School Report - what is criteria for marking and comments

[Trillian]

I agree 110% with Lulu on this one. I think you have a perfectly average child and I think that any parent should be happy with his report card. After all he is only 6 - he has the next 11 years ahead of him at school. Not to say that you shouldnt encourage him to do the best that he could, but he is only 6 after all.

I think you would find if you actually questioned his teacher about it, that maybe he could have gotten a higher grade, but isn't performing at that level consistently enough to warrant giving it to him.

If it is an honest answer you are after (and in light of reading your other thread) I think you need to land your helicopter and let him be a 6yo old.

[Beach Mama]

As a primary teacher using the new reporting system I have seen time and again the confusion over the new reports, but have to agree with previous posters here with your situation.

The A, B C etc is NOTHING like the old A, B C's in old reports.... In order to achieve At expected level (C) most teachers look at each subject and strand and then look at the indicators to show that the child is achieving these indicators. In order to put a child up from a C to B (above expected level) generally means that they are achieving at least or roughly 80% of those indicators. So for him at grade 2 June means he would be working where most students across the state and in the school would be expected to be at the END of grade 2. That is a pretty big jump.

I hope that clears it up for you a bit. It is not as simple as saying, "oh this student is outstanding in literacy" and putting them up to a B which in any case is nothing like the A's, B's and C's we are used to from when we were at school. The comments are generally for students attitudes, behaviour and work habits. You really need to do a huge mental shift away from what the letters stand for and focus on the fact that he is performing at expected level for his age, which, in my opinion is outstanding and what I want for all of my students in my grade.

To put it in a bit more perspective - I have a grade 4 student who in the holidays doesn't get a holiday. She does hours of Maths, English and Chinese homework every day of the holidays.... her weekends are the same and she does Maths work every morning before school. Not much of a life really - when does she get to be a kid? Well the answer is in this case she doesn't.

She is brilliant at Maths, to the degree that the teacher who I grade share with and I occasionally find her work from grade 5 texts to do, and also extend the work she does in grade 4. In number on her report she was at a B and her mum and her were upset because it wasn't an A..... She is working above the average grade 4 student but for us to put her up to an A meant she could do roughly 80% of the work in the middle of grade 5 and we didn't feel she was quite there yet. It was tough explaining the shift and really, the government has botched it nicely for us all, but that is the way it is and C is to be "Celebrated".
HtH.

[Turkish Delight]

Hi All,

I appreciate ALL your responses.

I do agree that his report was good and i have told him that. We have even celebrated by going out and buying him a Nintendo DS which i promised to get him should his report card be good.

Dachlo: Every parent wants his/her child to be the best and so do i. He has already made us proud my skipping a year level and all i expect him to be now is to be the best he can. I feel very privelaged and honoured to have him as my son. This is not about me or us. It is about the inconsistencies in his report card between his marks and comments. I hope i haven't been harsh as i do not intend to be harsh.

Lulu2- you are so correct and made me see the light in regard to your

"I think his report was excellent, don't you? He has reached the expected level of performance as a Grade 2 student, when he is only 6. Of course they are using words like "outstanding"."

Yes, outstanding for a 6 y.o. Never thought of that. I always thought of it as being "outstanding for a grade 2'er" yet the marks were C's instead of the A's which we were hoping for as a grade 2'er.

Again, thank-you to all. We have parent-teacher interviews on Tuesday but doesn't look like we'll achieve much as his teacher last term left. She was the one who graded him so i can't ask the new teacher as she has only taught him for 1 week!

[Chocaholic]

Enjoy the teacher-parent interview! By the sounds of it, you will just have to sit back and listen to them singing his praises!!

[Lulu]

Turk - if you drop him back a year level he is guaranteed to score constant A's. You have to try with all your might to change your mindset now he has skipped a year (but even if he didn't its hard to get excited when you see C's everywhere, its a SILLY system with the ABC, when C means GOOD...)

Now he has skipped a year, thats the academic side covered. So please, please make sure you cover his socialization. Its not going to be easy for him to cope between 2 peer level groups. Does he play with the kids his age at lunchtime, even though he is not in their classes? Does he have anything in common with his older classmates, does he play with them too?
Encourage friendships and have his buddies over after school from time to time, I can't stress the importance of after school friends.

xoxoo

[Phteven]

Does he play with the kids his age at lunchtime, even though he is not in their classes?

But it's not the same is it Lulu?
Because the friends you spend time with over lunch are the ones that you sit near in class (and the ones that you smoke out the chemistry class and the entire science block with - just an example ) . So you share in-jokes and experiences with them that someone you only see at lunchtime can't really be part of. Some of my funniest memories from school are the dumb stuff we did in class. But that a whole new thread *scrurries off to start tehehehe*

Dachlo: Every parent wants his/her child to be the best and so do i.

I guess I'm going to have to disagree with you. I don't care if my children are the best, just so long as they're happy and fulfilled, that's enough for me. I tend to align myself with slow-parenting rather than hot-housing. That said, I probably have a different attitude towards giftedness than you do because I come from a family where it's pretty common (immediate and extended) and I tend to think that children are best left to extend themselves in the areas where they chose to rather than being put into classes without their peers.

[MantaRay]

TD, I think this is a tricky one. I suspect that part of the reason your DS was disappointed with Cs is that you were. You said that you weren't, but later said

the marks were C's instead of the A's which we were hoping for

so I think on some level you were disappointed and I'm sure your DS would have noticed being bright.

But I also think this one of the downsides to skipping a grade. Definitely there is the social side - being expected to have social skills beyond the age group plus the point Lulu raised about who he plays with at lunchtime. But also, it is a big change academically for him. Instead of being at the top of the class, he is now with older kids, so is no longer the top of the class. He will have to get used to that and he, and you, lower your expectations. In effect, he has been "promoted" to the point where he is no longer "outstanding" in the group. That was your choice (together with the teachers and your DS I'm sure), and there is not necessarily anything wrong with it, but that is one of the effects of the choice that was made.

Often when it comes to skipping grades, parents are advised against it, as a child who goes up can be a follower, when amongst their age peers they could be a leader. I have no idea of your individual situation so I am in no way saying you did the wrong thing or anything, but I am just pointing out that he needs to understand that his expectations of results, etc will have to adjust to his new circumstance. Perhaps you could try explaining this to him if you haven't already?

[Beach Mama]

I have just re-read alot of what is here and must have missed something the first time around but didn't realise that he had skipped a grade at some stage.... to be getting At Expected level (C) when he has already skipped a grade is an absolutely wonderful acheivement for him. I won't comment on the social side as that has been covered, but realistically you should be SO proud of what he has achieved. To expect him to be getting A or even B's when he has skipped a grade is pretty unrealistic and TBH you need to get used to him getting majority of C's and B's in this reports from now on because that is the reality of the new reporting system. Major mental shift as I said in my PP and if you don't you will be setting yourselves up for huge disappointment over his schooling life for no reason.