Poof! Gone is our Middle School Honor Roll

[Mom-to-2-Princesses]

So we showed up yesterday for our Middle School "Academic Achievement Breakfast" EVERY child in the school was handed a certificate for Academic Achievement. And every certificate was the same -- so as one parent put it "we came to do roll call for our kid's class"

In the past we had three Honor Rolls (and an Honor Roll Breakfast) -- Principal List (4.), High Honor Roll (3.5 - 3.99) and Honor Roll (3.0 - 3.49). And the majority of the kids made one of the honor rolls. About 10% did not. Our Honor Roll was based on semester grades (40% per quarter and 20% for Semester Exams).

The school said the changes were made for the benefit of the kids. Honor Rolls don't reflect the amount of work a child has done, sometimes the non Honor Roll kids work harder than the honor roll kid and that's not fair. The kids aren't "mature" enough to really understand the honor roll. Kids were doing whatever they could to get to the honor roll (cheating). We (society) are too concerned about grades and test scores and should concentrate on learning instead. This change was only made at the Middle School level.

Obviously, this new change has caused a lot of controversy. Many of the parents felt the ceremony was "dumbed down", an every child was given a trophy mentality. The Honor Roll was an incentive to work harder and try harder. Part of life is realizing you won't get an award for everything you do -- if you do well in football/basketball you get more playing time, if you write well you win the writing contest, you earn good grades then you are on the Honor Roll.

I do see both sides but feel they are throwing the baby out with the bath water. I know there are problems to be fixed, but boy did we swing totally the other way! (personally, I would scrap the breakfast. I don't believe in physically separating the kids during the day for awards. Non Honor roll kjids were not invited) And, yes, my girls were very disappointed. They are very good students and it was nice for them to be recognized for their work. We don't pay for grades or give gifts at report card time -- I liked that the school was the entity to "reward" my kids for their work with a certificate and a donut.

So what does your Middle School do? Also, has your school done away with the honor roll and what were the results. Does anyone have links to any articles about this subject. (I've been googling and not coming up with much)

Thanks for your thoughts.

 

[mjkacmom]

They post high honor/honor for JH and HS in the local paper. Do they really have a breakfast every marking period? Maybe they're trying to do away with the breakfast, and instead of taking it away, make it so no one wants to attend! We probably have 400 kids in each grade, so that breakfast sounds like my worst nightmare.

 

[dizluvah]

As the person at our local newspaper who enters all the honor roll student names into the computer for print - I can say our NH schools in this area have highest honors, high honors, and honors and some have different cutesy names for the list - achievement rolls, Citizenship roll, etc.

I'm sorry you were disappointed with the school's change - perhaps at the next parent events (pta, etc) without kids present they (school administrators) will explain why the change, their reasoning etc...

 

[jaminmd]

So we showed up yesterday for our Middle School "Academic Achievement Breakfast" EVERY child in the school was handed a certificate for Academic Achievement. And every certificate was the same -- so as one parent put it "we came to do roll call for our kid's class"

In the past we had three Honor Rolls (and an Honor Roll Breakfast) -- Principal List (4.), High Honor Roll (3.5 - 3.99) and Honor Roll (3.0 - 3.49). And the majority of the kids made one of the honor rolls. About 10% did not. Our Honor Roll was based on semester grades (40% per quarter and 20% for Semester Exams).

The school said the changes were made for the benefit of the kids. Honor Rolls don't reflect the amount of work a child has done, sometimes the non Honor Roll kids work harder than the honor roll kid and that's not fair. The kids aren't "mature" enough to really understand the honor roll. Kids were doing whatever they could to get to the honor roll (cheating). We (society) are too concerned about grades and test scores and should concentrate on learning instead. This change was only made at the Middle School level.

Obviously, this new change has caused a lot of controversy. Many of the parents felt the ceremony was "dumbed down", an every child was given a trophy mentality. The Honor Roll was an incentive to work harder and try harder. Part of life is realizing you won't get an award for everything you do -- if you do well in football/basketball you get more playing time, if you write well you win the writing contest, you earn good grades then you are on the Honor Roll.

I do see both sides but feel they are throwing the baby out with the bath water. I know there are problems to be fixed, but boy did we swing totally the other way! (personally, I would scrap the breakfast. I don't believe in physically separating the kids during the day for awards. Non Honor roll kjids were not invited) And, yes, my girls were very disappointed. They are very good students and it was nice for them to be recognized for their work. We don't pay for grades or give gifts at report card time -- I liked that the school was the entity to "reward" my kids for their work with a certificate and a donut.

So what does your Middle School do? Also, has your school done away with the honor roll and what were the results. Does anyone have links to any articles about this subject. (I've been googling and not coming up with much)

Thanks for your thoughts.

DD is in 7th grade & they do gold, silver, bronze. Those with straight A's (gold) get a special breakfast about 30 minutes before school starts.

In our county we have a GT program, which DD is in. Those kids get a much higher amount of work and much more pressure to excel (raising the test scores of those who don't do as well), so they deserve their honor roll. That is the only reward/acknowledgement they get.

 

[Eeyore'sthebest]

We have first honors (all As) and 2nd honors (A&Bs). DD is a good student and last year got 2nd honors all year. This year she really strived to get first honors and she did the first marking period. Hmm, her report card was on line last night. Guess I'm a bad mom because I forgot to look at it. Anyway, she would be really annoyed because she knows she studies to get first honors. She could easily get 2nd honors without trying so the added incentive gets her to study.

And I truly hate the "Everyone gets an award" mentality after the age of 5. Not everyone can win at everything. Sets the kids up for failure later in life.

 

[RitaZ.]

Our middle school only acknowledges "A" Honor Roll students.

 

[luvmy3]

I think that schools worry too much about kids not feeling good about their grades and therefore themselves. There was a time when being on the High Honor Roll, and Honor Roll meant something , but I notice as the years pass the minimum grade for each has gotten lower and lower and lower. The truth is there are very good students who do work hard, just not hard enough and giving them something to "make them feel good" doesn't really give them any incentive to work harder. The standard we hold for our students just get lower and that does them no good.
(Yes, I know there are exceptions, unfortunately there are zero in my district)

 

[Mermaid02]

I don't really understand why this is a big deal.... it ought to matter more at home than at school anyway! Throw your own party or have your own breakfast....

 

[MomNeedsVacay]

its irritating.... when I was a teacher, I remember arguing with the principal about field day. She wanted to do away with 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place ribbons in the events and just have EVERYONE get a participation ribbon instead. I agree that everyone should get a part. ribbon, but do away with the 1st, 2nd and 3rd place??? What would be the point in trying??

 

[Mom-to-2-Princesses]

Thanks so much for the answers so far, and the nice tones -- I just realized I asked a child raising question on the DIS! Could have been scary

I forgot to add one of the main reason for getting rid of the Honor Roll is the stress it places on the students. Middle School is so stressful with all the changes happening to their bodies and friends, etc. This was said in front of all the kids and parents. Now I could see some students trying to decide if they should be offended or use this as a reason not to clean their bedrooms!

Our principal also made this sound like an item hotly debated in the education world -- they must keep that world pretty secret because I can't find much pro or con online.

 

[Pig Pen]

In our area they have mostly done away with the valedictorian/salutorian at HS graduation. Now they have the valedictory "group." The administration is too wimpy to actually commit to one outstanding person. One graduation ceremony I attended had TEN students speaking.....

 

[ncmickeyluvr]

My kids aren't in middle school yet, but our elementary does A honor roll, AB honor roll, and a Bringing Up Grades award. They have a breakfast. The A honor roll kids get medal on a neck ribbon ( is there a name for that??). The AB honor roll gets a button. All of the kids that have improved their grades from the last report card...but not enough to get honor roll...get a certificate. Sometimes it does seem like the whole class gets something....but it is just elementary school.

 

[cabanafrau]

I'll bet there aren't any changes as to the honors & accolades for athletics, are there?

While I am amazed to hear of a school having three honor roll breakfasts, the change in the awards doesn't surprise me a bit. When schools who supposedly exist to educate continue to diminish academic achievement in many, many ways and simultaneously exalt athletics, it's no wonder kids are left with the impression education isn't worth very much.

 

[agnes!]

As "Dash" said in "The Incredibles"...

"If everyone's special, then nobody's special."​

agnes!
PS - Our HS doesn't give out class rankings or "top percentages"(etc) any more. I think they do valedictorians, but am not sure...

 

[cheermom1]

I think kids NEED to learn from the get go that life is not fair!!! plain and simple. if they don't it set them up for failure which is not good..they will get the entitlement mentality since they have always been acknowledged for just being there! personally I don't want someone that didn't earn the A in their college years and then on in med school working on me!!! NOPE! If all students are given good grades and made to feel good just for showing up what are they learning???? Kids NEED some kind of goal to strive for to get the accomplishment feeling and to know their hard work paid off. On top of that you will have the kids that do work very hard and than some else that didn't work nearly as hard get the same recognition as they do, so than they think what is the point...

 

[MomNeedsVacay]

As "Dash" said in "The Incredibles"...

"If everyone's special, then nobody's special."

agnes!
PS - Our HS doesn't give out class rankings or "top percentages"(etc) any more. I think they do valedictorians, but am not sure...

I love that quote

 

[Poohgirl]

I've got to say that I would be a little P.O'd if my son (13) 7th grade, was given an award for his grades. They stink! I know it, he knows it. It is a constant battle for him, and he does have to work very hard to get what he gets. I praise him when he puts the effort in but if he were to get an award...that would be it. All I would hear is that "the school thinks Im doing a good job" and extra effort would cease...

Sorry, but getting C's, D's and sometimes F's and B's is NOT good!! And I sure don't want him thinking so...

 

[luvmy3]

As "Dash" said in "The Incredibles"...

"If everyone's special, then nobody's special."

agnes!
PS - Our HS doesn't give out class rankings or "top percentages"(etc) any more. I think they do valedictorians, but am not sure...

That was Syndrome

 

[Muushka]

Your sad story reminds me of our many times at a restaurant when they have sports teams awards. Every single kid receives a small trophy. That really encourages a child to excel doesn't it?

I believe that this outcome based education will surely create underachievers and that will give them the 'workers' they need.

I know, conspiracy theory stuff.

 

[MsLeFever]

In the past we had three Honor Rolls (and an Honor Roll Breakfast) -- Principal List (4.), High Honor Roll (3.5 - 3.99) and Honor Roll (3.0 - 3.49). And the majority of the kids made one of the honor rolls. About 10% did not. Our Honor Roll was based on semester grades (40% per quarter and 20% for Semester Exams).

I agree that they've made the achievement pretty meaningless now. However if 90% of a class was "above average" to start with we are talking some SERIOUS grade inflation to start with.

Unless you live in Lake Woebegone where all of the children are above average.