s/o hs regulation - how do you know your expectations are grade level appropriate?

[creekmom]

I've been reading the hs reg. thread with great interest. One of my greatest concerns as a hsmom is whether or not my kids are truly being challenged and if I'm covering what I should for each grade level. How do you know if your expectations/ course load are grade level appropriate?

[regentrude]

First, you may compare with the content of the public school education in your state.

Your state's public school curriculum and educational standards should be online - so it is easy to see where the public school students should be. Your local highschool probably has a website with the course outlines, what is recommended for which grade, etc. So if you want to use "grade level" as a measuring stick, you can compare with the ps.

 

Second, you can find out what the college your children may be interested in has for admissions requirements and structure your curriculum accordingly.

This is often a more stringent constraint than the state graduation requirements. You can also talk to people who know what skills the students need to be successful in college and then design an educational program that prepares them well.

 

Third, what is appropriate will depend on your child and your educational philosophy.

I know, for instance, that my expectations of my children are not "grade level appropriate" if compared to what the state and ps would teach same age children. I expect my kids to be challenged by their schoolwork and, consequently, they get to learn according to their abilities with utter disregard of grade level designations. (As an example: for my DD, taking a typical 8th grade science class would not be an appropriate level of challenge because she can easily succeed in a college physics class.)

 

I think you should evaluate your educational goals and select the yardstick that fits your family. I would, however, consider the ps requirements the absolute minimum for a student with no learning disabilities.

[Stacy in NJ]

In NJ students must pass the HSPA exam before graduation (usually taken in 11th grade). Along with a handful of other states, NJ is upping its expectation and will require students to pass EOC (end of course) tests in the years to come. They are currently introducing EOC tests for Algebra I and Biology, Algebra II is in the works as well.

 

Check out the test prep books for the tests required in your state. Our local Barnes and Noble keeps the in stock. AP prep books are also good resources. You don't necessarily need to follow their scope, but they do give you a fair idea of what students in ps are working on.

 

I've been reading the hs reg. thread with great interest. One of my greatest concerns as a hsmom is whether or not my kids are truly being challenged and if I'm covering what I should for each grade level. How do you know if your expectations/ course load are grade level appropriate?

[Nan in Mass]

Challenged and grade level are two different things. For grade level, you can look at standardized tests like Massachusetts's MCAS (past tests are online). As far as the challenging part goes, that is tricky. It is a matter of hitting the right balance for each child. You need to balance challenging with taking so much time that there is no time for their own project with burning out on academics with ... And you are hitting a moving target. I have found it easiest to pick one subject every year that will be a big challenge and really require thinking, one that is going to be fast and easy, and try to make the others land somewhere in between. I try to keep an eye on the skills side of things and try to raise my expectations slowly but steadily. That doesn't work, unfortunately. What really happens is that you suddenly inform the child one day that they thing they were so proud of themselves for finally having figured out how to do well isn't good enough any more and they are now going to have to go back to square one and relearn another way of doing it. Tantrums and battles ensue. Then you have to do it all over again. If you want to get nice and discouraged about what you are doing, go online and look at all the syllabuses from nice private schools. Ug. I have found that we can avoid this issue in many areas by doing TWTM, which in general has one doing one procedure for something all the way through high school. At first, the child will do a bad job, but gradually, over time, they will begin doing it better and better. I have also found that TWTM's recommendations for each age are better than other sources. Not perfect, by any stretch of the imagination, but better. If you can find a curriculum source whose grade-level expectations match your family, that helps.

None of that was probably very helpful. I have posted many times over the years asking what I think you are really asking, and the answers weren't very helpful, either. I think you might just have to muddle through and figure it out for each child for each subject for each year as best you can and hope that somewhere along the line, the child is challenged, and that the child isn't scarred by the many things you try that don't work.

-Nan

 

ETA - With any luck, as your children get older, they will find ways to challenge themselves and then you won't have to worry as much about it.

Edited November 6, 2010 by Nan in Mass

[mcconnellboys]

When I first started hsing, I used Hirsch's series What Your ________ Grader Should Know. I also have mine participate in standardized testing periodically....

[Murphy101]

Awesome question!

 

I do several things.

 

One - I look at where I realistically want them to be at graduation and then ask myself what we need to do to reach that point. Back-tracking from there to where They currently are usually gives me a clue.

 

Two - I look at their test scores to see what weak areas I need to bolster and take that into consideration. We want to see progress, even if it is slow, in their scores each year.

 

Three - I look at whether they are ready for the next level with honestly. For example, my oldest has a dickens of a time in math. If he can't pass the pretest for the next level or the ending exam for his current level, then we will redo that course before moving on. Many parents would just put them through hoping they slide by with a C, but we don't. We just don't do that for core subjects.

 

Four - each year usually requires deeper thinking, more and better writing ability, higher volume of reading, and the reading selections should become more "meaty". I don't expect my 9th or 10th grader to write and read for college, but we do start on the journey to getting them there by the end of 12th grade. At least, I hope we have!;)

 

That's our very basic touchstones.

Which might drastically change every 6 months.:)

[Karenciavo]

I refer to NJ Core Curriculum Standards which are often not very clear so I also look at a local district that is highly ranked in state (Moorestown, NJ which is nice enough to list text books and ISBNs.) I also use curricula that is highly recommended and I talk with home schoolers that I respect. Sometimes I even refer to The Well Trained Mind. :D

[Rosy]

I don't really think in terms of grade-level appropriate when I'm educating my kids, I am more than happy to go at their level. My oldest is years ahead, but I still push her to do her best and move at an appropriate pace for her. My son is slightly behind, but I don't push him to "catch up". I do consider the state standards (which are available on our state's website), but it is only one factor in determining whether my expectations of my kids are appropriate, the others being retention, depth of understanding, joy in learning, mastery of concepts, etc.

 

That said, I know this is the high school board and mine aren't there yet, so my answer may change when I get there.

[EKS]

I find it fairly easy to figure out what grade level input is. And for certain courses, the output aspect is pretty easy to determine as well (I'm thinking of math in particular, and science and foreign language to some extent). Where I get muddled is with courses like English and, to a lesser extent, history, where essays and other written work are a significant part of the output required.

 

What's really frustrating is that my son is enrolled in an alternative public high school that allows us to design our own courses and work at home with the school granting credit. When I ask what the minimum requirements are for a particular course, I don't get a coherent answer and when I ask what the requirements for an honors designation (which they claim to give when a student earns it) I don't get a coherent answer either. You'd think there would be a handbook that explained such things, but all they seem to have are state standards that tend to obfuscate rather than enlighten.

 

Can you tell that I'm a little frustrated?

[creekmom]

Thank you for all the helpful suggestions! :001_smile: Anyone else?

[Teachin'Mine]

When using a textbook for subjects such as math and science, it's fairly easy to determine whether the work is grade appropriate. It's much harder for things which are graded subjectively - such as writing and history. If a grade level textbook is used, it's somewhat easier to determine the grade level, but if you design your own curriculum, it's less clear. But I think that one of the reasons people design their own curriculum is to gear it more towards their individual student, or to allow for the scope and sequence they want and to bring it up to, or down to, a level which they think is best. Isn't that what the public schools do to a lesser degree? A student in a more basic English course will still get credit for 9th grade English even if his or her course work is below the level of someone in the regular or honors English class. I think it needs to be determined on an individual basis, and the teacher, mom and/or dad, needs to make that decision. Just as not all public school courses are equivalent, either within a school, or district to district, not all homeschool courses are either.