What kind of grades are these??

[tripleshot]

DS is in 2nd grade in a new district. He brought home papers yesterday with the number right/number of questions like normal. But they had letter "grades" too-M, SN, or P. The M was 10/10. Another one was 17/24 but I can't remember what grade it was. What happened to A/B/C?

[jssymom14]

M mastery is my guess

[Kristinmo]

We didn't use letter grades in elementary either. We got E, V, S or N for excellent, very good, satisfactory or needs improvement.

[pirate]

This reminds me of my sister's first grade report card. She got on the bus and was SO EXCITED to tell me "I got all S-T's on my report card!" I knew she meant "satisfactory" with a plus sign but I still laughed at her, hard, and then got in trouble when I got home.

[tripleshot]

I must be old and crotchety because I don't understand why they don't use normal grades. Is it to coddle the kids' feelings? Toughen up, buttercup!

[themysteriouswife]

That's how it was when I was a kid too.

[VillainV]

Sept 12, 2013 7:03:02 GMT -5 tripleshot said:

I must be old and crotchety because I don't understand why they don't use normal grades. Is it to coddle the kids' feelings? Toughen up, buttercup!

When I was in elementary school 25 years ago we had non-letter-grade grades until like 4th or 5th grade.   I don't think it's coddling, I think it's that really, what does it matter?  Either you meet expectations, need improvements, or whatever.   Also, as an adult in the military, I'm "graded" on how well I do on certain events using the same type of scale...unsat, satisfactory, excellent, etc.   And I guarantee you they're not trying to coddle our feelings....

[tripleshot]

So what do the letters mean, since this is familiar to you all? It wasn't like this when I was in school, and I went to the same school as DS (I'm 32). It wasn't like this at his other school last year either.

[lightbulbsun]

We didn't get letter grades in elementary school until 3rd grade.

[FastHands]

"Maeby got a crocodile in spelling. "

We didn't get A-F scale until 3rd grade either.

[VillainV]

Yeah, I don't know what those specific letters mean. Isn't there some kind of key at the bottom of the report card? You could always call the school.

[papie]

I would think there would be a code explanation somewhere? Maybe on the back?

[tripleshot]

No, no explanations anywhere. I've even searched the school website. I didn't want to bother the teacher but I'll email her. As a new student, they should tell us this stuff. We even went to new student orientation and it was all about the bus and lunch schedules. There's been a lot of stuff they have assumed we know and I'm just really frustrated at this point.

[tripleshot]

Sept 12, 2013 7:29:04 GMT -5 squirrelymom said:

My kids had the "S" "N", etc. grading scale. But I never could figure out how a 4-point scale with letters like "S" and "N" was any different from A, B, C, etc. the letters only have the meaning you attach to them and the kids all looked at S like I did an A when I was a kid.

I understand that. But if they don't communicate the scale and what the letters stand for, how does that help new people in the district?

[auntie]

One of DS's school did M for Mastered, P for proficient and an E for Emerging on expected skills.

[cc]

When I log into Parent Portal for my kids, they have both traditional grades (A, B, C, D, F) and the numeric grade. For us, M indicates a missing assignment or test.

[m1and1m]

We had numbers (1, 2, 3) for ability, and letters (maybe S, NS, and E?) for how much effort we put into it from Kinder through 2nd grade. There was a key at the bottom of our report card, though.

That would be so frustrating, having random letters assigned to grades.

[joenali]

We just use 1-4:
1 does not meet standard
2 approaching standard
3 meeting standard
4 exceeding standard

[zoidberg]

Sept 12, 2013 7:03:02 GMT -5 tripleshot said:

I must be old and crotchety because I don't understand why they don't use normal grades. Is it to coddle the kids' feelings? Toughen up, buttercup!

I'm 35 and we didn't have letter grades when I was in elementary school. We had minus, check, and plus (and check-minus and check-plus).

[lilafowler]

Sept 12, 2013 7:34:27 GMT -5 @tambcat said:

we had e, g, s, n, and u, but yeah, they meant the same thing to me as a, b, c, d, and f, so I don't see the point.

We had E, G, S and U as well until high school....never made sense

[blueshirt2003]

I'll never forget my shock when my oldest son came home with his first report card. It had numbers and not letters. Their grading was 1-4. So, 4 you did great and 1 you're behind and need help. It was absolutely confusing. I had to seek out a key for it because they didn't provide one within the report card.

[joenali]

Why are schools still using these weird letter grades with common core a 1-4 scale makes sense?

[lilafowler]

Sept 12, 2013 8:12:07 GMT -5 lilafowler said:

Sept 12, 2013 7:34:27 GMT -5 @tambcat said:

we had e, g, s, n, and u, but yeah, they meant the same thing to me as a, b, c, d, and f, so I don't see the point.

We had E, G, S and U as well until high school....never made sense

Oh and I'm 36 if anybody cares...for reference.

[Deleted]

I had those type of grades in elementary (I think there Needs Improvement, Satisfactory and Outstanding). After elementary, it was all % grades. I didn't see an ABCDF type letter grade until university.

[dragonfly08]

Our elementary schools used to have a basic scale of N (needs improvement), S (satisfactory - meets grade level expectations), G (good - usually exceeds expectations) and O (outstanding - consistently exceeds expectations). They got a grade in each subject area for achievement and effort.

Starting last year, they revamped the report cards so that they provide feedback on more detailed things. Instead of just getting a grade for overall Language Arts achievement, now they get one for each of the various components of the LA curriculum like reading, comprehension, spelling, etc. Each piece doesn't hurt their overall grade as much, and parents and teachers can better assess exactly where a student needs more help (or at least that's the rationale). And it's a scale of 1, 2, 3, 4 instead of N, S, G, O although the basic meaning is the same and most parents equate that to D, C, B, A.

[bonquiqui]

K-6 we had grades S and U.  Satisfactory and Unsatisfactory.  I went to a Montessori school and that is how we rolled lol

oh and N for Needs improvement