Kids and Grades

[sam_gordon]

This is the type of passive aggressive "snark" that I am referring to. I have seen it from you on other threads as well.

Ok.

 

[mjkacmom]

My internet usage consists of the occasional virtual shopping trip, Pinterest, Instagram where I follow/am followed by only people who I know, some light news reading and the DIS. I do find it uncalled for when total strangers start telling other total strangers how they should be raising/handling affairs with their children when their opinion is not solicited, message board or not. (My grandmother always said "Just because you can doesn't always mean that you should".) What works for you and yours may not work for me and mine. Do I think I am an authority on parenting and that you don't know what you are doing because we are different, no I don't. Unless someone specifically asks how something should be handled I keep my opinions and comments to myself. As I have said probably about 4 times, my initial question was whether or not anyone had similar experiences not please tell me how to handle this situation.

I will definitely think twice before starting anything more than a lighthearted thread here though, while yes this was a "civil" thread the intention was lost.

Actually, about half of your OP seemed to be a vent that teaches are no longer contacting every parent about low grades, because they are "too busy," and are expecting the kids and parents to visit online portals to access grafes. Some people expect more hand holding than others.

 

[DisneyOma]

In my daughter's class it was the lowest quiz grade that the teacher was willing to drop, no other grade category even if weighed the same as a quiz. My daughter's quiz grades were really high so dropping even the lowest would have lowered her overall grade.

Had it been something else weighed the same as a quiz it would have improved her overall grade. She asked her teacher about that but it was a no.

Does that school just pile up all the grades in a heap or something? They don't figure out the averages individually? Tests, quizzes, homework are all considered equal? Because dropping the lowest quiz grade would make her quiz average go up. But if they don't factor each section in separately, then a quiz=homework=test? That just seems crazy and pointless as a grading system. Missing one homework, getting a zero on it, would be like getting a zero on a test?

 

[Aliceacc]

I agree, that makes no sense.

So fail all your tests, but make sure you do your homework and you'll be OK? And a 5 minute quiz carries the same weight as a 3 hour final??

This does not sound reasonable-- are you sure that's the correct grading policy?

 

[Poohforyou]

Does that school just pile up all the grades in a heap or something? They don't figure out the averages individually? Tests, quizzes, homework are all considered equal? Because dropping the lowest quiz grade would make her quiz average go up. But if they don't factor each section in separately, then a quiz=homework=test? That just seems crazy and pointless as a grading system. Missing one homework, getting a zero on it, would be like getting a zero on a test?

No, I never said everything was equal. I said if she could have dropped something else weighed the same as a quiz it would have improved her overall grade.

This was last year and I don't remember the breakdown but an example could be tests - 50%; projects - 20%; quizzes - 20%; homework - 10%.

If she could have dropped a project grade rather than a quiz grade it would have helped her since she had a relatively low (B) grade on a project compared to her quiz grades (none lower than an A)

 

[Tinijocaro]

DD16 is a junior in high school, our school does have a website which you can log onto and check your child's grades. Some teachers are great about entering grades, others not so much. The school sees this as a replacement for direct communication with home and most teachers will not reach out to parents, I have been told by more than one of them that they feel it is the parent's responsibility to follow along online and reach out to the teacher if they are concerned. The teachers are "too busy" and have "too many" students to do it themselves. (I have 2 family members who are teachers in our district as well as several friends, it was through casual conversations that this came up) Mind you we are a two square mile town with about 450 kids in the high school. My daughters graduating class hovers around 110.

Last marking period I checked in on DDs grades weekly and they were all good, she checks them almost daily as well. Aside from 1 zero and a 68 (70 is passing) which account for 2 assignments for her history class her remaining 15 grades for that class were all 80 and above. While I was perturbed that she had a zero and a 68 I wasn't concerned for her overall grade. Imagine our surprise when her report card arrived and she failed history with a 68. Mathematically I just don't see how it is possible. I have a call in to her history teacher and her guidance counselor for clarification.

Has anyone had similar experiences?

Our online program also shows how much weighting each assignment/quiz/test is. That could be the problem.

I do expect my kids to monitor their own grades and have since elementary school. I will check the portal only once per semester. I check to be sure all phys eds are made up and all music lessons are made up. I can't tolerate a lower grade in either of those classes due to forgetting to do makeups.

In your case, I think the 68 initially would have raised a red flag to me to follow up with a quick email a week or so later just to be sure things have improved. I disagree that the teacher should have contacted you-she already posted and you already saw the 68. You were aware there was a problem. Think of how many children you personally have to keep track of compared to how many students the teacher has. It makes sense to me that the parent, once notified of an initial problem, would be the one to follow up.

 

[pryncess527]

No, I never said everything was equal. I said if she could have dropped something else weighed the same as a quiz it would have improved her overall grade.

This was last year and I don't remember the breakdown but an example could be tests - 50%; projects - 20%; quizzes - 20%; homework - 10%.

If she could have dropped a project grade rather than a quiz grade it would have helped her since she had a relatively low (B) grade on a project compared to her quiz grades (none lower than an A)

I get how dropping something else could help her more.
But I can't figure out any way to make the math work where dropping a low quiz grade, even if it was an A, is going to hurt her (unless things were all weighted equally as the other posted suggested)

 

[mom2rtk]

Does that school just pile up all the grades in a heap or something? They don't figure out the averages individually? Tests, quizzes, homework are all considered equal? Because dropping the lowest quiz grade would make her quiz average go up. But if they don't factor each section in separately, then a quiz=homework=test? That just seems crazy and pointless as a grading system. Missing one homework, getting a zero on it, would be like getting a zero on a test?

Aren't the particular items weighted already by the total points involved? A homework assignment might be worth 5 points, while a test is worth 100 or more?

 

[Poohforyou]

I get how dropping something else could help her more.
But I can't figure out any way to make the math work where dropping a low quiz grade, even if it was an A, is going to hurt her (unless things were all weighted equally as the other posted suggested)

Well, I'm sorry you can't figure it out. You'll just have to believe what I'm saying. It really isn't something to dwell on. I really don't understand why this is being made into such a big deal.

 

[Magpie]

I really don't understand why this is being made into such a big deal.

I assume because, for whatever reason, people find it fascinating and want to understand how it works.

With luck, someone else who is able to adequately explain it will stumble across this thread and pick up from where you left off. And if not, people will just have to go on wondering and/or thinking it sounds crazy and/or speculating whether you're really explaining it correctly or if you've actually misunderstood it yourself and are just spreading confusion further.

Me, I don't know anyone who's good at "just believing" things they don't understand.

 

[Poohlove]

@Poohforyou I think people are confusing the two of us since we have similar user names and posted about our daughters grades.

I am the one, Poohlove, OP, who said that grades were weighted the same. For this particular class the teacher's theory is that not all kids test well so she weights her grades the same. Midterm and finals are separate grades and their grade for the year is comprised of the 4 marking periods, mid term and final. That is the same for all classes, how each teacher determines the marking period grade is different for each teacher.

Hopefully this clears up something for someone.

 

[DizBelle]

Soldier's*Sweeties said: ↑
Which also wouldn't make sense because then it wouldn't be the lowest graded quiz.
Click to expand...
Actually dropping a students lowest quiz grade could hurt a grade depending on how the grades are determined if the student's lowest quiz grade is better then most of their non quiz grades.

Lets say a student has these grades:
Homework 70, 80, 75, 85, 80, 75
Quiz 100, 95, 90

Now if the teacher says homework is 50% and quizes are 50% the student has a homework grade of 77.5 and a quiz grade of 95 for an overall 86.5 with no dropping or if they drop the lowest quiz a quiz grade of 97.5 and an overall grade of 87.5. Dropping helped.

However if the teacher doesn't weight the grade areas and averages them all as equal this will hurt anyone whose lowest quiz grade is better then most of their other assignments. In this case a straight average of all grades would give an 83.3 without dropping or a 82.5 if you drop the 90 on the quiz.

I would also like to point out that I am not the one who posted about this being the scenario for my daughter, it was another poster with Pooh in their username. I think that maybe this is what was causing confusion for some.

Still doesn't make sense.

Homework 70, 80, 75, 85, 80, 75 -> average 77.5
Quiz 100, 95, 90 -> average 95

If weighted equally, the average of 77.5 and 95 is 86.25

If the lowest quiz grade is dropped:

Homework 70, 80, 75, 85, 80, 75 -> average 77.5
Quiz 100, 95 -> average 97.5

If weighted equally, the average of 77.5 and 97.5 is 87.5. The final grade is higher than if the lowest quiz was counted.

If the teacher was going to average them all together without treating the homework and quizzes separately, then the lowest overall grade should have been dropped.

Homework 80, 75, 85, 80, 75
Quiz 100, 95

Average of all is 85. But this is treating homework and a quiz as the "same" which doesn't make sense to me.

 

[Poohlove]

Still doesn't make sense.

Homework 70, 80, 75, 85, 80, 75 -> average 77.5
Quiz 100, 95, 90 -> average 95

If weighted equally, the average of 77.5 and 95 is 86.25

If the lowest quiz grade is dropped:

Homework 70, 80, 75, 85, 80, 75 -> average 77.5
Quiz 100, 95 -> average 97.5

If weighted equally, the average of 77.5 and 97.5 is 87.5. The final grade is higher than if the lowest quiz was counted.

If the teacher was going to average them all together without treating the homework and quizzes separately, then the lowest overall grade should have been dropped.

Homework 80, 75, 85, 80, 75
Quiz 100, 95

Average of all is 85. But this is treating homework and a quiz as the "same" which doesn't make sense to me.

Hopefully this will clarify - Poohforyou posted the grades listed, she DID NOT say that the grades were weighted equally,

I, Poohlove, DID NOT post every grade my daughter received for the 1st marking period but I DID say that all of her grades were weighted equally.

 

[DisneyOma]

Aren't the particular items weighted already by the total points involved? A homework assignment might be worth 5 points, while a test is worth 100 or more?

Depends on the grading system and program. I've seen it done both ways. I think the percentages figured out without points is a better system - meaning all quizzes are averaged then given weight, not that each grade has a certain point value.

Hopefully this will clarify - Poohforyou posted the grades listed, she DID NOT say that the grades were weighted equally,

I, Poohlove, DID NOT post every grade my daughter received for the 1st marking period but I DID say that all of her grades were weighted equally.

So a quiz=homework=test? that's illogical - I'd complain to the school system if I were you.

 

[Magpie]

So a quiz=homework=test? that's illogical - I'd complain to the school system if I were you.

Back when I was in high school, my grades were all weighted equally. I was amazed at how my average shot up once I actually started turning in my homework! It got me into a habit of focusing on the small, unimportant tasks, in a way that really helped me out later in university (where everything was weighted).

 

[Aliceacc]

So a 5 minute quiz had the same value as a 3 hour final exam?

I'm sorry, that simply makes no sense to me. My kids do well on quizzes-- they only require that you know one topic. Material is a whole lot more difficult when the first step is figuring out what kind of problem you're dealing with, and the second step is remembering how to approach that particular problem.

 

[DizBelle]

Back when I was in high school, my grades were all weighted equally. I was amazed at how my average shot up once I actually started turning in my homework! It got me into a habit of focusing on the small, unimportant tasks, in a way that really helped me out later in university (where everything was weighted).

Sounds to me that you learned that these "unimportant" tasks weren't all that unimportant.

 

[Magpie]

Sounds to me that you learned that these "unimportant" tasks weren't all that unimportant.

Exactly.

I was a little slow on the uptake, as a kid. ("You mean there's a point to all those dumb little quizzes they keep making me write? They're not just torturing me for the fun of it?")

 

[PollyannaMom]

Me, I don't know anyone who's good at "just believing" things they don't understand.

Excellent point!