Report Card Time!
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| Wed, 01-24-2007 - 7:38pm |
Overall, better than I had hoped. Still not quite sure how he pulled it off, unless the empty brackets in the grade book that I thought were missing assignments were actually credit/no credit assignments that he DID turn in.
5th Grade, NO IEP currently, and NO supports cuz he burnt out his aide....
Class -- 1st MP / 2nd MP / Semester
_______________________________________________________________
Social Studies -- 98 (A) / 71 (D+) / 83 (B-)
Reading -- 88 (B) / 100 (A) / 93 (A-)
Math -- 96 (A) / 94 (A) / 96 (A)
Science -- 78 (C) / 81 (B+) / 85 (B)
Lang Arts -- 98 (A) / 75 (C) / 84 (B)
Spelling -- 95 (A) / 86 (B) / 90 (B+)
Plus, (If anyone missed my other thread) the psych fromt he county ISD is ready to start evaluating him as soon as we can coordinate schedules for me to sign the releases.
Edited to add - I think his homeroom teacher (aka witch without a clue) is related to Mike's teacher. Her comments were "JOSH IS NOT VERY RESPONSIBLE FOR DOING ASSIGNMENTS DURING CLASSTIME, AND HE DOES NOT TAKE HOME BLUE SLIPS TO BE SIGNED AT HOME!" and "NEEDS TO HAND IN ASSIGNMENTS ON TIME!" (Ummm DUH)
Still in a funk. But slowly coming out of it.
Teri
Mommy to Josh (10.5 - AS), William (7 - NT) and Ryan (4 - flirting with the spectrum)
Edited 1/24/2007 7:47 pm ET by teri_b

Teri,
I'm glad that eval is upcoming, and that you are de-funking.
I think those teachers must be
visit my blog at www.onesickmother.com
DUH is the word of the day, isn't it?
Do you think that your funk is partially due to the cluelessness of school "professionals"?
He got his GameCube back and had the priviledge of calling Papa to report on his grades. GameCube was removed when we were doing the mad scramble to get grades up.
Yes, they are superior, but it kinda hurts when I see straight A's on spelling tests (100% for the most part) and a low B overall because he didn't do/turn in his assignments. Same for his other classes.
Still playing phone tag with the psych. But at least he's playing too and not waiting for me to call.
Yes definitely had time last year when Cait's grades where much higher than her actual ability and what I had seen of her work.
What happened was for instance, in math. All her tests during a couple marking periods were C,D's or F's (with most as D and F) but due to supports and modifications all her homework was turned in. They do weighted grades and sometimes tests were worth 40 points to perhaps a homeworks 10 or 20. Then there were always make-ups allowed for tests which she would do in her special ed class and pass. So her final grade would work out to be a B.
Another time she had gotten a 20/100 on a major science project. It brought her grade down to an F. Suddenly they worked like gangbusters to help her redo it and then provided all the supports she needed the second time through on the darn thing and gave her a new grade (90ish).
This wouldn't be a big deal but when I asked for more supports in Math and Science they just brought out her final grades or her grades after all the retakes and said "but academicaly she is doing ok in these classes". What ever.
It is a catch 22. Teachers don't want to fail kids. Honest it is usually out of the goodness of their hearts. However, they don't get that often passing kids in this way and not looking at the whole picture is not helping the child at all.
Last year I told them bluntly. I don't care if Cait gets an A or an F on that report card. What I want is to know that she has mastered the skills she is going to need to continue her education and function in life. The way her letter grades were given last year I just didn't get that sense.
Renee
Sigh, I'm so depressed, my sons teacher and principle told me they can't even grade him right now, as he's has shut down and not doing anything. The Doc found Dysgraphia last week, and he's having further testing for AS. I'm worried their going to hold him back, which I don't think will be very good for him. In fact I will insist it doesn't happen.
I hate the school system. Really I do.
See - that's where I'm torn.
I *know* that academically these are appropriate grades. The child is a sponge and absorbs info, so he passes tests easily. The one grade I'm upset with is his spelling - because I know he can spell VERY well, but he chose not to do the homework/classwork.
What will they (the school and ISD) say? He's passing academically, but he could be doing SO much better if he had someone keeping him on track organizationally. The other thing I don't get is that one of his A classes and several of the B's had blanks in the gradebook (we use Powerschool online here) - which were classes that I assumed he was going to bomb - but he passed and they STILL have blanks for grades. I don't WANT it to be a case of "pass him through" - but I don't want him to be held back unnecessarily either.
It is tough.
You need to keep records and make visuals. Copies of all that with the blanks as well as work samples of his work. I would ask the teachers what those blanks where and clarify if they are missed work. I would work out the grade myself if those blanks counted as zero's and perhaps make a excel graph of his grades over the years if you see a decline.
Then armed with that information and how much work he missed I would begin to highlight how perhaps he is maintaining ok grades now, but he is faltering and how will he do in middle school. If he doesn't have an IEP and those missing assignments will count as zero's he will fail.
Also, IEP's are not granted based on academic challenges alone but all aspects of education (behavioral, etc). Not turning in work, etc would fall under this if it is significant enough.
Finally, take the "but he chose not to do the homework/classwork." Thought and belief right out. It is not that he choses to be bad and get in trouble. Not with a kid with a disability. Kids who are typical may try this out once in a while but in a supportive family type situation it isn't chronic.
You need to ask yourself Why did he not do it? (or chose not to do it) what were the situations? etc. Is it a lack of organizational skills? Is it too much writing (dysgraphia)? Was it left to the end of his homework because that should be the easiest for him and by then he was burned?
My guess is the first 2, he has poor organization and without supports simply forgot and he has a hard time with writing so it was tougher than it appears.
I was listening to a podcast from Yale on dyslexia. In it they had quote from....Oh I can't remember his name. Famous author who is also severely dyslexic. He had said the WORST thing for him as a child was to be called lazy and he wasn't trying. "Couldn't they see how hard I was trying?".
Renee