[Fieryfly]

For those who choose not to use letter grades and percentiles to document their child's school progress, what kind of alternative assessment/evaulation tools do you use?
How can children be involved in assessment and evaluation also?

I am in a position where I need to evaluate my 8yr old's school work on a monthly basis. I was asked, "What grade would you like to give him for math this month?" I asked how I was supposed to determine the "grade", and I was just given choices on how I could do it(letters A-F, numbers 1-4, Excellent-Poor, etc)

The problem is that we don't grade anything. When DS does worksheets and assignments, I'm always close by to help out with questions or tough parts, and sometimes if he didn't need any assistance, we go over the assignment together and I help him correct what he missed. Most of the time we're discussing and doing hands-on activities, which I do not have the faintest idea on how to "grade" that.

Any ideas and suggestions would be greatly appreciated! TIA!

 

[zealsmom]

Here's a link to "How to Get Started Using Academic Portoflio's in Your Homeschool."

http://homeacademy.com/html/article.html#port

 

[Dar]

Are you using a public or charter ISP, then?

Even a lot of public schools don't use grades like that for primary-age kids; it's not really meaningful, especially when they're still acquiring basic skills. One option is something like Introduced - Working On - Mastered. Another is to see if you can do a narrative report, where you would verbally detail what your child has been doing and what concepts he has been working with, without using any qualitative measures.

This is one of the problems with public ISPs and homeschooling - they're duelling philosophies, in a lot of ways.

Dar

 

[lilyka]

Wow, that is tough. I would be inclined to grade more on the attitude with which tasks are handled. As in not so great in math but tries very hard. "B". great in Grammer, does work with relish "A+". Refuses to do geography but does know a bit "C", sucks at spelling but knows how to use a dictionary and has stopped groaning when told to look it up "A"

Another option s to have your child set goals with you. At the end of the month go over those goals with your child and see if he thinks he is meeting them. Perhaps on a scale of 1-10 how close to meeting them are you. this easily translates to the letter grades we remember from our childhoods. when you have gone through everything have him go over the grades and see if he thinks they are fair and if there is any area he wants to reevaluate. Use that as a starting place for next months goals.

 

[barbara]

I like the concept of Dar's suggestion "Introduced - Working On - Mastered"

I was involved with a charter school for awhile so that my son could play highschool sports. They insisted on the traditional letter grading system for homeschoolers. I found that it was a meaningless task that I simply could not make relavent to the educational philosophy of our home. For the most part our children study, or work on a subject until they have mastered it to the best of their ability at the current time. I decided that this should be a grade of 100% or an A. If my child and I agreed that they weren't really giving their all, we would adjust the letter grade to reflect that. The grades were simply a way to let the school administration know how the child was doing throughout the year and to keep records. The whole grading system was frustrating because it really does not reflect the real learning that is going on in the life of the child, and therefore I was never able to make it meaningful to us in any way.

Good luck to you in figuring out how you will fit these "duelling philosophies" into your home and family.

 

[Fieryfly]

Thank you so much for your feedback everyone. I really appreciate it. Its nice to know that others have dealt with the same issue.

Yes, DS is in a charter school program. Its our 3rd year in the program, and we have a new facilitator this year. I never was asked before this year about assigning grades, so its all new to me.

I've been trying to encourage my DS to choose his work samples to hand in, that he feels are his best work. He is probably ready to move on to the next level of working on goals with me. I plan to talk to our facilitator about using "introduced-working on-mastered". I do have the opportunity to share notes on DS' monthly schoolwork in his portfolio, so I will have to take advantage of that, and also encourage DS to share his own opinions on his work.

Thanks!