Anonymous wrote:I am horrified at 17:38.
Anonymous wrote:We told our third grader - either come home with at least 3-4 ES's per quarter, or you will be punished and lose all TV, video games and toys. We expect DD to go to Dartmouth or Yale or another Ivy.
Anonymous wrote:This obsession with ES seems exceptionally misguided to me. Don't these parents pay attention to their child's actual progress? If your kid is reading above grade level, are you less proud of them because they didn't "score" high enough for you?
My 1st grade son got an I in writing, which I completely expected. However all I have to do is compare his writing to the start of the year to see the tremendous progress he's made in just two months, and I am so proud of his improvement. It doesn't even occur to me to share his progress report with him - those aren't "grades" for him to earn, but a measure of his developmental progress. He's an I because his fine motor skills are still forming, did goodness sake! We do extra writing practice to help his development, because the I indicates to me it's an area of extra work for him. The idea that I would get upset about an informative I is ludicrous.
I am thrilled we've moved away from As, Bs, C's, etc for this age. I wish parents could readjust their mindsets to fit the improved program.
Anonymous wrote:I have kids in 1st and 3rd, and they have both now received some ES's, the older one more than the younger one.
I'd think of a P as an A (more or less). I'd think of an ES as EC, as in Extra Credit.
My child can have a math exit card with every single thing correct. 100%. Grade: P.
OR my child can have a math exit card with everything correct and grade ES. The difference? One that day, for whatever reason, instead of just "showing her work", she decided to show how to get the correct answer 3 different ways: number line, pictures, structured equation. She wasn't "more correct" on the second one, she just did lots of extra work.
Did your school show you the birthday cake analogy at Back to School Night? The beautiful round well-decorated birthday cake is the P. That is the goal. The castle-shaped Martha-Stewart-on-crack cake gets an ES.
Though they didn't actually use the word crack...
Anonymous wrote:next time ask the teacher what percentage of the class got a P. when she says 80% you'll know that your kid is just like 80% of the class. all equal, all peachy. no further goals to have, just pass the low proficiency bar. check!
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote: The goal is to understand what the teacher has taught, so the goal is a P. Again, you really shouldn't try to compare it to an A grade. It's not comparable.
This is correct. If your student gets a P, that's like an A. If you student gets an ES that's like the teacher recommends your student for AP classes. Every kid in high school can get an A... only a few get selected for AP classes.