The Problem With Report Cards
But at most, they give you a limited amount of insight, right? The rest should be in a parent-teacher conference. Does an A in science mean that your child is doing his or her best, but is at their apex of skill/talent/smarts right now…or do they truly have a competency in this area that they could excel in…or possibly turn into an actual well paying career choice? What does that A in science really mean…AND….is the person giving the grade competent to make such analysis or recommendations? I had a science teacher once in high school that actually was the varsity baseball coach, the year before he taught American History. He knew about hitting singles, but less about basic life sciences…nor, I think, did he care at all about the latter.
But with Demetrius’, which he just got, I just don’t know how to initially react to what I read. I mean, he got all satisfactories (satisfactory, needs improvement, not yet taught are the only markers for first graders in this school system) minus money counting and some handwriting/spacing (and what average boy is good at that anyway?). But is that satisfactory, ie, to IEP plan, or satisfactory compared to other students…what? I mean, it is a carbon form that has a check box next to a box….what do I read into this?
Thank goodness we have an IEP meeting coming up soon (Aimee, have you spoken with Kim about this?). This will tell us something, for sure. And don’t get me wrong, I’m thrilled to see all of those check marks in the satisfactory column, but I know there is more to judging this kid than meets the eye with this particular (or any) report card….
That said, his scores in behavior were all satisfactory. Long and short of it…on average, that’s alot better than his pop ever scored report card period to the next report card period….
I don’t have to read into anything there - he’s a sweet, hard working boy…and I’m certainly proud of those checked boxes!
Just came by to wish you congrats on winning the chocolates on Blakemakes. I’ll visit again soon.
Report cards always confused me too. Let us know what happens at the IEP meeting. I think your child’s skill levels are taken into account with the report card. They are not necessarily grading him against all of his peers.?? I am not sure though.
Jerry,
Report cards, like a lot of other things, can be purely subjective- at least in the elementary schools. (Middle and high schools use percentages… there’s no ‘leeway’ there.) There have been times, for instance, when my gradebook indicated that a child had truly earned an F based on their grades/percentages but, when taking a closer look at the child and how the child was working in the classroom, I opted not to give that grade (BUT included an explanation for the parents in the comments section). It really depends on the teacher. As for the actual grades, they represent that particular child’s performance–not a norm-referenced thing, where your child is compared to others that same age, that same grade level. While there has always been a push to make grades more ’standard’ for all, the truth (at least in my experience) is that grades are always ‘tweaked’ by teachers based on the particular child. If you’re not sure what the grades are based on in Super D’s case, ask to see the grades themselves; that should help see what the actual assignments/tasks were and how D. performed on each.
Hope that helps!
-aimee
PS I have not heard from Kim regarding the IEP. If you guys need me, shoot me an email… or give me a call and we can plan it out, etc. Thanks!
I dread report card time. Jackson’s school is weird about it and not sure how changing schools has complicated things yet.
It’s great to hear D is getting the grades he is. Good luck figuring out how it works. The system has me stumped!