if your state doesn't require it....

[ProudGrandma]

do you keep records of all of the individual grades you used to obtain the end of the year grade for all of your subjects?  Mine are a mes and I am trying to decide if I need/want to rewrite them so they can be more easily read later on ....or if that is a total waste of  my time.

 

thanks.

[emzhengjiu]

I only keep track of major tests and projects, but our state doesn't require any reporting.  My daughters will be dual credit this year - makes keeping up with grades a lot easier.

[foxbridgeacademy]

I say waste of time. My state only requires attendance and the University only requires transcripts.

[almondbutterandjelly]

Yes, but it's really because I love to own teacher grade books.  I'm using a Peanuts themed one this year.  It makes me happy.

 

(By the way, I only grade tests and major papers, generally speaking.  For random things like PE, I just give A's on the report card.)  And yes, I give out report cards every quarter.  Card-stock pre-printed ones that I fill in because I love them and remember them from my elementary school days when a report card was a "card" and not a slip of paper. 

 

I also give out end of year award ribbons and certificates.  Because they're awesome.

[regentrude]

My end of year grades are based on very few major tests, large writing assignments, or in math, a single final. I keep those assignments anyway for our records.

 

If your grade keeping is messy, you might want to rethink whether you really need to give such a large number of graded assigments in the first place, or whether you can assess you student's mastery through a few, well chose, graded assignments instead. The initial waste of time may well be the grading of dozens of little things, if it's a problem to keep them organized.

Edited July 26, 2017 by regentrude

[EKS]

Yes--I had an Excel document where I input the grades and a binder of all homeschool documentation that hardcopies of the grade sheets went in at the end of the year.

 

I not only used those grade sheets when preparing the transcript, but also when preparing the course descriptions.  Part of what was listed on them was the resources used for each course, which I included in the descriptions.

 

I also ended up regrading a few courses to make things consistent across the four years, and having the grade sheets made that easier.

[ProudGrandma]

interesting...maybe I am taking/keeping too many grades.  

 

if one of your kids doesn't do as well as you would like (not 100% or close to mastery) do you reteach, and retest and then take the higher grade?  I struggle with doing it differently than what they might experience in college...one chance per test and major assignment...so then I use daily work as a way to boost that grade a bit.  Maybe I am looking at this whole grading thing wrongly...

 

but I have a junior and sophomore this year...can I change the way I look at things this late in the game??

 

 

[almondbutterandjelly]

 

if one of your kids doesn't do as well as you would like (not 100% or close to mastery) do you reteach, and retest and then take the higher grade? 

Yes.

[regentrude]

interesting...maybe I am taking/keeping too many grades.  

 

if one of your kids doesn't do as well as you would like (not 100% or close to mastery) do you reteach, and retest and then take the higher grade?  I struggle with doing it differently than what they might experience in college...one chance per test and major assignment...so then I use daily work as a way to boost that grade a bit.  Maybe I am looking at this whole grading thing wrongly...

 

but I have a junior and sophomore this year...can I change the way I look at things this late in the game??

 

You can always change the way you do things. It all depends on your goals.

 

I see no benefit in my kid not mastering the material, getting a low test grade, getting the grade boosted by homework completion or "attendance", and then moving on to the next level with gaps in understanding. If my kids are not ready for the math test, as evidenced by a pretest, they will study until they are. I homeschool to mastery. If a writing assignment is not done according to my standards, they will edit and revise until I am satisfied.

 

Btw, at least lower level college courses are often teeming with a ridiculous number of grades for homeworks, and quizzes, and going to the writing center, and doing this exercise online.... a ton of busywork to make students put in time on task, which requires mostly executive functioning ability to keep straight. I would much prefer if college were really just major assignments and tests :) 

[catz]

I keep a binder for my kids with work samples, programs and flyers for shows and programs they've done, descriptions of classes they take, copies of standardized test scores, our calendar for the year, etc.   It's not required in my state but if I were hit by a bus tomorrow it might be useful for placement and it makes a nice souvenir and is not a terrible amount of work to put together as we go along. 

[MerryAtHope]

Yes, I kept a grade sheet for each subject (sometimes it was a photo-copy of the TOC of a book, sometimes something I made up, sometimes something a curric. provider included). I wrote down the grades for all papers, tests, lab reports etc... I did not write down grades for discussions but did include a discussion grade in the final average. But that's because I wouldn't have accepted less than A work in discussion (they have to have read the material and be ready to dig in and talk about it.)

 

On the course descriptions I wrote up for each course, I listed the grading basis and any grades I kept. It was a pretty simple process though. I guess I don't see how one can accurately determine a grade at the end of the year if you haven't kept grades of papers/tests. Several times I had the experience that what I "felt" the year was at a given moment in time and what the actual grades were when I went back to look were different.

 

My state does not require any reporting. 

 

I do teach to mastery, and if my kids miss something, I had them go back and study again. If they got less than an 80% on a test, I did require them to re-take it, or to do an alternate assignment. (Sometimes tests don't really show what a student knows or they aren't an effective method for the student. The semester my dd did Government comes to mind. I had her write out answers to questions instead of doing a multiple choice test because it showed more of what she was learning and also better helped her to process the information.) If they got higher than 80%, I had them find the answers or rework problems, but the original grade stood. Sometimes, again, depending on what it was, I had my kids answer orally if I felt they really knew more about something than what showed up on the test--and that sometimes allowed them to earn more credit/points. 

 

In high school, I don't so much worry about how college will do things with regard to grading. Rather, I concern myself with learning how to study and learning how to take tests, learning how to write, how to synthesize information, and so on. All of the foundational skills they need to be successful. Work towards building up those skills. 

[Loesje22000]

I collect every single test / grade in a binder.

I don't have to make a transcript though.

 

In our context it makes sense to require that all tests should be above 70% or retaken.

So some tests are done threetimes :/

Sometimes, when one part of the test is perfect and the other part badly done, she only has to remake the weaker part.

(Some tests are huge)

[Rebel Yell]

interesting...maybe I am taking/keeping too many grades.  

 

if one of your kids doesn't do as well as you would like (not 100% or close to mastery) do you reteach, and retest and then take the higher grade?  I struggle with doing it differently than what they might experience in college...one chance per test and major assignment...so then I use daily work as a way to boost that grade a bit.  Maybe I am looking at this whole grading thing wrongly...

 

but I have a junior and sophomore this year...can I change the way I look at things this late in the game??

I generally don't grade every bit of work, just tests and major writing assignments.

 

We've always done things differently than how they might experience things I college, for several reasons:

They might not go to college

Every college, or class in the same college, does things a little differently (some count attendance, some don't care, for example)

High school isn't college. <--- That is my biggest reason. To prepare them for college means, to me, to learn the necessary material in high school. If "college style" of "Take the test, get the grade you get, move on" is all i do but they haven't mastered the material, what have they gained? Let them take the time to learn what they need to learn as long as possible. Of course have discussions about how in many college classes they won't have so many extra chances or time or support, but let high school be high school, and let homeschool be what your student needs.