JudoMom Posted February 16, 2011 Share Posted February 16, 2011 (edited) When I was in school, I never felt like I did well unless I had over 90%. I've started tracking my oldest two boys' math & grammar test grades to get me used to it before High School level work hits. This got me to wondering---what do you consider an acceptable percentage grade? We work towards mastery, but it's also not possible to master everything 100%. Edited February 16, 2011 by JudoMom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elegantlion Posted February 16, 2011 Share Posted February 16, 2011 Good question. We will start with formal grades again next year and I'm not sure what my stance will be. I want to teach to mastery, but I want to be fair too. It's pretty easy to get a B if you make silly mistakes, especially in math. If he is missing graded questions because he's not paying proper attention to details then he deserves the B. However, if he's getting Bs because he doesn't understand what was being taught then I feel more responsible. So maybe a B, B+ is where my comfort level lies with grades. I'll be interested to read how others approach this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SnowWhite Posted February 16, 2011 Share Posted February 16, 2011 Oh, this is ABSOLUTELY variable depending on the course and the child. Harder courses or less gifted students will result in lower scores. I think 80% or lower could be cause for revisiting the material. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mom22ns Posted February 16, 2011 Share Posted February 16, 2011 Oh, this is ABSOLUTELY variable depending on the course and the child. Harder courses or less gifted students will result in lower scores. I think 80% or lower could be cause for revisiting the material. :iagree: There are times when I think my kids have done a great job getting in the 80-90% range. They are never satisfied with less than 90% and we revisit the material if it is less than 80. That in between range though may or may not be acceptable to me based on their level of effort, the difficulty of the material and what we were trying to gain from it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keniki Posted February 16, 2011 Share Posted February 16, 2011 I want over 90%, but especially for high school, the grade is the grade. I'm afraid, at least for my children, there's not much incentive to get it the first time if they know they get another chance. Colleges aren't going to let them do it over either. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nmoira Posted February 16, 2011 Share Posted February 16, 2011 Oh, this is ABSOLUTELY variable depending on the course and the child. Harder courses or less gifted students will result in lower scores. I think 80% or lower could be cause for revisiting the material.:iagree: I don't give grades, partially for this very reason. However, I do adjust the difficulty of the material so that the girls are working at about 80% (memory work and trivial material like the learning of math facts doesn't count... here we work for 100%). This seems to be the sweet spot in which they've mastered enough to feel competent, while maintaining the emphasis that learning is part of a process and there's always room for improvement and progression. I was always top of the class in spite of putting in relatively little effort, and would have benefitted greatly in terms of both developing a work ethic and not learning to equate high grades with self worth had this approach been taken with my education. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JudoMom Posted February 17, 2011 Author Share Posted February 17, 2011 :iagree: I don't give grades, partially for this very reason. However, I do adjust the difficulty of the material so that the girls are working at about 80% (memory work and trivial material like the learning of math facts doesn't count... here we work for 100%). This seems to be the sweet spot in which they've mastered enough to feel competent, while maintaining the emphasis that learning is part of a process and there's always room for improvement and progression. I was always top of the class in spite of putting in relatively little effort, and would have benefitted greatly in terms of both developing a work ethic and not learning to equate high grades with self worth had this approach been taken with my education. How do you plan to handle this as your girls get into high school and grades become necessary for college? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stacy in NJ Posted February 17, 2011 Share Posted February 17, 2011 always manages about an 85%. In all subjects at all difficulty levels. I've learned to just use the more difficult material and accept the 85. :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JudoMom Posted February 17, 2011 Author Share Posted February 17, 2011 always manages about an 85%. In all subjects at all difficulty levels. I've learned to just use the more difficult material and accept the 85. :D :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LisaKinVA Posted February 17, 2011 Share Posted February 17, 2011 In general I say 85% or better. Although, just because they get an 85% or even a 95% doesn't mean they don't have to correct what they missed :D I was never happy with anything less than an A. But, as I've sadly become aware over the past 6 years, my children are. not. me. Well, at least ONE of my children wants to get 100% and is upset when they don't... my 7yo! :tongue_smilie: My oldest? He's the one to quip, "but mom, I PASSED!" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swimmermom3 Posted February 17, 2011 Share Posted February 17, 2011 In general I say 85% or better. Although, just because they get an 85% or even a 95% doesn't mean they don't have to correct what they missed :D I was never happy with anything less than an A. But, as I've sadly become aware over the past 6 years, my children are. not. me. Well, at least ONE of my children wants to get 100% and is upset when they don't... my 7yo! :tongue_smilie: My oldest? He's the one to quip, "but mom, I PASSED!" How does this happen? How is it possible? It makes me find a quiet corner and then I slowly and deliberately bang my head against the wall. It's less painful than dealing with "but mom, I PASSED!" I also have a voodoo doll under the bed made in the image of the teacher that told my dd in 7th grade that "Cs are just fine." My dd took that to heart and thought it was just fine for everything she did. I know it's not what the teacher had in mind, but it took a couple of years to undo the damage. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LisaKinVA Posted February 17, 2011 Share Posted February 17, 2011 How does this happen? How is it possible? It makes me find a quiet corner and then I slowly and deliberately bang my head against the wall. It's less painful than dealing with "but mom, I PASSED!" I also have a voodoo doll under the bed made in the image of the teacher that told my dd in 7th grade that "Cs are just fine." My dd took that to heart and thought it was just fine for everything she did. I know it's not what the teacher had in mind, but it took a couple of years to undo the damage. Hence the reason, I will be making a padded headboard for our new master bedroom... The K12 program lists "grades" and says a child has "mastered" the material if they get 80% on an assessment. My oldest child is the one who likes to "game" systems... and he has the K12 program mastered, but not the materials (part of the reason why we're leaving, is because everything is geared towards him doing it alone now... with virtually no input from me. So, I'm taking him back to old-fashioned pen and paper work... he has a lot more trouble "gaming" me than a computer. :lol:) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lainey Posted February 17, 2011 Share Posted February 17, 2011 80% and above is passing here, but all corrections have to be made for any problems missed. Below 80% is not acceptable and tells me something was not understood and more review needs to take place. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luvnlattes Posted February 17, 2011 Share Posted February 17, 2011 (edited) I answered 85-89 even though I truly want their results in the 90s. I figure 85-89 is a "B" to a "B+" so I can live with that. I grade math for all 3 boys. I also grade my oldest's WriteShop assignments and he'll receive a grade from our co-op for his Latin class. My middle son will also receive a grade from our co-op for his writing class. My oldest will be 8th grade next year so I'll use that year to figure out how I'm going to assign grades for all his subjects once he's in high school. I understand the credit hours but I don't have a good handle on grading all subjects yet. Edited February 17, 2011 by luvnlattes Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prairie rose Posted February 17, 2011 Share Posted February 17, 2011 It would really depend. On a ten question quiz, they could only miss two to get an 80%. If they made a silly mistake and caught it while I was checking it, I'd probably let the 80% pass. But on 100 question or more test where they could miss 20 or more questions and still get 80%, I would not let that pass. Definitely no matter what though anything less than 80% makes me think that we need to go over it again. Anything less than 90% that wasn't just silly mistakes but actual lack of understanding or lack of applying what they learned would cause me to re-teach. When I was in school, I wasn't allowed to bring home anything less than 80%. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheAutumnOak Posted February 17, 2011 Share Posted February 17, 2011 It would really depend. On a ten question quiz, they could only miss two to get an 80%. If they made a silly mistake and caught it while I was checking it, I'd probably let the 80% pass. But on 100 question or more test where they could miss 20 or more questions and still get 80%, I would not let that pass. Definitely no matter what though anything less than 80% makes me think that we need to go over it again. Anything less than 90% that wasn't just silly mistakes but actual lack of understanding or lack of applying what they learned would cause me to re-teach. When I was in school, I wasn't allowed to bring home anything less than 80%. :iagree: With everything except what I was allowed to bring home...My mom didn't check my work and as long as she didn't have to go to school for something, she didn't care what I got as a grade...I didn't show my mom my report card once I was older than 6th grade...Before 6th grade your parents had to either go get the card themselves or sign it... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tammyla Posted February 18, 2011 Share Posted February 18, 2011 (edited) My two always shoot for 90% or above, anything less and they aren't happy. It's easy as homeschoolers to work towards mastery. I do keep grades, and only insist on a do-over if the grade is below 80%. Edited February 18, 2011 by Tammyla Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
i.love.lucy Posted February 18, 2011 Share Posted February 18, 2011 80% and above is passing here, but all corrections have to be made for any problems missed. Below 80% is not acceptable and tells me something was not understood and more review needs to take place. :iagree: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lejardin Posted February 18, 2011 Share Posted February 18, 2011 I voted 80-84% is acceptable but I want DD to do her best. I know what she is capable of doing because of her daily work. I do keep track of her scores in LA and Math because it is easy to do and I like to know her scores. She is not satisfied unless she scores between 95 and 100%! We go over her errors and in math especially she reworks her error. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greta Posted February 18, 2011 Share Posted February 18, 2011 When I was in school, I never felt like I did well unless I had over 90%. I felt the same way, and feel the same way now about my daughter's performance. If she can't perform the function with 90% accuracy, or did not retain at least 90% of the information, then something needs to be addressed. Often, that "something" turns out to be my teaching! :D Sometimes it turns out to be her effort. Either way, the material or skill gets revisited until 90% is attained. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jen+4dc Posted February 18, 2011 Share Posted February 18, 2011 In general I say 85% or better. Although, just because they get an 85% or even a 95% doesn't mean they don't have to correct what they missed :D :iagree: Mine always have to do corrections.:) It would really depend. On a ten question quiz, they could only miss two to get an 80%. If they made a silly mistake and caught it while I was checking it, I'd probably let the 80% pass. But on 100 question or more test where they could miss 20 or more questions and still get 80%, I would not let that pass. Definitely no matter what though anything less than 80% makes me think that we need to go over it again. Anything less than 90% that wasn't just silly mistakes but actual lack of understanding or lack of applying what they learned would cause me to re-teach. When I was in school, I wasn't allowed to bring home anything less than 80%. :iagree: bolded emphasis I was never allowed to bring home anything less than an A. But, it wasn't the same for all my siblings. My folks knew what we were all capable of and expected our best. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charlotteb Posted February 18, 2011 Share Posted February 18, 2011 Anything less than 80% is grounds for re-doing here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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