Is the complaint that the standards for grading the work are too low or that the work itself isn't challenging enough?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Homework is only 10% of the grade. It's the summarized and formatives that really matter.

Those can be dumbed down or graded laxly, too.

Yes. But if the student is doing the homework (even if not well) it really comes down to how he does on the summarizes and formatives.

Summative's can include projects done outside of school which can be as much of a completion grade as regular homework. If you're saying grades can't be inflated because 90% is based on testing, I disagree. Because of projects and also, there are retake opportunities. Taking the time to retake work is admirable, still achieving 100% on a 2 question math quiz on the second attempt is not the same as maintaining a 90% average on chapter tests throughout a quarter.

My child is in a W feeder middle school and although he has some friends who get straight A's many of them do not. They are all bright kids so I'm not sure parents don't need to be worried if they are getting A's and B's. They have a lot of assessments so if they don't do well on them then of course their grades will be affected. As far as I can tell, the kids at my school actually have to work for their grades and not everyone is going to do a perfect job on everything. My child has to do a lot more than just complete something to get good grades.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Homework is only 10% of the grade. It's the summarized and formatives that really matter.

Those can be dumbed down or graded laxly, too.

Yes. But if the student is doing the homework (even if not well) it really comes down to how he does on the summarizes and formatives.

Anonymous wrote:Homework is only 10% of the grade. It's the summarized and formatives that really matter.

Those can be dumbed down or graded laxly, too.

What school has such a high percentage go straight As? My child's school only has 10% straight As.

Homework is only 10% of the grade. It's the summarized and formatives that really matter.

Thanks to the link someone posted, I was able to see the full honor roll list for his class. Literally every boy he knows with the exception of those with IEPs made the honor roll--several with straight As.

I thought it was interesting that a larger number of 6th graders made honor roll as compared to 7th and 8th graders.

My 6th grader worked hard for her straight As at Pyle. Maybe you aren't giving your son enough credit op.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:HS teacher at a W school here: the MS grades are so inflated the we raise our brows if a kid has Bs, and red flags go off if they have Cs. If your child isn't getting As in MS you should be concerned. And as the PPs have pointed out, even if he/she is getting As you should probably pay close attention to Edline to make sure you don't have a false sense of security.

Strange. My daughter has 99th% map scores, went to an HGC and is not getting straight As at her MS. I haven't found MS to be nearly as easy as expected. It's usually not handing in crap that tanks her grades though.

Not strange. MS grades are largely completion grades, not turning work in will sabotage a grade such that it's not possible to recover by just being smart on tests.

My 6th grader is in a magnet after an HGC and is not getting straight As.

Anonymous wrote:HS teacher at a W school here: the MS grades are so inflated the we raise our brows if a kid has Bs, and red flags go off if they have Cs. If your child isn't getting As in MS you should be concerned. And as the PPs have pointed out, even if he/she is getting As you should probably pay close attention to Edline to make sure you don't have a false sense of security.

Strange. My daughter has 99th% map scores, went to an HGC and is not getting straight As at her MS. I haven't found MS to be nearly as easy as expected. It's usually not handing in crap that tanks her grades though.

Yes,,,if your child is not doing well on tests but his/her grade is brought up by homework (typically just completion grade) and subjective projects...don't assume everything is fine.

HS teacher at a W school here: the MS grades are so inflated the we raise our brows if a kid has Bs, and red flags go off if they have Cs. If your child isn't getting As in MS you should be concerned. And as the PPs have pointed out, even if he/she is getting As you should probably pay close attention to Edline to make sure you don't have a false sense of security.

PP that's a great link. I went back and looked at 2007/2008 honor roll for Pyle, and 85% of the school made it on the honor roll then. It makes it tough to blame it on the new curriculum.