Anonymous wrote:All I want to know is how do you get on the honor roll in 2013

Tee hee. Our family was actually talking about this yesterday. Youngest came home with a report card and an "honor roll" certificate. We were surprised and said, "congratulations on making honor roll!" And, youngest, said with a withering glance, "Mom everyone got an honor roll certificate." When we asked youngest "what does one do to make honor roll?" Youngest just shrugged shoulders. Thankfully, youngest improved grade-wise in two categories, so we praised that improvement. But, oddly, the grades in the two categories of improvement seemed totally unrelated to the grades that came home on homework and class work papers over the course of the quarter.

At the same time, oldest came home from middle school and announced that middle school would now give everyone who improves grade point average an "honor roll" certificate. OK, I thought that sounded reasonable. Everyone should strive to improve. A kid who has very bad grades should be recognized for improvement even if they hadn't yet gotten up to all Bs or As. But, oldest child, who has worked diligently to maintain straight As for years, pointed out that that meant that kids who were repeat straight A students or who maintained very good grades repeatedly would not receive any recognition. Didn't seem fair to oldest that someone who improves from a D to a C average would get recognition, but someone who gets repeat straight As would not.

One of my other favorite things I noticed about the 2.0 report card is the "N" grade -- N can be given to a child who has either not been exposed at all to a concept category or who has been exposed and who has made no progress. These are two significantly different categories!!!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Honestly, I'm thinking of going onto cafe press and selling t shirts that say 2.0 super sucks.

I would buy that t-shirt. Can we use the proceeds to sue Starr?

I think the only way to get some attention would be to have a significant number of parents and kids demonstrate in front if Starr's office on a school day...and the kids can wear shirts that say "why are you hell bent on ruining my future?" or "why are you depriving me of an elation?" or "what's so funny bout peace, love and acceleration...or at least meeting my needs?" etc. And I am being totally serious. The only way the administration would even consider doing anything about this is if we organize and protest ...with large numbers and the media and kids.

I love that "What's so wrong 'bout peace, love and acceleration" There's a petition floating around here. It still needs about 500 more signatures and it's asking the BOE to reinstate differentiation for math:

http://www.change.org/petitions/no-time-to-waste-3

Signing it could be a start. I like the idea of a protest...

Come on everybody. We're all equal. No need for grades, talent-based pacing, or recognizing high potential or accomplishments. Here in America, everyone is the same. Proficient, the new mantra.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Honestly, I'm thinking of going onto cafe press and selling t shirts that say 2.0 super sucks.

I would buy that t-shirt. Can we use the proceeds to sue Starr?

I think the only way to get some attention would be to have a significant number of parents and kids demonstrate in front if Starr's office on a school day...and the kids can wear shirts that say "why are you hell bent on ruining my future?" or "why are you depriving me of an elation?" or "what's so funny bout peace, love and acceleration...or at least meeting my needs?" etc. And I am being totally serious. The only way the administration would even consider doing anything about this is if we organize and protest ...with large numbers and the media and kids.

Anonymous wrote: I don't understand how you go from a P to an I. In the same subject-from one quarter to the next.

What's confusing to me is the overall goal is a P by the end of the year but not every topic is graded every quarter. Also, if my kid is getting I's for in-progress to meeting grade standards and I shouldn't be alarmed it isn't a P yet during the 2nd quarter, at what point is in-progress become a problem because it isn't proficient? If I don't know till the end of the year, that really isn't helping. What if my kid missed some fundamental thing like not being proficient with vocabulary? Do I see in quarter 4 that my child is in-progress meaning that she did not meet grade level for vocabulary and by that point what can anyone do about it?

our school got rid of the honor roll. which i actually kind of like.

All I want to know is how do you get on the honor roll in 2013

Anonymous wrote: I don't understand how you go from a P to an I. In the same subject-from one quarter to the next.

Because different material has been taught. Maybe the child's reading comprehension of nonfiction was proficient at reading level K, but now that the child is at reading level L, his or her comprehension is still catching up. Maybe the child did fine on two digit numbers in base ten, but is not yet proficient on 3 digit numbers. As messed up as the curriculum is, I don't think they taught exactly the same material two quarters in a row.

I don't understand how you go from a P to an I. In the same subject-from one quarter to the next.

Anonymous wrote:Kindergarten teachers are judging 5 yo's ability to "think outside the box"?!? My 50 yo boss can't even do that with her entire team!

Anonymous wrote:The best part used to be the narrative write up but this quarter it was literally one sentence. Not sure if tat is a function of his grade/teacher but it was disappointing.

No narrative write ups for third graders at our school.

What grade/school are you at that you are even getting one sentence?

Agree that these were often helpful, and motivating to the child.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Glad to hear there are others who hate the new report card. It provides zero information, all the while they're insisting that these new reports provide more information. Also, why do PE, Art and Music get graded the same way Math and Reading get graded, given that the specials are only for one hour each week and they have reading and math every day. My kids got I in Performing Music but they've never performed any music. Now they're depressed because they think they're flunking music. These report cards are a new low for MCPS.

My kid got an I in Art and Music. How can a Kindergartner fail Art?

It could be the teacher...k and 1st my dd had cruella for art...it literally hurt dd's heart the comments this woman would make.
It all stopped once i sent an email (copying the principal) asking the teacher why she told my 7 yr old she should be ashamed of herself for not gluing something.

And just think, all the education elite think MCPS is one of the best school systems in the country based on.....???

Yet many parents hate it.

I wonder if the report grades are copyrighted by Pearson.

You are right 4th and 5th grade have the old/traditional report cards.

I have a 3rd grader (new report card) and a 4th grader (old report card). The difference is stark. Reading the 3rd graders card last night was a joke. There is just no information in there.

The old report cards break out sections within reading, writing, math so that you get a sense of how they are doing within a particular subject.

I'm not someone who thinks the "grade" matters in elementary school, but I do believe that a report card should give parents better information that this. Under this report card, your child could conceivably get a P every quarter all year long. That would suggest to me that no progress has been made all year...but under 2.0 a P all year long is "just fine" and "exactly what we're looking for." That just isn't good enough.

Anonymous wrote:I don't think 2.0 is affecting all the elementary grades yet. I'm looking at my son's 5th grade report card and it still has traditional letter grades.....

As far as I know, unless an ES is piloting 2.0 for 4th or 5th grade this year, those kids will still receive the old report cards. Fourth grade, and likely fifth, switch to 2.0 next year.