IUSD Report Cards - How do we read these?

[irvinehomeowner]

I'm pretty sure letter grades start at 1st but with Common Core, that may have changed.

But even with letter grades, it doesn't seem like that would satisfy you.

I predict a future topic from you that asks "How do we read an 'A', is that an outstanding A, meeting A standards or progressing towards 'A' standards?". 

Daughter is in 3rd grade and no letter grade. 

I would hope that it is not until middle school/junior high.

I think starting in 4th is fine because that's when subjects get a bit more discrete and you can even have different teachers for certain subjects.

 

[emf1315]

Letter grades start in 3rd grade.

K-3 education focuses on basic skills and progress towards lower elementary standards.

M - mastery towards specific standards (this is measured objectively - talk to your teacher about what the markers are)
P- progressing (we expect all our students to be at a P for 1st and 2nd trimester)
L - limited (student is showing limited progress towards goals)

We don't give letter grades, since we typically don't assign a number grade/percentage for assignments.  We are assessing whether a child is making progress with specific basic skills, but we are not computing scores.

4-6th grades focuses on applying skills to deeper standards.  The letter grades are averages of assignments.  Students are expected to have already surpassed mastery of basic skills and now must be assessed on their strategies and application of skills.  We can definitely assign a letter grade to these students based on their effort, work completion, and mastery of standards.

Hope this helped.

- Veteran IUSD teacher

 

[eyephone]

Is this due to common core?

 

[emf1315]

Is this due to common core?

Yes and no.  The standards have changed, and so have our grading practices.  However,  the letter grades have always started at 4th grade for the reasons I posted above.

 

[Bullsback]

Seriously...people are complaining about kindergarten grades not being A-F.  Give me a break.

You're missing the point of my question.  As an involved parent, I would like the school to provide a better barometer of where my kids are.  That I can focus on their weaknesses.  I didn't move to Irvine to not be involved in my kid's progress and I think this fluffy grading system is way to vague.

And you missed my point. Applying an A-F scale for a kindergartner will do nothing to help progress. Kids at that age are not ready to be evaluated nor would it be appropriate to do so on such a scale. Development is going to be different for every child at that age and that is why they have a different "fluffy" grading system. 

 

[Bullsback]

Seriously...people are complaining about kindergarten grades not being A-F.  Give me a break.

You're missing the point of my question.  As an involved parent, I would like the school to provide a better barometer of where my kids are.  That I can focus on their weaknesses.  I didn't move to Irvine to not be involved in my kid's progress and I think this fluffy grading system is way to vague.

Then you have a fundamental misunderstanding of what is going on.  The new system gives you a much better and detailed barometer of how your kid is doing.  For example, your kid could struggle with certain areas that is being hidden by a letter grade. 

If you have questions, talk to the teacher and ask him/her on how your child is doing and what the report cards mean.  I believe conferences are upcoming.

We already talked to the teacher during our kid's conference last month.  Our child is in the top reading and math groups in her class. 

I'll give an example, my kid already successfully adds from 1-20 (and this was successfully confirmed during testing), yet the teacher is "not allowed' to give her an O or a M because she isn't planning on testing the rest of the students until the last trimester.  Therefore, the report shows she's 'progressing' towards learning this particular skill.  Laughable. 

I don't understand the concern.

You know where your kid is at. Does it matter what her report card says right now? That has no relevance later on.

To this person it does...cause they think the A somehow is a sign of superior development at this point. The dialogue should be about how your child is doing, where they have strengths, where there are weaknesses, and how to build that out.  Not to mention the fact that I wouldn't even want to think of assessing an "F" to a child at those ages where so much can be purely based upon the development curve (when you are 5 and someone is 6 months older vs. younger that can easily have an impact; doesn't mean the child who is 6 months older is an A and the other child is an F). 

 

[Bullsback]

Letter grades start in 3rd grade.

K-3 education focuses on basic skills and progress towards lower elementary standards.

M - mastery towards specific standards (this is measured objectively - talk to your teacher about what the markers are)
P- progressing (we expect all our students to be at a P for 1st and 2nd trimester)
L - limited (student is showing limited progress towards goals)

We don't give letter grades, since we typically don't assign a number grade/percentage for assignments.  We are assessing whether a child is making progress with specific basic skills, but we are not computing scores.

4-6th grades focuses on applying skills to deeper standards.  The letter grades are averages of assignments.  Students are expected to have already surpassed mastery of basic skills and now must be assessed on their strategies and application of skills.  We can definitely assign a letter grade to these students based on their effort, work completion, and mastery of standards.

Hope this helped.

- Veteran IUSD teacher

Great post.