Teacher Question

One of my twins got a D in Social Studies on his last report card. All his other grades were A's and B's so I was very concerned. I checked his grades online and all his classwork and homework assignments were 100%. Okay, not exactly D material here.. His one unit test was an 84%. Still doesn't add up to a D. I notice there's a box that has listed classwork as 10% of their grade, unit test is 40% and something called 'progress monitoring' is 50% of their grade. I didn't know what that was and I checked his grades from his other classes and the 'progress monitoring' grades were high, always A's. So I emailed the teacher to find out what it was and what I can do to help bring his grade up.

Apparently she sent home a study guide before his last unit test and he was supposed to return it, he didn't and got a 0. That's ONE piece of paper worth HALF his grade.

She also mentioned in the email that he had another unit test yesterday and she had sent home a study guide that he needs to return. She did, he and I went over the study guide, he knew the material backwards and forwards. Yesterday I was clearing the table, found the study guide with "test on Wednesday 2/13" on it and threw it away. There was nothing on there to indicate it needed to be returned, and I'm sure there wasn't on the last study guide either because I would have returned it. (The other twin has had study guides that needed to be returned on occasion and they always have "please return" or something on them.) She said he got an A on the test.

I don't want to go all crazy Mama Bear on this woman if it's not warranted so I'm asking for opinions on the situation. I know a lot of you guys are teachers here!

I understand that if he was told he needed to return it, it's his responsibility to do so, but it seems harsh to jeopardize his passing of 2nd grade over ONE piece of paper, especially when his grades are so high. Or I guess 2 pieces of paper now because he won't be turning in the second study guide after I threw it away (and it went out in the trash last night which was collected this morning!)

Anyway, I'm going to wait until I calm down before I reply which could be days. Or weeks. TIA!

 

That the study guide is worth more than the test seems pretty ridiculous, IMO. I would go talk to her and explain the situation. In light of his test scores, other homework and grades on other subjects, I would hope she would give him a way to make it up.

 

Im not a teacher but I think u needed clearer instructions. Mine are grade 4 and 9 years old and still get confused with stuff. We have tests that come home we had to sign and take them back and then they came home again, so I threw them away (trying not to keep too much clutter), then they tell me have a test the next day and have to study from the tests that I threw away. I don't know if teacher told them to save tests to study from, but I didn't get that message.

I would speak to the teacher about it to see if can do something to make it up. Also in future to put on top to please return.

 

I thought I would be less ticked off by now but I'm really not! UGH.

I did do a little more research and the 50% of the grade that comes from 'progress monitoring" was split between two assignments. One was this study guide he didn't turn in so he got a 0 on that, the other assignment he got a 100% on.

So this is the email I sent back to the teacher. I hope it doesn't come off too b*itchy:

Mrs Teacher,

Unfortunately Alex will not be turning in the most recent study guide as I threw it out yesterday, as I'm sure I did with the previous one. There was nothing on it to indicate that it needed to be returned for a grade. Alex's twin brother has come home with a few study guides that stated they needed to be returned. I can tell you that I did go over the study guide with Alex and he knew all the material, as indicated by his test score.

Is there anything Alex can do to help bring his grade up? I realize it's his responsibility to return papers if he's told to, and that you have to treat all students fairly. If he didn't turn it in, his grade should be docked. But one assignment brought his term grade from what would have been a low A or a high B to a D, and it's obvious he knows the material from the rest of his grades.

I don't want to see him get an even lower grade because I threw out his paper. Please let me know if there is anything he (or I) can do to bring his grade up.

Thank you for your time,

 

What you have shared sounds ridiculous and completely wrong. I do believe you need to have a conversation with her. I can think of no reason how a signed study guide is considered progress monitering, nor can I understand how that is weighted half his grade. It almost sounds like she set this up so the kids that don't do well on a daily basis have a better chance of passing, assuming they turn in a signed study guide. It just had the opposite effect for your son because he didn't. The fact that a signed piece of paper, that shows absolutely no knowledge or retention, should be valued more than daily assignments or tests is crazy. The test should be 50%, the daily work 40% and the signed study guide 10% - if she really wants to weight things.

We send home study guides for our 5th graders, but it clearly asks for a parent signature and has a return date on the bottom. Plus, I send an email home to parents letting them know it is coming and I want the bottom portion signed and returned. The signature is only worth a few extra credit points, not an actual grade.

 

I too think this is crazy. The girls work is clearly out lined what needs to be done and returned and we have to sign off on all assignments. The weight of the study guide is insane. Why even test them if its going to be weighted this way. If she doesn't come up with an option I'd talk to the principal. Poor kid shouldnt risk having to go to summer school when he obviously know the material or worse repeat the grade. I'd ask he other twins teacher how things are weighted in that class. I know that both of the twins classes are required to have the exact same grading system.

 

This is one reason that I love that our school has skills based report cards--no number or letter grades until 4th or 5th grade. The kids are evaluated on what they can and cannot do, and have a separate grade for behavior, homework, etc. That said, no child is going to summer school over a poor history grade in 2nd grade. At this point, I would put it down as a lesson learned, and make sure he gets the study guides turned in for the rest of the year. If he was older where grades actually "count", I would make a big deal out of it.

My guess is one reason is counts so much is that it is part of a grade they have to give, and turning in a study guide is a pretty easy way to get a good portion of their grade boosted. A completed study guide does show they gave an effort in learning the material by completing it. The test looks at how they retained the information. It is actually a good way to get an idea of who is having trouble with learning.

 

I am also happy we don't do grades this way! It does sound like it's unbalanced in terms of what weighs how much.

Just wondering, and playing the devil's advocate . Do they explain to the kids once it goes home, what they need to do with it? What is expected from them? Just handing it out with no instructions for either the parents or the student doesn't help, I fully agree.

All our classes do class agreements on expectations, behavior, homework, etc. at the beginning of the year and every kid will sign it. It gets a prominent spot in the room. Many kids say, "my mom forgot my lunch", "my helper (this is Asia don't forget) didn't put my hat in my bag" ... but we always tell them, it's their responsibility. Not your mom's, not your helper's. You are responsible for bring your things into school. They can only be responsible and independent, if the teacher (and the parents) teaches them. I would hope the teacher would give your child clear and age-appropriate instructions before taking this home about what is expected from it (shoot me if I am wrong, no idea what a study guide is, can picture it to some extent, just giving a slightly different perspective), and that your child takes on that responsibility. Maybe not at age 5 or 6, maybe not to the full extent, but even my twins who just turned 6 (Grade 1 / Year 2) know quite well what is expected from them, come home telling me what they need to do. They need to learn to be independent and to be responsible.

I would want to find out in general how this entire process works, how much responsibility is given to the child, etc.

If this would happen in our school in case of my oldest daughter (8), I am pretty sure the teacher would say that in the first place she's responsible; homework and other assignments are posted online (we can log in to check and monitor) and if something is really new, we'd probably get an email prior to explain the procedure and expectations. But again, that's how it works at our school.

Do I make sense? Understanding that I live at the other side of the world, different system, different culture, me not American either, been away for a while, but trying to understand where this goes wrong or could go wrong.

 

I agree here.

And - we too do skill based grades for K-3. I think letter grades can be fairly subjective on what is counted toward final grade....and the focus should be on skills learned, but a certain number/percentile.

I am surprised too-- that they have study guides in 2nd grade. My DDs are in 2nd grade and take Social Studies/Science, Spelling, etc tests and they have never gotten a study guide. The only things we 'study' at home are spelling words and math facts. The rest of the homework is practice (math problems/cursive) or a reading interpretive assignment (how did you feel about X, or find two examples of dialogue from books in your home....etc).

We only have 10-30 min a night - plus a reading log (whatever we want for at least 460 min a month).

 

I like your email to the teacher. You shared your concern and let it be know that you are monitoring your child and his progress. There is NO way that a student would fail the grade in my county due to social studies grade (for k-6 kids). My daughter had a C this time in SS and Writing. I was totally confused too, because she is an excellent writer and I had not seen any poor grades in either area. Apparently, she is graded on class work for both subjects and not all of it comes home graded.

I am also a teacher and spent many years teaching 1st and 2nd. It seems to me that 50% of the grade is a bit high for 2 pieces of work. At that age, almost all independent work was graded equally in my classroom. Homework and class participation counted for 10% each.

 

Thank you for your opinions and experiences!

I forgot to update, but the teacher did email me back. She said she can't change the grade from the last semester and that she wouldn't count the most recent study guide that I threw away against my son. She made sure to mention she'd be sending another one home before the next test that will need to be turned in as well. I'm curious to see whether she'll put on the study guide that it needs to be returned!

I'm still pretty ticked that one assignment counts towards so much of his grade, I just don't think that's fair. Especially when it's just a pass/fail. She also stated in the email that they worked on the study guide for a week in class, so why does my son not turning it in count so much if he participated in class and scored well on the test? But c'est la vie, I suppose.

 

Just because they worked on it in class, doesn't mean that "he" actually completed it--so basically, it is a class participation/classwork thing. I know a girl, who in second grade always appeared to be working, but never did any corrections on her work. Turning in the completed study guide is a way for the teacher to see, concretely, who is paying attention and working and who isn't.

 

I agree, Kathy. I just cannot see how this teacher can justify a study guide, completed or not, to be worth MORE than daily assignments and tests. I absolutely see the value in a study guide and the value in giving a grade fir its completion, my beef is in the weighting she's given it.

I know a "D" in 2nd grade Social Studies isn't going to have a long term negative affect on him academically (at least I can't imagine it would), but I would also be very upset if my child came home with that grade on their report card.

 

I agree with you but this study guide was literally just a list of sentences about the topic, there was no activity or any work that needed to be done.

That's what is annoying me. My husband thinks I should talk to the principal about it. I don't really want to cause waves with the teacher or cause her to act out towards my son, plus she resolved the issue to my satisfaction by not counting the study guide against him. But it just bugs me that it was worth so much in the first place. She says they worked on it all week in class, okay well grade that. Don't grade him on his ability to take a piece of paper home and then back again. It's kind of ironic that I took the paper out of his folder, went over it with him before the test and he didn't get a grade for it when I'm sure there are other parents that don't even look at the folder and the paper was therefore turned in without anyone even looking at it. (I saw that a lot when I volunteered in their classrooms before the baby was born.)

I should talk to some other parents, see if they have found the same issue.