How do you feel about "minimum" report card grades

Join Teachers.Net

Chatboards

Recent Groups

Classroom Mgmt

MEMBERS

25 Members

+ Join Group

Pinned Posts

ALLAll Teachers

Teachers.Net LIVE CHAT Support group - Tues eve!

Featured Jobs

Full-timeMontessori Teacher

Maple Ridge, British Columbia, Canada

TemporaryTeachers, rural schools

Peace River North School District

Full-timeHead Teacher: 2nd/3rd Grades – Mills College Children’s School

Mills College

Teaching Jobs on Teachers.Net

Featured Job special only $39!

https://teachers.net/jobs

Become a Teachers.Net sponsor!

Classroom Management Chatboard

How do you feel about "minimum" report card grades

by Michelle F.

Mar 6, 2011

In my district, we are not allowed to report a quarterly grade of less than 50, no matter what grade the student earned for that quarter. I understand that this policy stems from a desire to not dishearten the student from trying to improve. The student may believe that he or she does not stand a chance to pass the course due to one or two failing quarterly grades and, therefore, would give up trying.

However, I have a serious problem giving a grade of 50 to a student that has not completed any work, a scenario that has unfortunately happened more than once. To my way of thinking, in order to earn a grade of 50 - a student would either have had to complete 50% of the work with grades of 100, or done 100% of the work, with grades of 50, or some combination of the two. Giving a grade of 50 to a student who has done NO work, bothers me. It also leads to grade inflation, with report card grades not reflecting what students actually earn.

I think that students should recei...See More

Comment

(9)

report post

view previous comments

Charlie the cow ast: We studied, did the work, took the tests, and accepted the grade we got. Now: Kids do a variety of things, and we deal more with parents than we do with the kids. Parents can reach us 24/7 demanding the moon. Kids aren't being held accountable for much of what they do. Kids get to retake tests, resubmit assignments, do extra credit work, and e...See Moreast: We studied, did the work, took the tests, and accepted the grade we got. Now: Kids do a variety of things, and we deal more with parents than we do with the kids. Parents can reach us 24/7 demanding the moon. Kids aren't being held accountable for much of what they do. Kids get to retake tests, resubmit assignments, do extra credit work, and even get credit for just sitting in a chair in class.

Past: Only winners got something. Now: (I am not talking about developmentally appropriate things.) Every player on a soccer team gets a trophy or participation gift after each season. Bands get trophies at nearly every band competition.

Past: When I taught in the late 80'2/early 90's, I had to keep a participation grade, homework grade, quiz/test grade, and claswork grade in each subject each week for each kid. They said it was the best way to have a fair assessment of a student's progress. Now: I have 3 teenagers, and many of their teachers only have a few grades each quarter. Since I can see the score sheet, I can see that sometimes there are 1-2 weeks that the teacher hasn't collected a grade. What? A large paper can have a draft grade, cooperative learning/ editting grade, writing conference grade..........on and on so the child gets feedback that would directly impact his/her progress towards a successful finished product. I don't see that from any of my kids' teachers.

Past: Teachers were passionate about teaching certain subjects because they were personally invested in the design on the unit. Now: State standards drive instruction, and we are all tired since they always add and never take away.

In the late 80's/early 90's, I used a grading calculator when doing report cards. An F was a 0 (D=1, C=2, B=3, A=4), and there were + and - scores that I could key in. An F was anywhere from a 0-59. I don't think the calculator plugged in anything differently from those, but my administrators did tell me that a 0 would really pull down a final grade. We aren't allowed to give zeros either. I feel fortunate that I teach Kindergarten since we don't do grades - just millions of skill checklists.

Sometimes this job bites. Try not to sweat the small stuff that you can't change and engage your students in meaningful learning.

Mar 6, 2011

report post

Steve On 3/06/11, Michelle F. wrote:

I think grades cause far more problems than they solve. That said, you can really only judge something based on the data - otherwise all we're doing is kicking around our personal feelings and anecdotes. There's value in that in terms of venting but there's no research in it.

What does your district...See More

Mar 6, 2011

report post

Jo What happens to your students once they are so far behind they will never pass the class? Do they remain in the class or are they moved to a different type of class?

On 3/06/11, Steve wrote: > On 3/06/11, Michelle F. wrote: > > I think grades cause far more problems than they solve. > That said, you can really only judge someth...See MoreWhat happens to your students once they are so far behind they will never pass the class? Do they remain in the class or are they moved to a different type of class?

On 3/06/11, Steve wrote: > On 3/06/11, Michelle F. wrote: > > I think grades cause far more problems than they solve. > That said, you can really only judge something based on the > data - otherwise all we're doing is kicking around our > personal feelings and anecdotes. There's value in that in > terms of venting but there's no research in it. > > What does your district's research say? How long has this > policy been in place? Have you tracked your students > following their '50's? Have they done better? The same? Or > worse? > > There's an old saying that says the proof is in the pudding. > If giving 50s in the first quarter, results in greater > success in the rest of the year, then the policy is working. > You give a little bit on the front end to get good payback on > the back end. Is that what happens? Do you see these students > taking heart and doing better? Doing well? Soaring? Or not? > > Policies are intended to impact on outcome - how does this > policy impact on outcome? Our personal feelings aside, the > grade inflation idea aside, does the policy of giving 50s > work? > Or not? Because of course if it worked, then we could bite > the bullet for the good outcome. Sometimes we say 'go and sin > no more' to the sinner and it comes back to us in good ways. > Sometimes it comes back to bite us in the bum. > > What's this policy doing? What's the data show? >>> I think that students should receive the grades that they >> earn. In order to not discourage them, if they show >> significant improvement in subsequent quarters - the >> failing quarterly grades would then be elevated to a 50. >> For example, if a student fails the 1st quarter, but passes >> the remaining quarters - then the 1st quarter failing grade >> would be replaced with the 50. If the student doesn't take >> the steps to improve, then the original failing grade would >> remain, thereby the report card grades would more closely >> reflect grades actually earned. >> >> What do you think about this? I'm interested in hearing >> your thoughts.

Mar 7, 2011

report post

Donna Kosloff In our school, we assigned grades based on 1 as failing, 2 as reaching grade level, 3 grade level and 4 exceeding grade level work, therefore if the student has a 50 or less they get a 1 and the actual number is not published.

Donna K.

On 3/06/11, Michelle F. wrote: > In my district, we are not allowed to report a quarterly &g...See More

Mar 7, 2011

report post

UrbanTeacher My high school does not have a policy. Some teachers will enter a 19 if a kid has a 19. I figure if they have a 19, there's no way they're passing, and so there's no incentive to improve, or even any possibility of meaningful improvement. So as my own personal policy, I elevate all failing grades in the 1st quarter to a 60. That way, they can still...See More

Mar 9, 2011

report post