Why do my child's school grades make no sense?
Schools are using systems like "Satisfactory or Not Satisfactory" or assigning multiple 1-4 scores for a single test that communicate nothing about actual progress. This leaves parents and teachers unable to tell if a student is on pace or needs to work on specific areas. As a result, students remain completely unaware of how the grading system works, and parents find out weeks later when their child is failing.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
Found another way around this?
Share your steps and trade-offs so fellow engineers don't have to reinvent the wheel. No account required.
- 1Explaining the grading scale sequentially like the alphabetDid this help you?
- 2Emailing teachers directly to ask what specific skills the child needs to work on at home.Did this help you?
- 3Bringing back traditional 0-100 number grades or A-F scales with clear rubrics.Did this help you?
In their words
Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.
“I'm just trying to figure out someone is completely unaware of the grading system in the school you've been in for 3 years. I was stunned.”source ↗
“Their school (that I work at) does not do grades. Only S or NS. I hate it because it doesn’t give any information on how they’re doing.”source ↗
“I also found out weeks later that my younger one is barely passing any of her iready lessons. ... I wouldn’t make my kid feel bad, but it would have been nice to know earlier.”source ↗
“My high schooler took a chemistry test that I helped him study for and when I asked what he got he said he got a 4, 2-3’s, a 2, a 1 and a 0. Six grades for a single test that communicates nothing.”source ↗
“What I'm most interested in is just having their teachers say "on pace" overall for each content, or "needs to work on..." if that kind of comment is applicable. I don't need a 1-4 grade for every standard.”source ↗
Where this came up
People with this problem also raised
- 6How to tell demanding parents about bad test grades
- 8Why won't students do the reading assignments?
- 2Why do homework questions have no explanation or poor wording?
- 4Why am I being forced to give minimum grades for missing work?
- 4Teaching grade level standards when students are extremely behind
- 9Why do high schools pass and graduate students who don't do any work?