Is giving grades wrong to elementary kids?

[jayb842]

My background is a 5th and 6th grade teacher. I gave grades and graded tough.

I had a conversation today with a homeschooling mom. I said that DS made a 86 on a math test this morning. Her reaction was you give grades? I do this for many reasons .My plan maybe to put him back in public school at some point. We may want to send him to private school in middle school or high school. I also have an ex-husband and his family that at some point may cause trouble over home schooling. I agreed with DH to cross my T and dot my I’s when I told this one. Does anyone else grade their elementary grade students?

Jenn

[nowimscrappin]

I don't. There are times that may tell them that this is the grade % if I were to calculate it. Typically, though, I would just review work that needed reviewing and have them correct what they missed, and leave it at that.

 

I have put my two older kids back in school and I didn't have to show any previous grades to enroll them, or choose which classes to put them in. Both of them have been enrolled in honors classes and I didn't need a report card of grades to do it.

[ktgrok]

I graded tests last year in 5th grade, but nothing else. And I didn't do a report card, or average them or anything. It was just for practice, and so we were all on the same page. i also have an ex husband, so I know what you mean. I figured having a few things in the portfolio that were graded was good, but I didn't need to go overboard. Daily work was never graded. It was just redone until it was right :)

[Mommyof4ks]

I don't grade my elementary kids, but I don't think it is wrong to grade kids this age. We work through problems that they have in math and spelling, so there is no need for a grade in our house. There is no gradable work in other subjects at our house. That said, I know plenty of people who grade work and hand it back for their kids to redo. Their kids see it as normal, no problem.

 

My philosophy is that if it works for you and your child, then everyone else should leave it alone.

[Pretty in Pink]

I don't write grades on their papers. I do mark wrong any questions that they missed and have them correct all missed problems. If we need to review a topic then we stop and review. I don't see a need for keeping grades at that age unless your state requires them (which I'm not sure that any state actually does). Are you familiar with the homeschooling regulations in your state? That might help set your mind at ease.

 

If you just like giving grades or it makes you feel better then by all means do so. It's not *wrong* to do so. You would still be able to enroll your child back in school if you decided to do so and you did not keep grades. You would probably submit a portfolio of you child's work, submit standardized test results, the child would take a placement test, or some combination of the above. You'd probably have to do that even if you did keep grades since the school isn't going to evaluate your curriculum and compare it to theirs.

[Lara in Colo]

I don't grade. I don't thing it's wrong, just not very useful.

Part of me thinks that 90% is just 10% not known, so to strive for an "a" is to strive to know 10% less. I look at the work, see that she knows the concept, look at the mistakes for error types (did she miss the adding part of the multiplication problem, the multiplication, or the formula part). Then we work on the part she missed. (adding drills, more formula work w/o numbers etc...). So I check work to find common errors and snuff them out, not to make a grade.

 

Lara

[regentrude]

It all depends on the student. My kids find grades motivating and request them, the LIKED getting grades when they were in elementary school.

 

Often, "not giving grades is just semantics": if a kid does math problems, they need to know what is correct and what has to be redone. So, whether you give letter grades, or percentages, or tell them that 8 of the ten problems are right and two need to be redone is basically all the same thing. So, I don't really get the "not grading" part: unless I don't CARE if they do the problems correctly, I am evaluating their work and giving feedback - the form is irrelevant.

[thescrappyhomeschooler]

I don't grade papers per se, but sometimes my older son likes to know what percentage he got correct on a math test or something like that. In your case, however, I don't think it's at all strange to grade your son's papers.

[Alte Veste Academy]

I don't grade. I don't thing it's wrong, just not very useful.

Part of me thinks that 90% is just 10% not known, so to strive for an "a" is to strive to know 10% less. I look at the work, see that she knows the concept, look at the mistakes for error types (did she miss the adding part of the multiplication problem, the multiplication, or the formula part). Then we work on the part she missed. (adding drills, more formula work w/o numbers etc...). So I check work to find common errors and snuff them out, not to make a grade.

 

Lara

 

This is pretty much my feeling. I think with a class of 30 kids, you have no choice to grade and move on. But moving on when a class has missed a certain percentage of problems is inevitably going to leave gaps of understanding for some students. Homeschooling gives me the ability to fill those gaps of understanding before moving on. The answer is wrong because the kid doesn't understand or because the kid wasn't paying attention. Either way, we fix it before we move on.

[angela in ohio]

I do it, but not for that reason. I make a mark on their papers from the time they are little, because then they never have a traumatic, "Now it is time to start grading you." experience.

 

The difference between marking what is wrong on the paper and marking what is wrong and totalling up the correct answers is pretty minimal. And if your dc have any contact with ps peers or experience in outside classes, they will quickly come to count up the grade themselves anyway. :D

[Ginevra]

My kids like to get grades; they equate it with "real" school. But, if they were doing poorly on something, I wouldn't give them a "D". That would be the cue to me that we need to understand this/work on it more.

[Ecclecticmum]

I don't, but my daughter is only at the end of Kindy. I may look into grading her in the future.

 

I don't believe grading is necessary, as since we're homeschooling, I'm working right along side her, so I realize what needs to be worked on, and what she's "ace-ing" (sp? lol). Grading doesn't give much detail to me, what I do though, is pre & post "tests" so I can see what areas she is weak on, I re-explain to her about the ones she got wrong, and add further revisions for those sections into our schedule.

 

In summary - I don't grade, but every now and again, I do test, just to help ME with an overall picture of where she's at.

 

Every homeschooling family is different and there are lots of hs families that grade.

[Joyofsixreboot]

I do. It just seemed To expect it. I usually only grade objective things like a math test vs an essay for example.

[Jean in Newcastle]

I teach to mastery in elementary. Grades would be silly in that context.

[Ria]

I think giving grades is imperative in objective, not subjective, subjects for elementary kids. Math? Absolutely - I'd give tests, and the answer was either right or wrong. They got grades. Science and grammar, same thing. The only things I did not grade in the elementary years were writing assignments. With those I'd keep giving them back for corrections until the child met my expectations.

 

Tests exist. Grades exist. I don't care how long you homeschool, if your kids go to another school (public, private, college) at any point, they will deal with tests and grades. Get them comfy with tests and grades as early as possible.

 

I had the major misfortune to deal with a mom of a 9th grader when I was teaching for a homeschool co-op. Said child had never had a test in his life, was never given a deadline, never given a grade. Suffice it to say that I got some pretty nasty phone calls from the mom when her son started getting F's every week. And no, I didn't back down.

[Farrar]

I don't grade. I don't thing it's wrong, just not very useful.

 

I teach to mastery in elementary. Grades would be silly in that context.

 

:iagree:

 

I take the idea of assessment very seriously, but that's why we do portfolios and make goals.

 

I don't think much of grades in general. They're more for the teacher's benefit than the students', by which I mean that in a large class, where the teacher can't really give a proper evaluation or feedback, they help the teacher at least give some metric. However, it's such a limited metric that I don't think we'll ever use it in our homeschooling.

[swellmomma]

I have always graded the kids papers. For my olders they were in ps in the beginning so they were used to it already, for the youngers they expect it because I grade the older kids. even DD3 asks me to mark her papers (I just put a smiley face on them). Tests they score 100% on go on the fridge, or stories/reports that they have worked particularily hard on. We use the freezer door for our " 'fridgerator papers"

 

If they get something wrong we do corrections right away, so in that regard all their work ends up eventually being 100% but I still grade initially. SOmethings I record a percent, somethings I simply add a comment or smiley face to it. I do not use letter grades because I don't think they are useful at the elementary level. My big kids love to have their stuff graded and compete against each other to get the better grade (they are doing the same curriculum for the most part).

[Alte Veste Academy]

Tests exist. Grades exist. I don't care how long you homeschool, if your kids go to another school (public, private, college) at any point, they will deal with tests and grades. Get them comfy with tests and grades as early as possible.

 

I had the major misfortune to deal with a mom of a 9th grader when I was teaching for a homeschool co-op. Said child had never had a test in his life, was never given a deadline, never given a grade. Suffice it to say that I got some pretty nasty phone calls from the mom when her son started getting F's every week. And no, I didn't back down.

 

Well, I do agree that kids should be prepared for grading before they go into a graded situation. I have recently started giving my kids tests, so they know what they are. They actually love them. Novelty, I guess. :lol:

 

When they complete an assignment or take a test, they know how many they get wrong and, due to their fascination with PS, I have occasionally converted them to a number or letter grade so they know what grade a PS teacher would give them. But the grade is not the end, which is the important point to me. I don't particularly see the need to routinely assign grades but it seems to me that this is one of those points where reasonable people can come to completely different conclusions and it's just not a big deal. I imagine a basic familiarity with grades would suffice, but for the most sensitive child (or mother, as in your example :D). The bottom line is that the child should be routinely made aware of his/her performance, regardless of whether or not a grade is received.

[Elizabeth in WA]

I mark everything, but I don't give grades. I do have them correct any errors and provide immediate remediation of any consistent errors. I keep track of how many errors they are making and the nature of those errors for teaching and planning purposes. We used standardized tests in high school which I heavily weight on the grades I put on transcripts, but I don't actually think those grades are meaningful, just necessary to satisfy NCAA and colleges.

 

I don't see any point in giving grades because grades are only meaningful in the context of the material being graded and there is no way to communicate that context on their high school transcripts really even with detailed materials lists and course descriptions (let alone in elementary school) unless you are using a pretty "in-the-box" program (or at least tests) with clear and consistent grading guidelines and with which the person viewing the grades would be (or could easily become) familiar.

[My3Monkeys]

Is there anything wrong with it? No. Do I grade? Also no. :001_smile:

 

I mark any mistakes and the kids correct them right away. They know if there were several mistakes or if everything was correct, so I don't feel like they need a value assigned in addition to that. I don't need a grade for my sake since I know how they are performing.

 

Now, occasionally, if one of the dc is being lazy or sloppy with work, I will make a comment to the effect of "if you would turn this in in public school, it would get a failing grade." Also, if dh corrects their papers and they are all correct, he will mark 100% on the page. Nothing is recorded and neither happens frequently though.

[goldberry]

I think giving grades is imperative in objective, not subjective, subjects for elementary kids. Math? Absolutely - I'd give tests, and the answer was either right or wrong. They got grades. Science and grammar, same thing. The only things I did not grade in the elementary years were writing assignments. With those I'd keep giving them back for corrections until the child met my expectations.

 

Tests exist. Grades exist. I don't care how long you homeschool, if your kids go to another school (public, private, college) at any point, they will deal with tests and grades. Get them comfy with tests and grades as early as possible.

 

I had the major misfortune to deal with a mom of a 9th grader when I was teaching for a homeschool co-op. Said child had never had a test in his life, was never given a deadline, never given a grade. Suffice it to say that I got some pretty nasty phone calls from the mom when her son started getting F's every week. And no, I didn't back down.

:iagree: I grade math, science quizzes, etc, but not writing assignments. It works for my kid. With math, she was making a ton of careless mistakes because I always gave her a second chance to go back and fix it. When I started giving her a grade (even though she still had to go back and correct) lo and behold, her careless mistakes became less.

[LibraryLover]

We had to give the high schooler grades for transcripts & tests so we could do the transcripts, but otherwise, no. She also took SAT, AP, and college placement tests with no issues.

Edited September 2, 2011 by LibraryLover

[Soror]

We just officially at the first grade and haven't felt the need to as of yet, as Jean said I'm teaching to Mastery. If he gets something wrong- it is marked and he does it again. We don't do a lot of sheets though, a lot of oral and such and we go it until he gets it. I guess we will when we see the point but with what we use now it doesn't apply too much.

[Ellie]

Of course not.

[Jean in Newcastle]

Also - I've taught at many ps elementary schools that do not give grades. Grades are more meaningful in high school and by extension perhaps middle school for getting ready for high school.

[lucyfan70]

I do give grades because I have to turn them in. Although we do not live by them.

[catz]

I don't. If my child got an 86 on a test, I'd go back over the problems he got wrong on the test to make sure he really understood the concepts. I can see how it might make sense for some circumstances and I do keep a binder with work samples, book lists, spread sheets for every week and things like ticket stubs or show programs for field trip. It almost ends up being like a scrap book, but we could definitely take it to a school if we need to re-enter the school system.

[Garga]

I give grades on some things. I don't give a grade on writing, because that's more subjective, but I will give grades on math sheets or a grammar test.

 

Reasons: for me to get a good feel for where he is. Sometimes I see wrong answers and think, "Oh no! He's just not getting this! We're failing!" But when I tally up the actual grade, it might be just a low B. Not too bad, just needs a little review. Or sometimes, when I'm in a Pollyanna mood, I think, "He's ok. We don't need to review." But then tally up the grade and realize he had a low C or a high D...then I know we need to study the topic longer.

 

DS has a love/hate relationship with grades. He wants to know where he stands, but really hates to have a low grade. Sometimes he gets a low grade because he's being sloppy, other times he really doesn't understand the work. If he is being sloppy, he's pretty good at admitting it. But when he gets a bad grade because he doesn't understand, he gets all upset and I have to talk him down.

[ktgrok]

The more I'm thinking about this the more I realize I wouldn't even know how to grade most of his stuff. We use WWE and FLL and we read and discuss things...how would I grade those things anyway? Math tests get graded, but really that is it.

[Crimson Wife]

I teach to mastery in elementary. Grades would be silly in that context.

 

:iagree::iagree::iagree:

If it's not "A" work, it gets fixed until it is.

[happypamama]

I don't give grades. If they get something wrong, I help them figure out why, and we work at it until they master it. If my child got 86 percent on a test, I'd assume he/she didn't know the material sufficiently enough, and we'd work more on it. I'd much rather them know fewer topics well than many topics superficially, especially in math.

[chepyl]

I give grades. I always got grades, starting in elementary school. DS likes grades, they motivate him. For math, if he misses a problem, I give him clues. If he gets it after one or two clues, I give him half the points. If we have to walk through the whole problem together, he gets no points. If he gets 90% correct in the first lesson, I expect the last lesson on the topic to be 100%. We work to mastery, but I can still grade the initial work on any assignment.

 

There are lots of freebies kids can get around here with A grades on a report card. I want him to have those fun opportunities.

[Jean in Newcastle]

I don't really care if someone gives grades or not. I don't think that it hurts a child to get grades. But I don't think that it means that an education is less rigorous if a child is not given grades. Grades give a child an idea of how they are doing in a subject. You can do that with or without grades. Grades can give someone else an idea how a child understands a subject - that is, unless the grades are inflated or the subject itself was watered down. A child can learn how to test without being graded. A child can learn how to have deadlines without being graded. A child can pick up on the concepts of grades fairly quickly. Whether they have the habit of attention to detail, of good study skills etc. is not dependent on whether they've been given grades.

[MamaJo]

I don't but I don't think it is wrong to do so. It just never seem neccesary as I have my kids re-do things until they are right.

[Crimson Wife]

There are lots of freebies kids can get around here with A grades on a report card. I want him to have those fun opportunities.

 

What do these places do with B&M private schools that don't give grades? Many of them don't in elementary.

[Farrar]

I don't really care if someone gives grades or not. I don't think that it hurts a child to get grades. But I don't think that it means that an education is less rigorous if a child is not given grades. Grades give a child an idea of how they are doing in a subject. You can do that with or without grades. Grades can give someone else an idea how a child understands a subject - that is, unless the grades are inflated or the subject itself was watered down. A child can learn how to test without being graded. A child can learn how to have deadlines without being graded. A child can pick up on the concepts of grades fairly quickly. Whether they have the habit of attention to detail, of good study skills etc. is not dependent on whether they've been given grades.

 

Well said, Jean.

 

It bothers me when people think that not giving grades must mean that a person isn't properly giving assessment, feedback, or deadlines or is generally making learning too unstructured. I would hope I do all those things better than a number or a letter can, especially at the 2nd grade level!

[chepyl]

What do these places do with B&M private schools that don't give grades? Many of them don't in elementary.

 

I have no idea what a B&M private school is. I don't know any schools in our area that don't give grades. Some of the programs when I was younger were national (blockbuster free rental, free ice cream at McDonald's, etc). There are some local programs for us as well.

 

You have to take a report card. I don't know if they have exceptions or other documentation you can take in.

[kalanamak]

I would be just guessing to give my child grades. Might as well draw letters from a hat.

 

When I was growing up, we didn't get grades until we hit 7th grade. Before that it was a check or an needs improvement mark for each topic for each 9 week section, with a "final" mark at the end of the year. Your mummy or daddy met with the teacher 2-4 times per year and discussed heavens knows what.

 

Even if I thought I had a clue, I wouldn't do it until 8th grade, a year to "run up" to high school,

[Crimson Wife]

I have no idea what a B&M private school is.

 

Sorry, I should have spelled out that B&M refers to "brick-and-mortar" e.g. a classroom-based private school.

 

I attended a private elementary school up through 3rd grade that used portfolios instead of traditional grades. When my family moved and I entered PS, that had a Satisfactory/Needs Improvement grading scale.

[chepyl]

Sorry, I should have spelled out that B&M refers to "brick-and-mortar" e.g. a classroom-based private school.

 

I attended a private elementary school up through 3rd grade that used portfolios instead of traditional grades. When my family moved and I entered PS, that had a Satisfactory/Needs Improvement grading scale.

 

Okay, I thought it was some special kind of school:001_smile:

. If they had an evaluation of any kind, that might work. All of the schools I have had experience with gave grades.

[MamaBearMO]

It all depends on the student. My kids find grades motivating and request them, the LIKED getting grades when they were in elementary school.

 

Often, "not giving grades is just semantics": if a kid does math problems, they need to know what is correct and what has to be redone. So, whether you give letter grades, or percentages, or tell them that 8 of the ten problems are right and two need to be redone is basically all the same thing. So, I don't really get the "not grading" part: unless I don't CARE if they do the problems correctly, I am evaluating their work and giving feedback - the form is irrelevant.

 

My son asks too, so I give him a grade (by percent) on his work as he finishes each day. He loves it!

 

I also mark what he got wrong and have him correct mistakes so he knows what he got wrong; often the next day I'll include the mistake in the day's work to be sure he understands, and if not, then we review more before moving along.

[mytwomonkeys]

i currently don't grade. there are only 2 children to keep up with & i know exactly what is going on...their strengths and weaknesses, what we need to work on, etc. they know it too.

 

for me, that is the whole point of grades to begin with, it communicates to the student and parent where the child is at academically. we'll use grades later on when necessary and required for transcripts, admission, etc.

 

in the meantime, i use letters to record keep, such as: NI, S, E (2x year on progress reports)

[Nestof3]

I don't think it's wrong, I just think it's a waste of time. I mark errors every day on my children's work, and they do their corrections in the evening with me sitting next to them. I explain anything orally I think they need to know, and they have a chance to tell me if there's something they just don't understand.

 

They have to attempt a correction on without my help, but if they stumble through it, I interpret that as not being fluent in that sort of problem.

 

Capitalization and punctuation are always corrected. Every math problem is corrected, even if the child simply left off the unit.

 

After all this, I see no purpose in giving an actual grade. The student knows based on how many corrections he has how well he did. He also knows after completing the corrections how many of the mistakes were careless or a lack of understanding. Equally important is that I know these things too. I grade in high school, but that's because I have an official transcript to complete.

 

I never understood the reasoning behind grading something and handing it back to be thrown away. I've always found the purpose in checking work is for the student to grow from his mistakes not just be able to rank himself.

 

Now, clearly, there are reasons for ranking when in high school -- scholarships, college entrance, etc. I don't see the need in younger years.

 

Finally, I am not opposed to grading, as I can see it could serve some purposes within school systems, but frankly, I see no purpose in my homeschool. If I were to reenter my child into the public school system (which I will not), I have standardized test scores and samples of work for viewing if necessary.

 

PS -- if I had a child who insisted on getting a grade, I would have him grade his own paper. It's a great lesson in math -- changing fractions to percents. :)

[littlebug42]

I don't think it's wrong, I just think it's a waste of time. I mark errors every day on my children's work, and they do their corrections in the evening with me sitting next to them. I explain anything orally I think they need to know, and they have a chance to tell me if there's something they just don't understand.

 

They have to attempt a correction on without my help, but if they stumble through it, I interpret that as not being fluent in that sort of problem.

 

Capitalization and punctuation are always corrected. Every math problem is corrected, even if the child simply left off the unit.

 

After all this, I see no purpose in giving an actual grade. The student knows based on how many corrections he has how well he did. He also knows after completing the corrections how many of the mistakes were careless or a lack of understanding. Equally important is that I know these things too. I grade in high school, but that's because I have an official transcript to complete.

 

I never understood the reasoning behind grading something and handing it back to be thrown away. I've always found the purpose in checking work is for the student to grow from his mistakes not just be able to rank himself.

 

Now, clearly, there are reasons for ranking when in high school -- scholarships, college entrance, etc. I don't see the need in younger years.

 

Finally, I am not opposed to grading, as I can see it could serve some purposes within school systems, but frankly, I see no purpose in my homeschool. If I were to reenter my child into the public school system (which I will not), I have standardized test scores and samples of work for viewing if necessary.

 

PS -- if I had a child who insisted on getting a grade, I would have him grade his own paper. It's a great lesson in math -- changing fractions to percents. :)

 

:iagree:

[Princess Peach]

I do give grades. It is very systematic for my 7th grader. I calculate percentages for daily work, papers, quizzes, and tests.

 

For my younger ones (4th and 3rd grades), they do have daily work and tests in some subjects (math, for example). Those get calculated. There are other subjects that are more subjective (like handwriting) and others that we do mostly together (history, science). Those I give checkmarks, check-plusses, or S's/S+'s. That's how I remember my elementary report cards in the lower grades.

 

Why do I give grades? It keeps me accountable and on top of everything. It also gives them some feedback and they like getting grades. It works for us!