Kids and Grades

[Soldier's*Sweeties]

I can see dropping each students lowest score if they announce it at that start of the semester. Going back in time (also graduated in 88), I remember some teachers saying the class (as a whole) did so bad, they're scrapping the entire quize grade. I've also had teacher announce they've decided to score an assignment on a curve (highest score got an A, then bell curve from that).

I've had many classes where the teacher drops the individual's lowest grade (quiz, test, homework etc). I don't think it's uncommon.

 

[sam_gordon]

I've only had experience with teachers dropping the lowest quiz grade of each student. It seems kind of mean to do it the way you describe because then it takes away from students who did well...

In my experience, NO ONE has done well on that quiz. That's why the teacher would drop it.

I've had many classes where the teacher drops the individual's lowest grade (quiz, test, homework etc). I don't think it's uncommon.

Then let me ask you this... WHY drop everyone's lowest score? Surely it's not decided on the spur of the moment. The only reason to drop the lowest score from everyone would be to give everyone a better grade. Isn't that "grade inflation"?

 

[Dizneefamily+4]

I love our online system. Ours can also be set up so that it auto-messages you if your child's grade drops below a certain threshold (you set the threshold.) I'm lucky in that my kids are great students and are kind of obsessed with checking their own grades, but I did get a notice when my ds15 dropped below a B - it was only because he was out sick for 2 days, so 0's were entered for missing assignments until he was back and had completed them. So I know the auto-messaging works! We can also view our family's lunch account balance, their locker combos, etc. It's really a great system.

 

[Soldier's*Sweeties]

In my experience, NO ONE has done well on that quiz. That's why the teacher would drop it.

Then let me ask you this... WHY drop everyone's lowest score? Surely it's not decided on the spur of the moment. The only reason to drop the lowest score from everyone would be to give everyone a better grade. Isn't that "grade inflation"?

Grade inflation? Sure it is. But it happens. It's happened in a lot of my classes throughout my school life.

It's not spur of the moment. I've had teachers announce it at the beginning of term and at the very end(middle school, high school and college).

I have a class right now with a professor who average all of our test grades and use that for our final exam grade if it's an A(if we so choose).

 

[Poohforyou]

How is that even possible? Unless your DD did very well on the quiz that was going to be dropped, it should only help her grade.

I'd have to go back and do the math, but yes she did very well on the quizzes. I think they were are in the 90s so dropping even the lowest brought her from a 91 or so to an 89.

Dd calculated it, I calculated it and her teacher calculated it. we all got the same answer .

And the teacher was willing to drop the lowest for each student. so if student a did the worst on quiz 1 that grade would be dropped but if student b did the worst on quiz 3 that grade would be dropped.

Dd's quiz grades were high but there was something she didn't do well on. Dropping her lowest quiz grade would have had a negative impact.

Finally, the teacher did announce she would drop the lowest quiz grade at the beginning of the year. she just didn't for my daughter. This was AP Calc, so these kids aren't slackers .

 

[morgan98]

In my experience, NO ONE has done well on that quiz. That's why the teacher would drop it.

Then let me ask you this... WHY drop everyone's lowest score? Surely it's not decided on the spur of the moment. The only reason to drop the lowest score from everyone would be to give everyone a better grade. Isn't that "grade inflation"?

I do not think it is grade inflation in that it is done to purposely raise everyone's grade. I think that over the course of a quarter or a semester, especially in a class that is very quiz heavy, it is to give one small break for having a bad day (like not feeling 100%, or not studying enough, etc.)

I think the dropping the same quiz for the whole class is strange in that it would be very, very rare in a class of say 25 people for one quiz to be the lowest for everyone.

 

[Hikergirl]

Our district sends home mid quarter progress reports. They have a grade range, and a brief summary of student's work, like "assigned work not completed" or "work below potential". At the time of the progress reports my ds was in danger of failing a class, and sure enough when they report cards came 5 weeks later he had failed. His grade was quite a bit below the range that was given, and his teacher did email me the day before grades came out.
I have no intention of contacting her for any reason, my questions are to my son. He needs to be the one to get clarification from the teacher, not me IMO. The time for me to micro-manage his schoolwork is long past, he needs to be the one managing things at this point.
I understand you are wondering how she ended up failing, but I think by the time your child is a Junior in highschool that is a question they, not the parents, should be asking their teachers.

 

[pryncess527]

Then let me ask you this... WHY drop everyone's lowest score? Surely it's not decided on the spur of the moment. The only reason to drop the lowest score from everyone would be to give everyone a better grade. Isn't that "grade inflation"?

It may be decided spur of the moment, depending on how the class grade distribution is falling -- but in my experience it's more often set out on the syllabus from the beginning. The purpose is generally to recognize that we might all have an off day which should not have a disproportionate effect on our performance. If a student gets all 90s (or all 60s) on quizzes, then dropping the lowest has no impact. It only impacts those who had a wide range of scores.

I would not consider it grade inflation in and of itself, but I suppose it could be a contributing factor. Grade Inflation issues, in my experience, seem to be more about lenient grading overall. When a high percentage of students get As, its hard to distinguish the quality of those As. Dropping a low score will raise all grades, so could contribute, but isn't necessarily the primary factor because the actual impact on the final grade is usually minimal, IME

 

[Magpie]

I doubt the teacher would drop quiz A for Suzy, B for Jimmy, C for D, etc, etc.

Actually this is exactly how it works around here. My kids' teachers often dropped their lowest grade when calculating their final score. That way they aren't penalized for having a bad day or missing one test (because anyone can have a bad day). If this is the policy, it's included in the syllabus handed out on the first day of class.

Even my mum, who is a university prof, does this.

It's not grade inflation, by the way, as class grades are tracked and can be bell curved up and down as needed. My mum once got into it with the dean, because she'd given out too many A's, and refused to curve down. She ultimately won, because she had a very clear rubric and was able to demonstrate exactly how her students had earned their grades. She absolutely hates bell curving.

 

[Poohlove]

All through high school and college the majority of my teachers/ professors dropped the lowest quiz grade.

 

[PollyannaMom]

Then let me ask you this... WHY drop everyone's lowest score? Surely it's not decided on the spur of the moment. The only reason to drop the lowest score from everyone would be to give everyone a better grade. Isn't that "grade inflation"?

It may be decided spur of the moment, depending on how the class grade distribution is falling -- but in my experience it's more often set out on the syllabus from the beginning. The purpose is generally to recognize that we might all have an off day which should not have a disproportionate effect on our performance. If a student gets all 90s (or all 60s) on quizzes, then dropping the lowest has no impact. It only impacts those who had a wide range of scores.

Actually this is exactly how it works around here. My kids' teachers often dropped their lowest grade when calculating their final score. That way they aren't penalized for having a bad day or missing one test (because anyone can have a bad day). If this is the policy, it's included in the syllabus handed out on the first day of class.

I agree with these. When I had teachers who did this, it was usually set out at the beginning, and was meant to eliminate the outlier grades, when extenuating circumstances really did mean one grade wasn't reflective of your normal performance.

I see grade inflation more as "dumbing down" the test so everyone will do well.

 

[manning]

I had a teacher once who said he uses homework to gauge how you were doing. He said if you passed the finals, you passed. I know what he meant. I was going to junior college one summer and had a week vacation trip. My final grade was B-. My final test score was a perfect 100%. He said he dropped my grade because I missed two days. Really?

 

[Aliceacc]

My school doesn't post grades on a daily basis. My kids' schools do.

I have a tough time believing that the teachers can't manage to contact the student, at least to tell them they're in trouble. .

I'm going to hazard a guess that, at some point, tests and quzzes were returned. I don't have a single student in any of my classes who doesn't have a decent idea of how he or she is doing in my class. They've gotten all their quizzes back, all their tests back, and I'll happily inform anyone who asks how many homeworks they owe.

But the reality is that I simply do NOT have the time to inform the parents of each of my students how they're doing. We have progress reports twice a year, and report cards three times a year. I have close to 180 students. I cannot call every parent after every test, after every quiz, after every missed homework.

I will respond to any parent who emails to ask how their son or daughter is doing. But I have had parents ask that I let them know every two weeks or something-- I always reply that I'll be happy to respond to their emails. I give them my testing calendar and let them know that they can expect a graded test within 48 hours of each of those test dates. But I will not promise to let a parent know each time a child fails a test, or goes below an A or whatever.

We're nearing the end of a marking period. About 2 weeks ago, I got in touch with the guidance counselor of any of my seniors who were in jeopardy of failing. The guidance counselors then pulled the kids in and spoke to them. Some responded, some did not. But the effort was made, even if it didn't involve mom and dad.

If I taught 6 year olds, it would be different. But at this point, aside from the personal inconvenience to me, it's about a 16 or 17 year old taking responsibility for his/her own education.

OP, it's certainly possible that there was an error.

But if your daughter had fifteen 80's, a 68 and a zero-- and they all were weighted the same-- her average would be a 74.59

Lets say, though that she had 3 tests: 80, 68, and 0, and 14 homeworks, all of which earned an 80. And that her test average was weighted equally with her homework average. That would give her a test average of 49, a homework average of 80, and an overall average of 65-- failing in her school.

Let's say test grades of 68 and 0, and a homework average of 85. If they're weighted evenly, she has a 60.

It's entirely possible that that zero was on a test or something that was weighted more heavily than, say 10 or 15 homeworks. That could certainly legitimately pull her below 70.

My question would be why she got a zero. And it would be directed at my daughter, not her teacher.

 

[mnrose]

My school doesn't post grades on a daily basis. My kids' schools do.



I'm going to hazard a guess that, at some point, tests and quzzes were returned. I don't have a single student in any of my classes who doesn't have a decent idea of how he or she is doing in my class. They've gotten all their quizzes back, all their tests back, and I'll happily inform anyone who asks how many homeworks they owe.

But the reality is that I simply do NOT have the time to inform the parents of each of my students how they're doing. We have progress reports twice a year, and report cards three times a year. I have close to 180 students. I cannot call every parent after every test, after every quiz, after every missed homework.

I will respond to any parent who emails to ask how their son or daughter is doing. But I have had parents ask that I let them know every two weeks or something-- I always reply that I'll be happy to respond to their emails. I give them my testing calendar and let them know that they can expect a graded test within 48 hours of each of those test dates. But I will not promise to let a parent know each time a child fails a test, or goes below an A or whatever.

We're nearing the end of a marking period. About 2 weeks ago, I got in touch with the guidance counselor of any of my seniors who were in jeopardy of failing. The guidance counselors then pulled the kids in and spoke to them. Some responded, some did not. But the effort was made, even if it didn't involve mom and dad.

If I taught 6 year olds, it would be different. But at this point, aside from the personal inconvenience to me, it's about a 16 or 17 year old taking responsibility for his/her own education.

OP, it's certainly possible that there was an error.

But if your daughter had fifteen 80's, a 68 and a zero-- and they all were weighted the same-- her average would be a 74.59

Lets say, though that she had 3 tests: 80, 68, and 0, and 12 homeworks, all of which earned an 80. And that her test average was weighted equally with her homework average. That would give her a test average of 49, a homework average of 80, and an overall average of 65-- failing in her school.

It's entirely possible that that zero was on a test or something that was weighted more heavily than, say 10 or 15 homeworks. That could certainly legitimately pull her below 70.

My question would be why she got a zero. And it would be directed at my daughter, not her teacher.

Excellent post. Thank you for this.

 

[Poohlove]

My school doesn't post grades on a daily basis. My kids' schools do.



I'm going to hazard a guess that, at some point, tests and quzzes were returned. I don't have a single student in any of my classes who doesn't have a decent idea of how he or she is doing in my class. They've gotten all their quizzes back, all their tests back, and I'll happily inform anyone who asks how many homeworks they owe.

But the reality is that I simply do NOT have the time to inform the parents of each of my students how they're doing. We have progress reports twice a year, and report cards three times a year. I have close to 180 students. I cannot call every parent after every test, after every quiz, after every missed homework.

I will respond to any parent who emails to ask how their son or daughter is doing. But I have had parents ask that I let them know every two weeks or something-- I always reply that I'll be happy to respond to their emails. I give them my testing calendar and let them know that they can expect a graded test within 48 hours of each of those test dates. But I will not promise to let a parent know each time a child fails a test, or goes below an A or whatever.

We're nearing the end of a marking period. About 2 weeks ago, I got in touch with the guidance counselor of any of my seniors who were in jeopardy of failing. The guidance counselors then pulled the kids in and spoke to them. Some responded, some did not. But the effort was made, even if it didn't involve mom and dad.

If I taught 6 year olds, it would be different. But at this point, aside from the personal inconvenience to me, it's about a 16 or 17 year old taking responsibility for his/her own education.

OP, it's certainly possible that there was an error.

But if your daughter had fifteen 80's, a 68 and a zero-- and they all were weighted the same-- her average would be a 74.59

Lets say, though that she had 3 tests: 80, 68, and 0, and 14 homeworks, all of which earned an 80. And that her test average was weighted equally with her homework average. That would give her a test average of 49, a homework average of 80, and an overall average of 65-- failing in her school.

It's entirely possible that that zero was on a test or something that was weighted more heavily than, say 10 or 15 homeworks. That could certainly legitimately pull her below 70.

My question would be why she got a zero. And it would be directed at my daughter, not her teacher.

I know why she got the zero, we had already covered that (DD and I). My initial question was whether or not anyone had a similar experience with grades, Powerschool etc. How this got thread got so far out in left field just don't know.

Some posters don't agree and that's fine, we don't all have to agree, but I reached out to the teacher. My daughter did try and talk to her but she said that the teacher really wasn't giving her direct answers so I stepped in. The end result, she actually had an 80 in the class, all of her grades carry the same weight, the teacher made a calculation error. It has since been corrected.

 

[Soldier's*Sweeties]

I know why she got the zero, we had already covered that (DD and I). My initial question was whether or not anyone had a similar experience with grades, Powerschool etc. How this got thread got so far out in left field just don't know.

Some posters don't agree and that's fine, we don't all have to agree, but I reached out to the teacher. My daughter did try and talk to her but she said that the teacher really wasn't giving her direct answers so I stepped in. The end result, she actually had an 80 in the class, all of her grades carry the same weight, the teacher made a calculation error. It has since been corrected.

We'll I mean... This clears up any disagreement a lot of us had. The teacher made a calculation error, that makes sense and cleared up any confusion. Glad it all worked out for your daughter!

 

[Poohlove]

We'll I mean... This clears up any disagreement a lot of us had. The teacher made a calculation error, that makes sense and cleared up any confusion. Glad it all worked out for your daughter!

Thank you!

 

[Vicki926]

I'd have to go back and do the math, but yes she did very well on the quizzes. I think they were are in the 90s so dropping even the lowest brought her from a 91 or so to an 89.

Dd calculated it, I calculated it and her teacher calculated it. we all got the same answer .

And the teacher was willing to drop the lowest for each student. so if student a did the worst on quiz 1 that grade would be dropped but if student b did the worst on quiz 3 that grade would be dropped.

Dd's quiz grades were high but there was something she didn't do well on. Dropping her lowest quiz grade would have had a negative impact.

Finally, the teacher did announce she would drop the lowest quiz grade at the beginning of the year. she just didn't for my daughter. This was AP Calc, so these kids aren't slackers .

Does she count all work(tests, homework, class work, quizzes) the same?
My daughters AP Bio teacher drops a grade.
Tests are worth 40%of your grade, concept quizzes, 30% and lab quizzes, 30%.
She drops the lowest concept quiz grade.
So even if you got all good grades, let's say 100,100,93,95, 97. Your average would be 97.
Dropping a great grade like a 93 still makes your average go up to a 98.
But if they count every quiz/test/homework the same, that's the problem.

 

[DisneyOma]

If a student is failing, I think the teacher should take the time to call or email the parent directly. That is part of the job, in my opinion.

The online grading system has the info right there - why does the teacher have to also notify the parents?

It's why I almost never look. Certainly never on my own. I need my student right beside me filling in the missing information for me. It almost renders the system worthless. Garbage in, garbage out.

It's a good way to see if there are any gaps in between graded assignments - perhaps homework was done most of the time, but there are some zeros in between. Could show a trend that child wasn't doing homework over the weekend, with lots of zeros on Mondays. So even if the entire quarter has open entries, the ones filled in should be giving information. It showed when my daughter missed a week's worth of homework once.

I love our online system. Ours can also be set up so that it auto-messages you if your child's grade drops below a certain threshold (you set the threshold.) I'm lucky in that my kids are great students and are kind of obsessed with checking their own grades, but I did get a notice when my ds15 dropped below a B - it was only because he was out sick for 2 days, so 0's were entered for missing assignments until he was back and had completed them. So I know the auto-messaging works! We can also view our family's lunch account balance, their locker combos, etc. It's really a great system.

This! The parent can take control by setting alerts, etc. Some parents want to keep pushing more responsibility on the teachers when the parent and student should be responsible.

I'd have to go back and do the math, but yes she did very well on the quizzes. I think they were are in the 90s so dropping even the lowest brought her from a 91 or so to an 89.

Dd calculated it, I calculated it and her teacher calculated it. we all got the same answer .

And the teacher was willing to drop the lowest for each student. so if student a did the worst on quiz 1 that grade would be dropped but if student b did the worst on quiz 3 that grade would be dropped.

Dd's quiz grades were high but there was something she didn't do well on. Dropping her lowest quiz grade would have had a negative impact.

Finally, the teacher did announce she would drop the lowest quiz grade at the beginning of the year. she just didn't for my daughter. This was AP Calc, so these kids aren't slackers .

This still does not make sense. Say your daughter got 92,94,98,98,97 on quizzes. That's a 95.8 average. Say quizzes are 40% of the grade - that would add 38.32 to her grade total.

Now, let's take out the lowest quiz grade, the 92. Now we have 94,98,98,97. That's a 96.75 average. At 40% that adds 38.7 to her grade total.

I think the calc teacher is messed up in how to calculate grades!

 

[mom2rtk]

It's a good way to see if there are any gaps in between graded assignments - perhaps homework was done most of the time, but there are some zeros in between. Could show a trend that child wasn't doing homework over the weekend, with lots of zeros on Mondays. So even if the entire quarter has open entries, the ones filled in should be giving information. It showed when my daughter missed a week's worth of homework once.

I prefer not to have to read between the lines. As long as they have a track record of not getting grades into the system on a timely basis, I have no interest in looking and trying to figure out what is a 0 for a real reason, and what just hasn't been updated by the teacher yet. But I have highly encouraged my kids to take ownership and check the system on a routine basis to see what is missing (since they know right away looking at the system what is legitimately missing and what isn't). We're on our 3rd high school student and I still haven't gotten a password for the system.