No middle school report cards??!!

I received a newsletter in the mail yesterday from Toki Middle School, where my son is now a sixth-grader. The principal's letter says:

"With the introduction of standards-based middle school report cards, we decided to send first quarter progress reports only to students currently not meeting grade level standards in curricular areas."

So, assuming my child meets the standards, he just doesn't matter? He's not worth the time to figure out how to fill out the new report cards? The teachers are taking an extra half day today (early release: 11:30) to work more on dealing with these new report cards - and they've already taken at least one or two other days - but it's still too hard to give my child a report card?

What if I want to know how well my child is doing? What if I want to know if he's EXCEEDING the standards? Oh, wait.... I forgot. MMSD doesn't care if he exceeds them. They just want to know if he MEETS them. God forbid I learn how MUCH he's exceeding them by, or if he's just skating and is merely meeting the standards. Or if he excels in one subject but is simply OK in another. We went through this in elementary school, so I suppose it should be no surprise that it's happening in middle school.

I know there's a teacher conference coming up, but if they're not giving us report cards, then I'm thinking 15 minutes isn't enough time to really lay out my child's strengths and weaknesses in several different subjects. It's not enough time for the teacher to give me a thorough assessment of my child's progress. Oh, wait....I forgot. MMSD doesn't care about giving me a thorough assessment. Judging from our experience in elementary school, the teachers just want you in and out of there as quickly as possible. They don't want to answer my questions about how we can help him at home so he can do better in any subjects. ("Your son is a joy to have in class. He's doing well in all subjects. He talks a little too much, but we're working on that. Thanks for coming!")

They DID send home a note asking if I needed to meet with any of his Unified Arts teachers (in addition to just his homeroom teacher) - but I checked no, because I assumed we'd be getting report cards with information from all his teachers! Nice of MMSD to wait until AFTER those papers had been turned in to let us know we wouldn't be GETTING report cards. (Yes, I'll be emailing the principal to let her know I've changed my mind.)

Oh, and I CAN sign in to Infinite Campus to see what's going on with my child's record (which hopefully is updated more often that the Toki Web site, which we were told would be updated every three or four weeks, but hasn't been updated since before the beginning of school). But to do this, I have to **go into the school during school hours** with a photo ID. I can't just use social security numbers or anything else to access this online. Could they be more clear in the message that they'd rather you not use Infinite Campus?

Isn't it bad enough that MMSD doesn't do thorough third-quarter report cards, because they believe not enough time has elapsed between the second and third quarters to make any discernible improvement? If my child isn't making any improvement, if my child's work isn't worthy of a report card, then WHAT'S HE DOING IN SCHOOL?

We moved here four years ago, so looking forward to the "great" Madison schools. We couldn't have been more wrong. My bright children are lagging. My sixth-grade son who tested as gifted before we moved to Madison is no longer (witness his dropping test scores - oh, wait...they're still average or above, so MMSD doesn't care).

I've brought up my concerns repeatedly. I've offered constructive suggestions. I've offered to help, at school and at home. I did two years as a PTO president in the elementary school and struggled unsuccessfully to get improvements. I might as well have thrown myself in front of a semi truck for all the good it's done and for how beaten down I feel by this school system. The minute this housing market turns around, I'm investigating the nearby schooling options with an eye toward getting the heck out of here. I'm SO FED UP with MMSD and it's reverse-discrimination against children who are average and above.

Class-action lawsuit, anyone?

Posted by Diane Harrington at November 4, 2008 11:44 AM
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