So yeah, my heart goes out to you.
Posted on 11/18/2011 1:45:25 AM PST by MacMattico
So my student gets the report card today and quite frankly expects her high 90 gpa to continue. All of the grades I've seen have been high. She wanted to keep her average, each quarter, above a 90 to receive a special award at the end of the year for never having a quarterly average below 90 in the past 4 years. It's a big deal to the kids, I know it doesn't really matter in the grand scheme of things, but it's important to them.
Two years ago, I found grading errors (averaging and such) and had to complain all the way up the chain to have that fixed. Last year, they didn't want her in honor society, probably I've learned because Mom knows their flaws and isn't quiet about it. There were also grading errors.
First quarter this year, she receives an average of 89.9. No rounding up. So out of honor society, no award at the end of the year, overall average down.
Now I feel it's personal against me and not her. The teachers I know and know her well--all high averages. Math and Science, where they placed her in a different sequence from last year-- low 80's, and she was telling me all quarter how easy the math was (and I saw at least two 95 exam grades). They had to keep a journal in math all quarter and on the last day of the quarter were asked to hand them in. He would not accept hers because it wasn't in one of those marble notebooks! All the papers, dated each day, stapled in order, but 0 credit! Science was said to be somewhat "subjective in his lab grading". Subjective science?? These two teachers have been there a while and I swear they rigged this to punish us for speaking up!
I don’t think you’re paranoid, but with all due respect, I think you’re hovering. If your child is doing honors work, she’s in middle-school or above (you didn’t say).
I think it’s time that you allowed her to take responsibility for her own grades. I’ve had four children; my last is a senior in high school. By the time they reached 7th grade they knew the responsibility lay with them. The only time I ever confronted a teacher was when my obsessive-compulsive daughter brought home a “journalism” project where she had to write her own obituary - a ridiculous concept that she would have had nightmares about for a long time to come.
Until you step back and let your daughter do HER job (school), the teachers will continue to view you as an annoyance, and her grades MIGHT reflect that.
On the other hand, perhaps she simply made some errors on a test? No one can be perfect all the time.
One more reason we home school our kids.
When a teacher asks for an assignment in a specific format, I always found it useful to follow directions.
I don’t know what all is ‘going on’ but it may well be that you are more interested in her grades than she is. I always told my daughter I did not care about the grade she brought home ( though they were always good), what I cared about was whether she learned something
So yeah, my heart goes out to you.
The Republican convention hat I habitually wore when I did go might have helped. I wasn't a delegate, but volunteered for the GOP and was given a hat. Nobody asked. I also mentioned to our Representative's people that my daughter had worked for his campaign when he was going to meet with a group she was a member of. The four times life size portrait of MLK my wife did for the girls' elementary school and was kind enough to loan to the superintendent probably didn't hurt matters, either.
It probably would have been a lot easier to home school. That is what I would have done if I knew then what I know now.
What you are teaching them is that you care more about the grade than your child. Who goes around checking averages for thei children’s grades? Is there so little going on in your life that you have to live through your children? It seems to me that threatening to go to the school board over a .1% difference ( what you call rounding) is a waste of the school board’s time and effort. You mention that it is math and science that she is getting lower grades in, have you ever considered that she just is not doing the work the way the teacher has asked for it to be done? I still remember a college thermodynamics class where the prof insisted that you fold the paper a certain way, put your name in the upper right hand corner, and an answer column down the left margin. If you did not do it that way you got ZERO for the assignment (even if it was the final exam). I only had to screw that up on one quiz before I became compliant....lesson learned
Regarding the math journal, was it specified in the assignment that a marble notebook be used?
Obviously it’s the break in the line 2.5 cm from the x. Were you to have drawn a proper triangle.... ;)
You’re kidding, right?
The unit was on subtraction.
There are 6 balloons of one color, and five balloons of another color. How many more balloons of the first color are there?
This is not subjective. It’s not open to interpretation. Words mean things, and math is an absolute science.
6 - 5 = 1. Always 1. Never 11.
Maybe except for you spelling teacher. ;)
Public school administrators like to brag that they have cameras in every hallway, on buses, all over the place. What these administrators have to realize is that parents and students will respond in kind — sort of like a “Spy vs. Spy” situation if they are unhappy with a student’s treatment.
We now have a case in my state that is similar to this one, and it involves a special ed teacher and a student wearing a recording device.
In fifty years she'll see her classmates at the reunion, and the distortion field of school grades won't mean a thing. At all. IMHO your job as a parent should be to keep that in mind.If your reference to "honor society" means what I suppose, your child is a senior or at least a junior. Which means that whatever the teachers have done is pretty much done.
You mention math and science; if your girl is less than a senior she could readily wire in good grades in the future by spending time on the khanacademy.org site. Even if she's a senior, she can by mere act of will attain such mastery of math and science there as to gain a "brainiac" reputation with her classmates.If she actually cares about it . . .
The color part looks like it was added after grading the b/w handout. Initially it looks to have read “You have six balloons. You have five balloons. How many more balloons are there?”, to which “11” is a legitimate answer.
I have related and equally important issue freepers need to know about: my elderly neighbor just doesn’t seem to be keeping up with his leaf raking this year. When the wind blows his leaves end up in my yard, where I have to deal with them. What does everybody think I should do? I think I should pummel the old jerk.
Nope, that most assuredly a problem with the student. I can't type or spell. Ouch!
If you can see that the balloons are different color on a black and white copy then you are a better person that the rest of the population.
Nothing is beyond public school teachers and administration. Nothing.
You can't control it beyond the evidence. So, just smile and wait. Sooner or later you will nail them again. Parents are not meant to be best friends with public school employees. You are the only advocate your kid has and although the staff are mean, you still have to stand up for yourself AND other parents.
Maybe except for you spelling teacher. ;)
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And you grammar teacher.
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