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When are kids held accountable for their Grades?

Gia's picture

We got SD6's first grade's first grade report yesterday.
The grading scale is as follows:
1: Does not meet standard
2: Progressing towards standards
3: Meets Standards
4: Exceeds the standards

Out of 10 evaluation statements, SD got two ones and eight twos. The #1s were on "the student plans, writes drafts, revises, edits,and publishes" <-- which is B.S.... she is 6, do they do that in 1st grade?
And the other one was in "the student demonstratesunderstanding of whole number relationships".

Unfortunately the progress report was sent with no individual comments so we can know how to help her progress towards the standards and eventually at least "meet them".

I asked DH, when are kids supposed to be held accountable for bad grades and he didn't have an answer.
I want to know this for my son as well. Upon me insisting he proceeded to tell me that maybe when kids are in 4 or 5th grade... is this correct?

DH is a high school teacher, and plus we were both excellent students when we were kids, we DO plan on having HIGH standards of grade, but when do we start? and how do we do it with young children? For example, do we have a talk about grades, do we start an allowance based on (let's say) the number of 3 or 4s she gets... etc...

Comments

Anon2009's picture

I'd hold her accountable starting now. But I also think DH, you, BM and her teachers need to get on the same page to help her. DH needs to be talking with BM about this, and he needs to be in frequent communication with her teachers and come up with a game plan to help her.

Tx mommy of 3's picture

At that age, I think a lot of it is placed on the parents. Idk who has custody, but when they are young it is up to the parents to make sure they place school work at high priority, study with them, teach them, etc. I know for me, I was held accountable for my grades as far as I could remember, but probably closer to 3rd, 4th grade was when I knew my actions affected my grades. As far as your skid, Your dh should discuss her grades with the teacher. Just because there were no comments does not mean that you can't or shouldn't get more info. See what the problems are and go from there.

Goodstepmom's picture

Sorry a 6 year old cant be held responsible, this is all on the parents.

Your Sd is just starting out in school, she is just learning how school and learning and homework really works.

The real questions are.

Who is taking her to school?
Is she going to school regular?
Who is helping her with her home work?
Who is making sure she understands everything she is learning in school?
Who is in contact with her teachers on a regular basis?

I find it interesting that nobody new she was not doing so well in school until the report card came up.

I Handel all my ss school stuff, i am in contact with his teachers and they know me by first name, when he was not doing so good in math his teacher called me and we fixed it before it got to far.

So the communication is very off, Talk to bm talk to, Dh and talk to the teachers.

sixteensmom's picture

Birth. Kids should be taught the difference between right and wrong. And that doing homework and trying your best is right. Ignoring assignments and doing half assed work is wrong. Do the wrong things and there are consequences.

beedeegee's picture

Standards are different in different states. In California, the standards for a 1st grader are very high. Also, you should look somewhere on the report card for responsibility grades or letter grades. You need to know that standards based grades (1,2,3...etc) are usually based on one test given within one week. It is not a complete picture of the students performance throughout the quarter/semester. Also, why don't you conference with the teacher to get an idea of where your child needs help and what exactly you, as a parent, can do for them. Involved parents get the oil.

love for animals's picture

I think all a kid needs starting out is school is focus. Once they get into first grade then teach them a little more what your teaching them already. They will pick up what they are supposed to do from the teachers and the parents. I think holding a child accountable for their grades should start when they are in at least 4th grade and up. Cause really all before that they are still getting used to school and how it all works. But don't push your kid to hard or they will resent you later on.

And I don't think both bio parents need to be on the same page all the time just cause they have kids. If SM and dad are on top of it, then they can handle it on their own, not saying BM has to not know about school or go to see teacher, but just saying they don't need to work together all the time.

Gia's picture

That school is retarded!!!

DH informed me today that her last year teacher said last year that the scores 1-4 is on a year basis. Based on what the kids need to know once they have completed that grade. Thus, kids should be at least a level 3 (meet standards) by the end of the year. How stupid is that? I think that is way too vague. ALSO, the school distric in which she is, does not take homehork into consideration when assigning grades (In elementary). Which I think is stupid as well, because that is a way to teach a kid responsibility, and reward them when they are responsible. So, a kid that always does his/her homework gets the same credit as the kid that never brings homework, or forgets about it...

SD does get homework, but honestly as far as I know (she is here on the weekends) is not much, and sometimes is nothing, and 1 out of 10 weekends she will have homework and bring it here, which I also think is pretty dumb. They should have lots of homework during the weekend...

We have some workbooks that we work on at home, reading and math for her grade and a little above, and she does VERY well, she likes to do school work too, and she loves to learn new things, she loves to read new books too! That's why I would like to get more clarification on what that really means, and also how is she doing compared to the majority of the kids in the class. Are they all mostly getting "2" (working towards the standard) because (duh!) they haven't finished the grade yet?... oh well...

beedeegee's picture

My district (I am an elementary school teacher) also adheres to a growth model. We give the end of the year test at the beginning, middle, and end. This is to show growth. The teacher/school should also be giving common assessments on a monthly/weekly basis to act as a indicator for what is being learned. This is the first year our district has done this, and my sons who are both HIGHLY intelligent scored 1's and 2's. Try explaining that to their BM who has no idea how their schooling/grade reporting works (she lives out of state). She sees 1's and 2's and thinks they're failing. And yes, most of my class got low scores on the first round of the test.