every single subject and sub-category. Somehow it doesn't come through at all via the report card.

my one solace is that our older son is now in middle school (at a charter, but still) and the assessements are SO MUCH more detailed. So, I know better information is coming, i just need to wait a few years.

Anonymous wrote:It's super annoying to receive these report cards as a parent. Like, I my bar was already pretty low for DCPS, but when I get these report cards I just feel kind of depressed that the place I send my kid to school every day doesn't even really know who he is. For example, he got all 4s in ELA, which I know he's okay at but not amazing. Then he got a 3 in music, when he's amazing at music - has been in piano since he was 3 years old, and just has always been very musically gifted. Also, iReady scores didn't seem to show much correlation with report card.

Yes, it's this exactly. I'd rather receive nothing at all.

We had a good PT conference where the teacher clearly "got" my kid and his strengths/weaknesses/interests. Without that, this very generic, maybe inaccurate report card would have been kind of alarming.

My kid is in 2nd grade and is slightly below grade level on both ela and math. He got all 2s, but threes in specials. It’s useful for us, and we are using it as a tool to make changes and monitor more closely for working memory issues and other signs of ADHD.

Don’t assume that just because your kid’s report card is useless, it’s useless for everyone.

I have always been fine with the DCPS report cards. I think the key for me is that I don't view it as the definitive source for how my kid is doing. It's a data point.

There were times when my kid's grade didn't reflect, in my opinion, their aptitude in a subject. What I discovered in those cases was that my kid had other issues that were making it hard for her to demonstrate aptitude. She was very shy her first several years of elementary school and this led to lower grades in specials because the teachers spend less time with the kids -- they didn't know how to draw my kid out of her shell and often she would minimally participate because she felt uncomfortable with this teacher she didn't know that well. Those grades have improved as she's gotten more comfortable at the school and seen the same specials teachers year after year and also has she's gotten less shy generally.

Other grades have wound up being a flag that she needed help learning the technology they use in class -- we don't do much screen time at home and don't even have computers with a regular mouse. Turned out that was making it harder for her to participate in certain activities in school where they use computers.

When I want detailed info about my kid's reading or math levels, I look at their i-Ready assessments and DIBELS score, as well as discuss it at PT conferences. I don't view grades to be as useful in that respect because at this age kids are not producing a lot of "work product" to be graded. They are skill building and practicing and assessment tests are a better way to measure that. However if I saw a 1 or a 2 on any subject I would view that as a reason to contact the teacher and discuss the issue. And teachers will usually reach out in that case anyway. But generally my kid gets 3s and 4s and this lets me know she's generally on track, but I also seek out other resources to round out that picture.

A 2nd graders report card is just really different than a 7th or 11th graders report card. You have to know how to use it as a tool.

It's super annoying to receive these report cards as a parent. Like, I my bar was already pretty low for DCPS, but when I get these report cards I just feel kind of depressed that the place I send my kid to school every day doesn't even really know who he is. For example, he got all 4s in ELA, which I know he's okay at but not amazing. Then he got a 3 in music, when he's amazing at music - has been in piano since he was 3 years old, and just has always been very musically gifted. Also, iReady scores didn't seem to show much correlation with report card.

My kids are K and 2nd and it's pretty particular, but I'm not anywhere near DC. For example, my son got a 2- for reading comprehension basics because he only knows half of his letters/sounds (after 3 years of preschool, sigh, I will work with him on it).

Anonymous wrote:If there are all 3s across the board but the standardized test scores reflect below grade level, what do we think is happening?

That’s pretty normal. Kids only really get 2s if they are a behavioral problem or *really* far behind (more than one grade level).