...do consider, and encourage your son to consider, the possibility that this teacher knows exactly what she's doing. Did I understand correctly that the higher weighted Maps task is for work done in class? She might well feel that it should be highly weighted because, being done under her eye, it is a much better gauge of what children can really do, as opposed to what gets done in an uncontrolled environment where help may be available. She may be right.
In what little I've read so far about weighting, I see the reduced relative importance placed on homework because a.) teachers want kids to feel free to try different approaches and make mistakes, and/or b.) teachers are worried about cheating, and don't want a grade helped too much by that. (Silly me -- I didn't even think of the cheating component... I obviously lead a sheltered life.)
But I do understand the greater importance given to assessments, and really don't have any problem with that at all.
In this case, the Maps assignments weren't terribly difficult, and actually seemed simpler in some respects than the map-related components of homework. If the issue is that of Tests/Quizzes vs, Homework, then these three map assignments should have been lumped in with the Tests/Quizzes, which is also worth 30%.
If the three Map grades are lumped in with Tests/Quizzes (which would be my suggestion), then his A in Tests/Quizzes is still solid enough -- and with a large enough point total -- to absorb the 8/10 on the three Map items and still leave him with an A. But when the 8/10 in Maps is worth 30% along side the 30% given to the 150/160 in Tests... Gaaahhh! It just doesn't seem reasonable.
