What do you consider an acceptable passing grade on SM assesment test?

[Halcyon]

We use SM assessment tests after completing the year, before moving on to the next level. For anyone else who does this, what do you consider to be an acceptable grade? I know 70% is considered fine to move onto the next level, but is that good enough for a child who has actually been working with the curriculum or do you expect higher? If so, what is acceptable to you?

 

And do you give partial credit (for example, a transposed number in the work leading to the wrong answer, but all other work is correct, or not putting the units down in the answer). Thank you.

[Satori]

I know their passing grade is lower than what I'd accept, so my passing grade would be 90%. I would take into consideration limited partial credit if it was close to the threshold. Maybe as low as 85% but we'd certainly brush up on the skills that lowered the score.

 

That's just me because I'm a perfectionist and not teaching a classroom. :)

[Dana]

I'd give partial credit on a problem that is worth more than one point. I gave my son the 3B test yesterday. On one word problem he found the perimeter correctly but didn't multiply it by three (around the track three times) so I gave him 1/3 points. If a problem is one point and it's wrong, I count the whole problem wrong.

 

We use the standards edition, so I'd use a US scale for grading.

Anything under 75 and I'd be reteaching/reviewing any missed topics (I think).

 

As it was, I had my son look over the test and correct it. There was one misconception (he thought 1 L would be the amount in a glass rather than measuring in mL) and the other errors were mainly careless.

[Halcyon]

I'd give partial credit on a problem that is worth more than one point. I gave my son the 3B test yesterday. On one word problem he found the perimeter correctly but didn't multiply it by three (around the track three times) so I gave him 1/3 points. If a problem is one point and it's wrong, I count the whole problem wrong.

 

We use the standards edition, so I'd use a US scale for grading.

Anything under 75 and I'd be reteaching/reviewing any missed topics (I think).

 

As it was, I had my son look over the test and correct it. There was one misconception (he thought 1 L would be the amount in a glass rather than measuring in mL) and the other errors were mainly careless.

 

 

Dana-can I ask what your son got on 3b? PM me privately if you'd like. We just took the test here. We too took partial credit for the questions worth more than 1 pt, but he made some careless errors.

[NittanyJen]

Interesting thread!

 

I have used the practices at the end of each chapter as chapter tests along the way, and I insist on 90% as the minimum passing grade, as I figure less than this means that my son hasn't actually mastered the material, and why march onward if there is something he hasn't grasped yet? We can either make up our own problems, just re-explain it, or turn to Khan Academy for more practice to nail it down, and try again with another practice set (for many chapters at least in 2A, there is more than one set). I plan on using the same rubric with the Assessment as an end-of-book final. I kind of like how Salman Khan put it: "It's like teaching a kid to ride a bike and saying, 'okay, you got 80% of it; your left turns and balance are a little shaky, but the rest is okay, so now you're done with bicycles and here's a unicycle!'"

 

We aren't tying ourselves to a district school calendar; so that helps my peace of mind too-- I have milestones for the kids to hit, and I'll declare the "school year" over when all milestones have been reached (DS 10 will finish his current math book, pass the next Latin test with mastery, complete his current grammar book, complete a satisfactory written summary of our history unit (covers bases on history, writing, and some of the literature); we'll finish the Aeneid together (our prose version of it). DS7 will complete chapter 4 in his current math book, finish off his grammar book, successfully complete the next Latin test with mastery, and write OR narrate a summary of our history unit & also participate in reading the Aeneid together. (science goals for both and other subjects have already been met). When those things are all accomplished, I'll declare the school year closed and the next one open, set new goals for everyone, and we'll be off and running.

 

Therefore, I don't feel any particular anxiety about taking whatever time is needed to make sure they master what they need to master before moving on. If my kids show all A's on their transcripts, it's not because either they're geniuses or I'm an unrealistic grader; it's because we don't move on until they "get it."

 

Now, one day, we may dive into subjects and at a grade level where that may be unrealistic at some point-- at the high school level, perhaps not everyone is destined to be a crowning success at physics or American Literature or whatever. We'll adjust when we get there if we need to do so. But so far even my LD kid can meet the elementary school expectations, given enough time and patience-- works for us :).

 

Oh, and I will give some partial credit-- I like them to see what they did RIGHT on a problem, so they don't just focus on where they got off track! That seems to be the most productive way to get them centered on how to get the last 10% of the problem correct next time, instead of thinking that they got the whole thing wrong!

 

Jen