I was wondering the various ways teachers grade the kindergarten students. I grade them on things every day on a scale from 1-10. If a student misses work, they have 2 weeks to make it up or they will get a 6. Is this too harsh?
My district uses standards based grading, so students at all grade levels are graded on a 1-4 scale based on mastery of standards. What work are you giving kindergartners that is so crucially important on a daily basis it needs to be made up?
Same ^ Ours is even less - there's only 3 . I forgot the exact wording used but it pretty much says mastered, on their way, or not at all, and they use letters (not letter grades though - I think it's like M, P, N or something like that))
Yeah -- officially our scale goes to 4, but we've pretty much been told that students cannot be given a 4 unless we are giving them above-grade-level work. We use letter grades (A, B, C, and I) to correspond, but it's so complicated anymore. Basically they get an A+ as a 4 (so above grade level), A is consistent mastery, B is mastery, C is progressing, and I is not progressing.
We are standards based in kindergarten. Students are graded on mastery or non-mastery. They are assessed using district provided assessments each quarter one on one. Any pencil and paper work done is practice. If a student misses a worksheet it's no big deal. At most my students get 1 math and 1 reading pencil and paper assignment a day, and that is done with guidance.
In kindergarten, one-on-one assessment is the rule. All the "stuff" done in class is great for social development and report card comments on social development and behavior, but they certainly aren't the "graded" aspects of kinder. We always have specific ways to assess each student, and mark them as "mastery, progressing, needs more practice," or whatever wording is being used at the time. There is usually a "not observed, or not yet taught" options, that is used for students who were absent. Obviously, you can't assess what they haven't been taught (or know already.) This designation means you need to go back, teach, reteach or remediate, and re-evaluate. For example, we have a sheet with all the consonants on it, and children are to point to each letter (with teacher support) and make the correct sound that corresponds with that letter. If a letter has more than one sound (like the letter C) the student is expected to make both sounds, but if they make one and pause, the teacher can prompt by saying "what is the other sound a C makes?" The teacher has a copy and quickly marks a check by the sounds made correctly and leave blank the ones skipped or not made correctly. Quick, simple, easy-peasy. Another such assessing tool (I hate the word assessment or test for such little children) is a vowel sound sheet. It has the long vowels and the short vowels, and again, children are prompted to make the sounds, and the sheet is marked as the go along. Similar assessment tools are used from math -- have the child count starting with zero up to the number 20. Make a notes on how the student completes this task. Can she count to twenty with no mistakes? Does she pause and need prompting? Is she confusing number order. Quick, easy. Can he sing (or recite) the "Days of the Week" song, listing the days in order? Can she point to colors blocks and name them correctly? The teacher makes a quick check mark as the student correctly names the color blocks on a sheet. If the child does not have mastery at this time, the teacher can go back later in the year, and try again on the colors that were incorrectly identified. If time permits during the year, go back to these assessment tools for those who are not at mastery, and do another attempt to see if they are improved. Kindergarten isn't a "written test" or "assignment" environment. Quick assessment tools are how you determine a child's mastery level. They have to be done one-on-one, which is why it is imperative to have an aid, or parent volunteer to direct the others while the teacher is assessing. In the "old days" we didn't have this -- so we had to make sure our students had routines for centers and stations, and busy work, that could be done independently for a moment or two while each assessment tool was being administered. Each assessment tool had to be short because the other children this age cannot work independently for very long. It is much easier with an aid or a parent volunteer to help. These assessment tools are very short, quick, and to the point -- so they don't take much time to administer. And you have a written record so you can discuss the child's progress either on a standards based report card or in a conference with parents. It is so much easier to be able to concretely say to a parent "Your child knows 15 of her consonant sounds, but needs to work on the hard c and hard g sounds. Your child know all of her long vowel sounds, but is still struggling with short vowel sounds. When handed a paperback book, she can identify the front cover, the spine, the back cover, and turn pages in order without tearing them. She knows the difference between an author and an illustrator. She knows 8 out of ten colors, and can list the days of the week in order. When asked to count to 20, she makes it to 11 just fine, but then is confused as to what number comes next. When prompted with the number 12, she is able to continue and successfully count to 20." It lets parents know exactly what their child knows, and what their child needs to work on.
