Grading has changed

[FlightlessDuck]

Ah, the good old days... when kids learned that results do matter in the real world, right from wrong, winning and losing, respect for authority...

Speaking of the real world, I am evaluated every year by my employer. Each standard is measured on a scale of 1 to 5.

 

[penn19]

A note was sent home with my daughter (4th grade) stating that the school was doing away with letter grades and changing to number grades 1-4. 4-Advanced proficient, 3- proficient, 2-Slightly below proficient, 1- Significantly below proficient. The letter says this grading scale will "...more accurately define the skills our students are working on."

Does anybody have a school with this sort of grading scale, and if so, does it really help "define the skills"? I spoke with one of the teachers and she said that there were parents and kids who were intimidated by the letter grades which is why they couldn't get good grades. Personally, I think it's ridiculous, but am wondering if it's really all that different than letter grades?

Do not even get me started on this. My kids elementary school has been doing this for about 7 years. The previous system of "A","B" etc.....that wasn't good. It hurt kids self esteem when they didn't get an A......And now with 4 being the best (isn't that still basically an A?) some teachers give 4's and some don't. So my kids work hard but they still only get a 3 because some teachers give the 4's and some don't. So what do they have to work harder for again? I think it's a bunch of feel good crap that has been invading our school district........IMHO........

 

[luvmy3]

Exactly, getting a paper back with 8 wrong out of 20 and it having a 3 doesn't sit right with me. Almost half wrong is NOT proficient...I do understand that it's all a way to be PC (though I enjoy being politically INCORRECT) but truthfully, it does nothing positive for the students. Heck, in kindergarten through 2nd grade, they only got S or U, satisfactory or unsatisfactory. Those were accompanied on notes on subjects and what they excelled/struggled with.

No, of course it does something positive, it makes those kids who got half wrong, who would have normally failed, feel good about themselves. Isnt that what its all about in school these days, to make sure nobody feels inadequate, or not as good as the smarter kids. Or is it just a way to ensure a parent isn't going to come in screaming that their snowflake shouldn't have failed.
Our school uses the 1-4 system until 4th grade then it becomes letter grades. They even add a + or - to a number too, because giving a kid a 4 might make others feel bad about themselves so instead they get a 3+ How one can meet the state standards +, but not exceed them makes absolutely no sense to me. Its just ridiculous.

 

[clori]

At my kids school grades k-2 is standard based and they get overall grades of S - Secure in the subject knowledge =exceeds, outstanding etc, the next grade is P progressing = meeting grade level standards, satisfactory etc. I think after that is HD for having difficulty = below grade level standards etc. I think there are a few other grades but mostly for new students such as not in school long enough to evaluate. Classes like gym, music, Spanish, computers, art are satisfactory or not satisfactory.

Grades 3&4 get letter grades but no plus or minus. I believe grades 5&6 get letter grades with plus and minus and 7&8 or perhaps starting in 6th grade they add real letter grades to classes like gym, music, Spanish, art etc and all of those classes including gym have written midterms and finals.

Those are the overall grades. Each subject is divided into subcategories with a 1-6 rating with 6 being the highest. The 6 seems subjective in that some teachers easily give in out and another teacher your kid can have a 100 average etc and get a 5. Most of the time the 1-6 is academic based but it can also be used for behavior related things. I know my dd typically gets 5s and 6s. Once she got a 4 and I asked about it and was told she talks too much. In theory I guess a 3 is like a C, 4 C+, 5 B and 6 A if you have a teacher that gives 6s.

 

[Kathi OD]

Our school has used the number system for a couple of years now and although at first I didn't like it, but once the teachers got used to it too, it worked out a lot better.

As some pps have said, the subjects on the report card are broken up into skill sets. So instead of getting a single letter grade for math, DD got a number grade for things like "Can add two two-digit numbers", "Can subtract a two digit number from another two digit number" and "Understands the concept of borrowing when subtracting." It really pinpoints which areas a student needs help in and which areas the student really understands. In our case, if a skill didn't have a number grade, it meant that the particular skill hadn't been taught in school yet.

When they first started grading this way, there was no way for a child to get a 4 because of the way the tests and quizzes were set up. After the teachers figured out what "exceeds grade level expectations" meant, they were able to structure their curriculum so that students who really were ahead got the correct number score.

Our schools have had this type of grading system for about 20 years. I hated it! I don't care if my kid knows the schwa sound, I just care if he is learning to read at an appropriate pace. As a parent, I don't need every little detail.

One difference is that we had also had a notation for skills not yet introduced.

1, 2, 3, & 4 or A, B, C & D. I don't see the big difference.

 

[EMom]

God forbid we hurt anyone's feelings and clue them in that they are NOT an A student. Puh-leeze, the A students are going to figure out that this grading system is a load of horse manure. Getting 98/100 correct is not the same as getting 81/100 correct, even though they might both earn a "3" on the grading scale. If I made high 90s and got the same marks as a low 80s student, I wouldn't be happy about it. Sharp thinking, there! Alienate the smart kids.

My DD gave me this look when I told her my school didn't have Ds. An "A" was 90-100, a "B" was 80-89, a "C" was 70-79 and 69 or below was a big, fat "F."

 

[Planogirl]

Why are letters more intimidating than numbers? I don't get it.

 

[DisGirlAllie]

I had that grading system: in first grade. While I will say that letter grades are intimidating (I got a C+!?!?!?), a scale of 1-4 doesn't really accurately define a students skills.
But, this is coming from the high school student whose mum is a first grade teacher.

 

[DisGirlAllie]

Why are letters more intimidating than numbers? I don't get it.

They're not so much intimidating as they are stressful if you don't get an A. With all this talk of B is the new C, it's just plain stressful. Especially since I work my butt off to keep a B in math.

 

[MM27]

My school uses a 1-5 system. A true rubric should not have percentages assigned to them, but because of parent complaints, our report cards now read like this:

5 (90-100) A
4 (80-89) B
3 (70-79) C
2 (60-69) D
1 (below 60) F

Personally, I think the % alone should be on the report card. It's cut and dry. You earned a 98% this marking period or you earned a 52% this marking period. No questions needed.

 

[bethbuchall]

Personally, I think the % alone should be on the report card. It's cut and dry. You earned a 98% this marking period or you earned a 52% this marking period. No questions needed.

That's what our middle and high schools use.

 

[Planogirl]

They're not so much intimidating as they are stressful if you don't get an A. With all this talk of B is the new C, it's just plain stressful. Especially since I work my butt off to keep a B in math.

Wouldn't it be just as bad if a kid doesn't get a 4 or 5 though? I don't see why that wouldn't be just as stressful.

 

[drag n' fly]

Our schools have been using the number system for years now and no problemo

 

[FlightlessDuck]

My school uses a 1-5 system. A true rubric should not have percentages assigned to them

Well, when you think about it, a percentage is just a way of representing a portion of a total. For example, you have a rubric for a writing assignment. There are 5 categories being assessed, each having a value between 0 and 4. A total of 20 points.

If a students gets four 4's and one 3, that's 19, which is 95% of the total possible points in a rubric. You can represent that as 19 out of 20, or as 95%. .

Of course, if you are only grading with a rubric that is a total of 4 points, than the only possible percentages are 0, 25, 50, 75, and 100.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

I also prefer the %ages. They did this in the TX HS my dd went to because of the competition factor of the school, I guess.

It really made a huge difference with studying with my dd. You could calculate what grade you needed to the 1% to keep your GPA at a certain level.

Let's just say she got really good at calculating percentages.

 

[Kathi OD]

God forbid we hurt anyone's feelings and clue them in that they are NOT an A student. Puh-leeze, the A students are going to figure out that this grading system is a load of horse manure. Getting 98/100 correct is not the same as getting 81/100 correct, even though they might both earn a "3" on the grading scale. If I made high 90s and got the same marks as a low 80s student, I wouldn't be happy about it. Sharp thinking, there! Alienate the smart kids.

My DD gave me this look when I told her my school didn't have Ds. An "A" was 90-100, a "B" was 80-89, a "C" was 70-79 and 69 or below was a big, fat "F."

Even the "not so smart" kids are going to figure it out before too long (and they won't need the "smart" kids to point it out to them either). It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out who the smart kids are and aren't in a classroom. The kids usually have it figured out before the teachers do.

 

[Aneille]

My child's school uses the 1-4 system but the way they define the numbers is a bit different.

1 is does not meet NYS standards for ____ grade
2 meets some NYS standards for _____ grade
3 meets all NYS standards for ______ grade
4 exceeds all NYS standards for _____ grade

Each area math, science, reading, etc... Is broken down into the skills they need to achieve that year. So reading in kindergarten may be:

Recognizes all upper case letters - followed by a number.
Recognizes all lower case letters - followed by a number
Can phonetically sound all letters - followed by a number
etc...

It works for us. I like it better than the letter grades my daughter gets in 5th grade. Reading - A. Means nothing to me. Seeing it broken down by each skill they need to attain makes much more sense to me.

Hope this helps some.

This is very similar to how my kids school does it up until 4th grade. Although I have heard its changing this year.

I was confused at first but then I liked it. It makes it very clear what your child is having trouble with. So say my child gets a "B" in math with a letter system, but with this system I can see she is doing very well in most of her math but is having trouble with subtraction.

 

[DisGirlAllie]

Wouldn't it be just as bad if a kid doesn't get a 4 or 5 though? I don't see why that wouldn't be just as stressful.

When you've had letter system for years, numbers don't really matter. It's a psychological thing.

 

[Tinijocaro]

Didn't read the thread but this is not a PC issue, and it certainly wasn't devised because parents were intimidated by letter grades.

I like the system personally. If my child is on par with the state standards, they get a 3-that is a good grade. If my child excels above the state standards, they get a 4. A 2 means they are below the standards and a 1 means serious trouble. In the younger grades especially, that's all you really need to know.

People don't like change but it's really not much different than A, B, C, and D for grades.