Circe wrote in message
news:JAG7c.36877$Bg.32062@fed1read03...
I have been posting on and off since Julian (now in first grade) started
kindergarten about my concerns regarding what I
perceive to be an overly aggressive and academically pressured educational
atmosphere at our elementary school. This post would be even longer than
it's likely to be as it is if I went into all of the issues that have
arisen
in the past, but I think I need some advice/assistance/input/insight from
others to help me decide what to do about the current problems.

Julian's second trimester report card came home a week ago Friday. He is
doing fine academically in reading (all marks at or above grade level) and
in all areas of math except for the addition and subtraction facts, in
which
he got a "1" (below basic; last trimester, he got a "4" which is advanced,
so he has lost ground here). In addition, he is still getting poor marks
in
writing (all below grade level although I think I have seen a lot of
improvement). Finally, he got a "Needs Improvement" in completing homework
on time, making good use of class time, completing work on time, and
exercising self-control.

So, to address each of the problem areas one by one and why I'm concerned
about them or disagree with them:

Addition and subtraction facts

The California state standard calls for first graders to "know the
addition
facts (sums) to 20 and the corresponding subtraction facts and commit them
to memory". For this trimester, they were
tested on the facts up to 12. I don't have a problem with teaching this
(although I do think it's a LOT to expect a 6yo to memorize) but I do have
a
bit of an issue with the standard they're using for testing it. This
standard is that the child can write the answers to 20 problems in 90
seconds.

I've just tested dh on 20 questions +/- up to #12. He's very, very clever.
And very mathematical. He could have got most places with maths-just chose
chemistry for some reason! He took 30 seconds on these (+ got them all
right). Okay, I didn't tell him he was under time pressure, but I think that
says something about the time spent on them. Baring in mind writing, reading
etc. is easy for dh, I think 90 seconds for a 6 year old would be very good
going.
Debbie

Now, I can't find anything in the state standard that says this is the
only
acceptable way to measure proficiency (or even that it's the preferred
method), but to me, it seems like setting the kids up for failure. I mean,
giving them only 2.2 second per problem doesn't really seem reasonable to
me--seems like it would take at least half that time to read each problem
and absorb whether it's an addition or subtraction problem, let alone the
issue of actually pulling the answer from memory (I know all my addition
and subtraction to 20 and have them memorized, but it can take even me a
couple of seconds to get the answer sometimes) and write it down.
Apparently, a lot of the kids in his class are having problems this
trimester in this area (according to the mom of twins in his class--more
about her and them later), so it seems to me that it's not just Julian.