Correcting/Grading

My son does reversals of numbers too but his teacher marks them as correct but do write it the correct way and just tells him to be careful.

I think this is more effective especially when they are only in 1st grade and most kids (with or without LDs) do make reversals at that age.

I teach in a special class, but I do the opposite. I simply circle incorrect answers so that the child can go back and make corrections. I think the child learns nothing when the teacher writes in the answers! Then, if for some reason I want to tally the correct or incorrect answers, I write + 15/20 (for example, 15 correct out of 20 problems) at the top of the page…always emphasizing the number right.

If this child has an IEP, you’d better believe I’d get an accomodation on this type of grading. A reversal of a number should not be marked as an error in any case.

Janis

Hi, Debra—

I’m a parent but I’d like to answer your question anyway, if I may.

In general, in our elementary school the number correct is written on the top, as Janis mentioned she does. And, again as Janis said, incorrect answers are circled so the student can see which ones are wrong, although, oddly enough now that I think about it, the students don’t correct them.

My fourth grader continues to write numbers backwards. The teacher gives him credit for it, no comment or correction necessary. The teachers started sharing an aide who corrects fill-in-the-blank and math homework and tests. She was marking them as wrong but once I called the regular teacher and asked if that was really fair (after all, David had the correct idea!) the teacher (bless his little heart) appoligized, regraded past homework, and started correcting David’s work himself again.

I do think I need to get it written into his IEP though.

Barb

Thank you very much Linda, Janis and bgb, for your replies! My girl does have an IEP and I will be going to a meeting next week to set up things for next year so I will defintely talk about this issue. I think this current “grading” system is making her totally “shut down”. After all, why try if you are just going to get red marks all over your paper and a big -7 circled on the top of your paper! Her self image is going down then tubes as it is…

Thanks for some good ideas to bring up at her next IEP.

Is the teacher aware of your daughter’s learning difference? Perhaps in the future if your daughter has an IEP this would be written into it as I agree with you. I think it’s harsh to mark wrong a mathematically correct answer. I also think it’s unproductive. What’s the point?

Thanks for your reply, Sara. Yes, the teacher was aware of my daughter’s problems as my daughter had (has) an IEP and attended sp.ed. in the mornings. I just think it was not a really good teacher/student match. I hope next year things will go better with more communication between the two teachers (sp. ed. teacher and reg. ed. teacher).

I would make sure that as a parent i call and set up an IEP meeting to discuss with everyone my concerns, assuming that she has an IEP since you said she was LD. By doing so, you can incorporate the opinion of several proffesionals and also let her teacher and other proffesionals know how you feel she should be graded in this area. Any time this type of situation arises you should feel comfortable with your power as a parent to request these meetings. This gives you power to control the management of your daughter’s learning differences and it also raises the teacher’s awareness of how she may handle similar students in the future.

I was always given marks as number correct out of total as a student, and I always used this method as a teacher.
However, I was very strongly advised, to the extent of several paternalistic directives from department heads, that negative grading is supposed to be a much more “efficient” system. Efficient in the sense that you can get through a much larger heap of papers much faster and so can assign much more busywork and turn it around to the students for instant feedback.
I dislike negative grading intensely; it is mathematically dubious at best and philosophically unpleasant. Mathematically dubious because there is generally no clear explanation of what each question is valued at, so does a -2 mean you got 8 out of 10 or 1 out of 3 — very different levels! Philosophically unpleasant — the essential message is that the teacher is taking away marks from you as a punishment; also that (as some people have said and written directly) the student starts out as perfect with 100% and the teacher takes him down; rather than earning marks as a sign of learning, the student is in the position of avoiding losing marks, a very bad message. Students are discouraged from any length or creativity because these mean more opportunities to lose rather than to gain.
However, it is in the culture of the education schools and the textbooks and the magazines that this is a good management method, so you’re going to have a fight on your hands going against it. Good luck.