Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion Report card or does her teacher really cares -long

Thank you for your responses that shows me that I am not "nuts" and this is happening in schools. I wasn't giving up on the teacher but her bureaucratic response that what set me off. I would be much more understanding if she would say to me way before report card came - hey, I do know that your kid knows what we are teaching but this is how we suppose to grade them and my hands are tight. Let's think together how we can teach her above what she know without regards to her grades. But she chose to give me this answer that should calm me as "that" parent - that my kid is awesome with capital "A".

I did not talk to principal yet as I was waiting for two things to happened: one is for her teacher to realize that she (DD) is underchallenged based on her grades and second is to see results of her MAP testing that should come back soon. Since thing one ain't happening I will wait for thing two to come back so that with her grades and tests scores I can continue to advocate. I don't want to go now as I already had little push back from administration and support team based on the fact that she was already skipped and supposevly getting as much as she needed in their eyes. Not many kids get this in our school.

My mistake was that I was hesitant to push further due to high expectations regarding this particular teacher but now I know where we stand.

This reminds me of a teacher my daughter had in elementary school whose philosophy was, "I never give above an S this early in the year. Maybe later in the year, but no child should be earning E's this early."

We decided some idiot ideas were worth fighting, some weren't. My daughter loved the class, enjoyed her classmates... and so we left it alone.

Ugh. Well, I won't derail, but let's just say that when a teacher communicates with my honors 11th grader with statements like these:


on an exam where she earned a D... after earning 100% on the multiple choice 2/3rd of the test... This exam is 22% of her exam grade in the class. Only the cumulative final is worth more (27%), and exams are a WHOPPING 40% of her grade. Yes, boys and girls, that means that her TOP score in the class just turned into 94%. An "A" is 93% and up. Y'all know how hard we've worked to encourage her that she shouldn't be "perfect," she should just be "good enough," right??


Well, let's just say that problems like these eventually take on more OMINOUS dimensions. This is the same teacher that she had so much trouble with two years ago... who is completely clueless when it comes to perfectionism and gifted students, and (IMO) was one of the major factors in her near breakdown two years ago when she had him for the world's crappiest geography course.

Now she'll need about 100% for the rest of the term in his stupid class in order to be "sure" of earning the A that we all seem to know she ought to be getting in light of her understanding.

(Yes, particularly nice that this communication was RIGHT.ON.THE.DOT for quitting time for said teacher for the afternoon, too... so now I get to do damage control with my emotionally fragile 13yo who now has an 83% in a class that she had, until now, had 98% in)...

Sorry. Just ranting here since it's really clear that "grades" so often have very little to do with what a student actually knows and understands. It's disgusting.

Grrrrr.

Maybe not to the same point, but DS (One grade skip) in elementary would get 3 out of 5 at the start of each year. No 5s would be given to anybody, because a 5 means you have mastered the subject for that grade level, and that could not happen because the teacher has not taught that material yet.

We let that fight go, the teachers did their best, and we the school tried to woek with us. By year end he was 5s and all was good. The only subject he would get 5s in was math, and that was because he was takeing math two grades higher. It changed when he moved into 4th and 5th where grades then came in and As where then givin.

We supposedly have standards based grading on a 1-4 scale, 4 being exceeds expectations. When DD was in second grade she was incredibly frustrated by a teacher who graded in a fashion similar to your DD's teacher. My very introverted, shy 2nd grader went to her teacher and asked why she only got a 3 on independent reading. She didn't understand how she could possibly be any more independent. The teacher responded that you couldn't get a 4 in that area because all of the gt kids in her class exceeded the standard so she was meeting the same standard as the rest of her class, hence a 3. ugh!

I think it is unethical to grade a child lower in order to show improvement later in the year.

This is why I am not signing her report card until teacher-parent conference where I would like to discuss this issue.

Also, as someone noted above regarding not giving "mastered" score since content wasn't taught. This has no logical sense to me. If child can read at the beginning of K for me that mean that content of this particular grade was mastered and child has to be taught above the grade level but apparently this is what they (schools) try to avoid.

Again, the whole disappointment for me comes from the fact that this teacher is absolutely wonderful in terms of teaching at the grade level and a little below. She has amazing ideas how to make lessons interesting, how to push kids a little, how to decorate/what to use as props. She makes these wonderful pictures of kids during various events and sends them home. She is warm and respectful with kids but not a pushover. I thought, surely she'll see that my DD gets all 100% after skip and says let's push her more. After all she has "certificate" in teaching these kids so she should know all the danger that these kids face without challenge...

Her choosing this "all kids are gifted, let's teach them the same way" route is frustrating. Her "give them all 2's since it is the beginning of the year" thingy helps very little me or my daughter.

I already have to be a "bad" cop at home and remind my DD over and over that scores doesn't matter. That she knew this material at the beginning of last year. That it is better to come 5th while running with 5th graders than to come 1th when running with Pre-K..

I am calmer today, thank for all of your replies. I do have a game plan for the next couple month now - it is always makes me more focuses and leave my emotions behind.

It is continuing straggle while advocating for your child. This will serve as a reminder not to rest/take a break from it even for a second.

I had tried most of last year to get the k teacher to explain why my dd was getting 'S+' in writing and only 'S' in Math and reading, when clearly reading was fabulous as was math -- I was like, in WHAT WAY, SPECIFICALLY is she less consistent, less anything????? or Conversely, in WHAT WAY!! "SPECIFICALLY" is she Soooooo amazing now in WRITING (especially curious because she was not recommended to continue one grade up because writing was a bit of a struggle').

NOTHING, no response, no conference scheduled when requested ( I just wanted a simple note or phone call for heavens sake). I finally stopped asking because I did not want to be seen as 'badgering', and it was clear that my application of LOGIC to the grading that was done was just not gonna fly.

Plus it was just K. I just wanted her to get through it with minimum scarring... Lol. But it was crap (the response/lack of response).

Sorry, that is frustrating, you think you've totally got a legit question and they just really don't get it, or care.

I agree that it is frustrating to see that in the report cards. However, when it comes to the conference, I would suggest keeping in mind what your ultimate goal is. Is it to get her to admit that she graded inconsistently and inaccurately? Or is it to get more challenging material for your daughter? I think the big goal is the second right? I fear that focusing too much on what the report card says will take away from this larger goal. She may become defensive and resistant, making her less willing to do anything extra for your child. I would argue, actually, that the lower effort grades actually help your cause: if she is pulling 100% without effort, then clearly the material is not meeting her needs. So perhaps there is a way to use the grades as a way to make your case for more challenging work, rather than get into a battle over whether your dd was cheated. I have faced these kinds of situations myself and its frustrating but sometimes you have to let them go in order to keep focus on the bigger goal of getting your child an education that meets her needs, kwim? Ultimately, grades in early elementary have very little meaning. The only time it would be concerning is if they tried to exclude her from enrichment programming based on something in the report cards. To guard against this, I would suggest saving everything, (especially all of those 100% quizzes!) so that you have your own evidence of her performance and can challenge them if they try to say she's not doing enough to "earn" enrichment.

I would also go into the meeting with the attitude that you appreciate the teacher's efforts and knowledge about gifted students, so she of course understands the need for challenging work. "I am so glad that dd has a teacher this year that has experience with gifted students and can recognize her needs for more challenging work whereas other teachers might not have the skills and training to recognize this. How can we work together to find that 'just right' level for my dd?" Something along these lines compliments the teacher, makes her feel recognized and appreciated, and is more likely to make her want to help your dd than a conflict over grading would. But it also makes it difficult for her to get out of taking the position that your dd needs more challenge. And if you have them, I would bring to the conference those quizzes and work that she is acing as evidence that she isn't being appropriately challenged.

Just my 2 cents, I think that I would try something like this rather than attacking the grading which might alienate the teacher, especially since your dd has a whole year ahead of her with this teacher!

I have to say, I am so pleased DS is now at an age where his grades are all objective (well, writing is a bit subjective) and result in actual scores that we can evaluate. I hate the way my DD's grades are (1, 2 or 3, 1 being needs help, 2 being they are making progress and 3 being they are where they are expected... apparently it's impossible to be ahead!).