Question about middle school grading???

[BucknellAlum]

My DS' middle school recognizes 2 levels of achievement each marking period. One is high honor roll, for straight As, and one is regular honor roll, which is any combination of As and Bs. (An A is 91.5 or above, by the way).

In addition, if a kid achieves high honors for every marking period in middle school (12 terms), he/she receives the a special award at 8th grade graduation.

So, my DS has made straight As until this marking period, when he got an 89 in one class. He is now so upset because he is no longer eligible for the award (in TWO years from now!). I hate to see him upset, but I realize that life is about learning to deal with disappointments like this. And also, I realize that now that he has gotten a B "out of the way" so to speak, maybe he will feel less (unconstructive) pressure, either from teachers or himself, to continue with his perfect record.

(I still struggle with perfectionism, so all along I have not made any mention of this special award, as I don't want him to think an occasional B is bad performance!)

However, a couple of things are bothering me. 1) Is it constructive to set so high a goal, of achieving a 91.5% or better in every subject for 3 years? Do other schools do this?

and 2) on the flip side, Why is the regular honor roll so much easier to achieve? Personally, I think a kid who gets all As and one high C is a better student than a kid who gets straight 84s, do you agree? Yet the kid who gets all As and 1 C will get no recognition.

Oh well, I suppose I am mainly venting, as it is hard to see him so upset. But I am curious as to what other middle schools recognize for grades.

We stayed in our current school district rather than move to one nearby that is recognized as one of the top in the state, since I had also heard that kids in that district are under such pressure to perform that there are incidents of kids getting ulcers in 9th grade , etc. While I do admire some things about these overachieving schools, i also did not want to put my son in that environment, so we stayed with our smaller, less pressured area.

[sneezles]

Having had a child who did just as your son (one 89 in all of middle school) and received no recognition at graduation I know how frustrating it can be but my son did realize that perfection is difficult to maintain and there's more to life than straight As. High school was tougher and sometimes he was successful and sometimes not (he actually flunked a semester of biology which was an honors level class). He just graduated college with a 3.6, not perfect but once you're done who really cares?

Whether or not the rules are realistic really isn't the point. The point is that sometimes life just sucks and then you move on! ;) That's my outlook anyway!

[Chefzhat]

Our middle schools does this as well, so here you go:

1. Yes it is realistic, and lots of our students achieve it.

2. "regular" honor roll is set at 3.45 so lots of kids can achieve academic honors (something we like to encourage :) ). Principal's Honor Roll is set at 3.90 - for the kids that are motivated by academic challenges and are superior students.

I hate that the elementary schools have removed the grades from report cards (using numbers instead), because when they hit middle school they are subject to letter grades AND the competition aspect of academic accomplishment. If they were getting letter grades in ES they'd already be "in the zone", so to speak.

Debie

[BucknellAlum]

2. "regular" honor roll is set at 3.45 so lots of kids can achieve academic honors (something we like to encourage :) ). Principal's Honor Roll is set at 3.90 - for the kids that are motivated by academic challenges and are superior students.

I hate that the elementary schools have removed the grades from report cards (using numbers instead), because when they hit middle school they are subject to letter grades AND the competition aspect of academic accomplishment. If they were getting letter grades in ES they'd already be "in the zone", so to speak.

Debie

I like your honor roll, as it appears to reward kids who get at least half As and half Bs and that is a goal more worthy of an award than straight Bs (or a 3.0) IMHO. And the principals honor roll is definitely a goal for high achievers, yet it does not demand perfection.

I have a real problem with the "all or nothing" approach there. My DS seemed to have a bit of a "why try hard now" attitude, since for the rest of his middle school years he can never receive the highest honors - there is no room for one bad test grade. I know he is still smarting from his report card and will feel different in a couple of weeks, but still . . .

Our elementary schools have not removed grades; they still give As and Bs etc for major subjects (although an A still has to be a 91.5 and a B an 82.5 etc). They give O and S for minor subjects. They also send a letter home from the principal to all students who earn As and Bs on the report card.

In middle school they print the actual number on the report card, not the letter grade.

[Kathy B]

My DS seemed to have a bit of a "why try hard now" attitude, since for the rest of his middle school years he can never receive the highest honors - there is no room for one bad test grade. I know he is still smarting from his report card and will feel different in a couple of weeks, but still . . .



But there may be other awards that he can achieve if he continues to try his best. Our school has an 8th grade breakfast at the end of each school year, and they give out all kinds of awards including "Outstanding Student" for most subjects, most improved, best attitude, etc.... Lots of kids get awards, and they aren't all straight A students by any means.

Also, working hard means he is LEARNING THE MATERIAL which will definitely matter when it comes time for ACT/SAT tests later. Colleges definitely look at those scores, and they are certainly not going to count a B or two against a student who scores well on those tests.

[MusicMom]

Our school district awards an A for scores of 93-97 (4.0 GPA pts. for high school classes) and A+ for 98-100 (4.3 pts.) No extra weight is given for honors courses, but hs students get .7 pts added for AP classes.

We have an all A honor roll and an A/B honor roll. Eighth graders who were on the all A honor roll for their entire time in middle school get a President's Award. In addition, all subject areas name an outstanding student and students are recognized if they took the SAT and scored higher than the hs senior average.

We just get letter grades on report cards, but they use the number average to figure out the top student in the 8th grade class, who also receives an award.

A couple of thoughts, based on my experience as a parent of a hs senior and a 7th grader. Report card grades are kind of arbitrary- some teachers give extra credit, others don't. No extra credit is given for honors classes, which supposedly have higher expectations.

GPA doesn't really count until high school. Colleges aren't going to look at your middle school grades. However, middle school classes are important for establishing good work habits and preparing for more challenging high school classes that will appear on the transcript.

Yes, it is disappointing for a perfectionist to receive what he might perceive as a bad grade. (I know- my DS strives for all A+ on his report card.) But the experience can also teach a child how to accept mistakes, recover from a set-back, and keep going. That's an important life skill.

I've also used moments like this to encourage my children to congratulate students who receive top awards, knowing how difficult it is to reach that level of achievement.

[BucknellAlum]

But there may be other awards that he can achieve if he continues to try his best. Our school has an 8th grade breakfast at the end of each school year, and they give out all kinds of awards including "Outstanding Student" for most subjects, most improved, best attitude, etc.... Lots of kids get awards, and they aren't all straight A students by any means.

Also, working hard means he is LEARNING THE MATERIAL which will definitely matter when it comes time for ACT/SAT tests later. Colleges definitely look at those scores, and they are certainly not going to count a B or two against a student who scores well on those tests.

Let me clarify that I am not really upset that he won;t get an award. In fact, I bend over backwards to avoid concentrating on things like grade numbers, etc, because I would rather encourage his hard work and effort than just a test result.

I have no concerns over college, etc with regard to my original post. I do realize that this is "small potatoes" in comparison to his whole academic career.

I suppose I just wanted to vent, because he was so upset yesterday and I felt so bad for him, but as a mom, even though I wanted to call the one teacher and bribe him to change that grade!!!! ( :D ) I know that the right thing to do is just listen to him and acknowledge that he hurts right now but will feel better later.


I am also still curious on people's opinions of the 2 honor roll qualifications.

[JoanneOR]

I'm not sure how our middle school does it (we'll be there next year) but our elementary school gives number and letter grades on the report cards for 3-5 grades. We have a high honor roll and a regular honor roll. I think the cutoff for high is 92 or 93 - I'm not sure. But, they do it by an average of all your grades. My son has gotten all As this year, except for this last quarter - he got a B in band. He still made high honors because it was averaged in with the other grades. I think the averaging is a good way to do it. My son sounds alot like yours. He would be so upset if one grade ruined his chance to get an award, so I totally understand how you are feeling. You just hate to see them upset.

[Kathy B]

Let me clarify that I am not really upset that he won;t get an award.


My post was actually a response to your son, because you stated that he now has a "why try hard now" attitude in regards to the rest of the year, since he can no longer achieve the highest award. I would point out (as I have with my own kids) the opportunities that still exist and a view of the "big picture". Doesn't fix what IS, but it can give them a new focus while dealing with a disppointment.

Granted, immediately after the fact when they are venting is not necessarily the best time to have such a discussion, but in a day or two when they are still rehashing things it might be appropriate.