I think some teachers put lower grades so there is "room to grow" over the course of the year. When DS was in K, the teacher put "progressing" for numbers 11-20. I had to laugh. He knew those when he was still in his high chair eating finger foods. When I asked her about it, she said they had not covered it yet, so she could not tell if he knew ALL the ways to show 11-20.
At that point, I stopped putting any value what-so-ever in his report card from her.
Exactly this! The teachers don't get raises or credit if the kids enter kindergarten knowing how to behave, how to count and do addition and subtraction, how to read at second grade level, make letter sounds, write rhyming words etc. Then these kids would show zero progress from one trimester to the next when their report cards come out. And it would look bad for the teacher that some kids never progressed under their teaching - they always had a 4 on all subjects!
This is what made me cynical about the motives of public school teachers. My child got a "meeting requirements" in counting up to 30 in his first report card - he was working on Singapore Math 2B at that point. He got a 5 on social behavior (which was the only grade that truly reflected his abilities). And he got a 3 in PE - he has an advanced belt in martial arts and plays little league baseball - his coaches would give him a far better rating than what his teacher thought his PE score should be. And the funny thing - he got a 4 in "Art" - this is the kid with small motor delays, is color blind and hence picks awful color combinations and who cannot hold a crayon correcyly and whose drawing is just scribbling - I would have given him a "1" rating on art.
My point is - what you see in the early elementary report cards do not reflect the true abilities of your child!
