Preparing report cards is a time consuming endeavor for teachers, which yields little useful information to parents and students of Middletown. The existing format has two problems.
The first problem is the 1 to 3 or E grading scale. Parents have no familiarity with such a grading scale so they have no way of interpreting what the number means, beyond knowing that a 1 means a student is in trouble. Teachers often explain that the expectation is a 2 in the early semesters, working towards a 3 at the end of the year. This provides the student no motivation to strive for a higher grade, as the higher grade is only available as the semesters progress. Beyond providing no motivation to students, the 2 is a problem for parents. The range of students receiving 2’s is huge. A 2 may be student who is just getting by or a student who has excelled but it is too early in the year for a 3.
The second problem with the existing report card is the number of line items on the report card. Each subject area, Reading, Math, Science, has at least three, usually more, subcategories, which receive a 1 to 3 grade. There is, however, no overall grade given by subject area. By the time the teacher has taken the time to complete this lengthy form, they almost never put comments, which in some cases may be helpful.
Please the change the existing report to; 1) utilize a standard letter grade (A, B, C..) or percentage grade (100, 99, 98, etc) and 2) reduce the number of line items to enable students and parents to see how students are doing in major subject areas. These changes will make the report card more useful to parents and students of Middletown.
Updates
February 18, 2014
Reaching this point in our progress has been exhausting but necessary. Seeing so many people recognize the flaws in our current grading system keeps me going when the process feels stagnant.
Reached 100 supporters
February 18, 2014
35 Comments
This report card is a disgrace. It promotes mediocracy. It does not motivate children . They know they will only achieve a 3 just like the child sitiing next to him/her.
I would really like to see teacher spending their time on the comments section of the report card. There has not been a comment on either of my children's report card since this new system was adopted.
I agree, this is a very silly way of grading and shows the parent nothing of their child's capabilities. The marking system has become very lazy and some teachers offer no additional comments which doesn't provide any insight to the child's progress.
The inability to tell if your student receives a 2 is ahigh 2 or a low 2- a high 2 might be getting a 2 because it is too early in the year to receive a 3.
I would love to see the grading format changed to a percentage grade or translated to an A B C D F. I can understand having an E, S, N format for Kindergarten. For the grades that have regular testing in place, percentage/letter grades would be much more measurable to parents and students.
Like what has been said before; please just acknowledge this mistake and its failure. Please just go back to the old way. Before this change was implemented, someone really should have remembered the old adage; "if it ain't broke, don't fix it".
I actually just asked the teacher about this on the last report card
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Preparing report cards is a time consuming endeavor for teachers, which yields little useful information to parents and students of Middletown. The existing format has two problems.
The first problem is the 1 to 3 or E grading scale. Parents have no familiarity with such a grading scale so they have no way of interpreting what the number means, beyond knowing that a 1 means a student is in trouble. Teachers often explain that the expectation is a 2 in the early semesters, working towards a 3 at the end of the year. This provides the student no motivation to strive for a higher grade, as the higher grade is only available as the semesters progress. Beyond providing no motivation to students, the 2 is a problem for parents. The range of students receiving 2’s is huge. A 2 may be student who is just getting by or a student who has excelled but it is too early in the year for a 3.
The second problem with the existing report card is the number of line items on the report card. Each subject area, Reading, Math, Science, has at least three, usually more, subcategories, which receive a 1 to 3 grade. There is, however, no overall grade given by subject area. By the time the teacher has taken the time to complete this lengthy form, they almost never put comments, which in some cases may be helpful.
Please the change the existing report to; 1) utilize a standard letter grade (A, B, C..) or percentage grade (100, 99, 98, etc) and 2) reduce the number of line items to enable students and parents to see how students are doing in major subject areas. These changes will make the report card more useful to parents and students of Middletown.
Updates
February 18, 2014
Reaching this point in our progress has been exhausting but necessary. Seeing so many people recognize the flaws in our current grading system keeps me going when the process feels stagnant.
Reached 100 supporters
February 18, 2014
35 Comments
I was confused as to why my son, who kept getting 100 on every week end test, couldn't get a 3 and the answer was that he cannot get a 3 until he masters all the words by the end of the year.
This report card is a disgrace. It promotes mediocracy. It does not motivate children . They know they will only achieve a 3 just like the child sitiing next to him/her.
I would really like to see teacher spending their time on the comments section of the report card. There has not been a comment on either of my children's report card since this new system was adopted.
I agree, this is a very silly way of grading and shows the parent nothing of their child's capabilities. The marking system has become very lazy and some teachers offer no additional comments which doesn't provide any insight to the child's progress.
The inability to tell if your student receives a 2 is ahigh 2 or a low 2- a high 2 might be getting a 2 because it is too early in the year to receive a 3.
I would love to see the grading format changed to a percentage grade or translated to an A B C D F. I can understand having an E, S, N format for Kindergarten. For the grades that have regular testing in place, percentage/letter grades would be much more measurable to parents and students.
Like what has been said before; please just acknowledge this mistake and its failure. Please just go back to the old way. Before this change was implemented, someone really should have remembered the old adage; "if it ain't broke, don't fix it".
I actually just asked the teacher about this on the last report card
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I was confused as to why my son, who kept getting 100 on every week end test, couldn't get a 3 and the answer was that he cannot get a 3 until he masters all the words by the end of the year.