Should I question my child’s teacher?

[Survivingontea]

Hi,
My child is in year 1 and is a bright kid. He likes his teacher although she is not very friendly and avoids running into parents or conversations.I am sure she has a lot going on.I try not to take much of her time unless it has something to do with my kid’s school work. She has been posting brilliant stuff on the app seesaw that my child has been doing in class, but the assessment results do not add up.I have had a meeting with her regarding this and she showed me his work which was well above standard.She also told me that he will be moved up to the top most spelling group.Term 2 is coming to an end and she hasn’t moved him yet ! My son is very good with clocks and could tell time to the minute while he was still finishing Reception.So, he was excited for his asssesment recently.To my surprise he got a satisfactory grade. Yes, like every other parent I think highly of my child but I honestly feel this was unfair. I checked the criteria based on which they were marked, and I 100% believe that my son falls in the WELL ABOVE STANDARD mark. My son felt deflated and disappointed. I don’t know what to say to him.He is always very enthusiastic and thriving. I don’t want him to lose his spark. It could be tricky but should I politely ask the teacher ? I am afraid she might get low key offended. I don’t want her to have any angry feelings towards my child. It makes me feel frustrated and angry inside.

I think if the child feels deflated because he got a satisfactory grade says a lot, especially in ks1.
You should be encouraging and praising his effort. He should be happy for what he has achieved.

No year 1 should even be aware of how they are assessed except in broad terms. Disappointment is something you are projecting. Education is a marathon not a sprint, other children may grasp certain concepts sooner than others but then they catch up. Knowing is not the same as understanding, ie a child can read ahead of age but may not comprehend at same level. Is this an independent school by any chance?

Well it’s year 1 and your priorities sound all wrong. At his age it’s all about his general happiness in the school situation which allows him to gain confidence, make friends and gain the learning skills appropriate to his age. To this end I would recommend you express delight in all his achievements and in no way undermine his confidence which is what you appear to do at the moment. Enjoy books together and make sure you don’t make it a testing opportunity. Play games, make learning fun, bake together and leave that poor teacher alone - no wonder she doesn’t appear friendly. Unwind and just enjoy your ds’s childhood. You think you are helping him but you are doing the opposite.

Firstly at that age they shouldn't really be aware they're being assessed-even for SATS in year 2 my dc were told they were playing at "Victorian Schools" and doing some work to show to the new junior school.

Secondly, I would expect their maths to be mostly if not all correct. They'll tailor what they give to the level, so it may be that your dc hasn't got the highest sheet.
I remember helping in year 1 and sometimes I would take different groups and you would have different levels of the same topic (so in time you might have one which is all o'clock, one which is o'clock or half past, and another sheet which is o'clock, quarter past, half past, quarter to etc). You didn't tell them they were doing different levels. I tended to treat it as part of the game. "Let's see, which sheet shall I choose... Oh! it's this one today!" The level you gave them, you would expect them to get pretty much all right. If they whizzed through them, then you might sometimes see what they thought of the next sheet. Sometimes they took one look and did it straight off, sometimes just the little step harder sent them into panic.

Thirdly. How do you know their assessment stuff was well above standard? I've had 3 dc, helped in class frequently, and I wouldn't be able to make such a judgement. I'm not a teacher.

Then we go onto the levels. Each level is very broad. It might be that they do meet exceeding in many ways, but not in one. It maybe that they're right at the top of the level but haven't quite gone that extra bit. It maybe that they can do more but the teacher hasn't got the evidence.

Next you have the support. Your child got that all correct. Great. But you don't know what support was needed. I've been with a group where one put their head down and did the whole lot straight off. Another would check with me first before writing the answer down ("is it nine?") which showed lack of confidence, and another needed taking through the steps and could do it broken down like that but didn't have the skills to go straight through. They all got all the questions correct, but their abilities were very different.

And lastly. Chill! What level his year 1 teacher assessed him as will never matter one iota. I can't even remember if we got a level in year 1. It should have no effect on their self esteem because what you tell them is you're really proud of them and their teacher thinks they're fantastic .

Just ask her for feedback to understand what areas she feels he needs to work on/help with and ask when she's moving him for spellings. Teachers have a bunch of assessments to do and if he is meeting the assessment requirements, may be just ticking the boxes. He probably should have been marked higher, but it doesn't really matter for year 1 especially at this stage in the year. His new teacher will assess him herself. Moving him for spellings will at least give him more of a challenge and stop further delay on this front next year. Bright kids are often left to coast - this year more than most. Have a chat as feedback for areas needing work/next steps should be included in the assessment anyway - you may be surprised or it may reaffirm what you believe.

@brittleheadgirl my 12 year old has just had an assessment and is apparently at reading age 18 years and 6 months. They do have different expected levels for different ages.

@NCTDN

Are you in England? If so wait until September and approach concerns with the new teacher after he's settled in. What did the end of year report say from reception?

She’s in South Australia.

And seems to have quite a chip on her shoulder about this teacher.

[quote Hsurbbrb]@brittleheadgirl my 12 year old has just had an assessment and is apparently at reading age 18 years and 6 months. They do have different expected levels for different ages.[/quote]
What's your point?
Of course we have different expectations and levels for each age group, children differ enormously as they learn to read.

I was questioning op referring to a book as being for an '8 year old' as this could obviously be any level, depending on the child's ability.

Thanks for the judgement though

@DicklessWonder
She’s in South Australia.

And seems to have quite a chip on her shoulder about this teacher. hmm

Pushy, pushy, pushy.

To use an example from my own country. Where I work, our reports grade different areas of learning on a 1-5 scale. I don't give 5s lightly, the child has to be truly exceptional for that. Doesn't mean that someone who gets a 4 isn't doing well - they're performing above the expected standard - but they're just not the best of the best, academically speaking. Maybe it's a similar situation with your child.

@MargaretThursday Thank You for explaining it in depth. Makes it more understandable when there is no judgement coming from people.So, thanks a lot

@SionnachRua I am not expecting anything exceptional for my child but for him to have a fair go. Just cause you are a teacher does not mean every parent is pushy.

I don't understand why either you or the teacher are telling a year 1 child their grades. My dd is in year 1 and I just told her we'll done after her parents evening last week. That's all she needs to know, she is 6 grades and being top of the class can wait tbh.

I've had this same conversation with parents myself more than once. You feel that your child merits well above standard (a 5 in my terminology), his teacher - who presumably has has dealt with many more children than you - feels that he doesn't. That doesn't mean that he isn't getting a fair go, she likely just doesn't consider him to be of exceptional ability. Which is fine, most of us are not exceptional and still lead very good lives. I'm sure if you ask her for feedback she'll give you areas he needs to develop in.

[quote Hsurbbrb]@brittleheadgirl my 12 year old has just had an assessment and is apparently at reading age 18 years and 6 months. They do have different expected levels for different ages.[/quote]
You seem to be confusing an assessment which gives a reading age (will differ depending on which test is used ) and the idea of an "8 year old book" . 8 year olds read a huge range of books.
I've taught reception children with a reading age of 11+ years but wouldn't necessarily give them a book aimed at children aged 11 or over as the content may not be appropriate.

I don’t think he should feel deflated, but that is because you should praise the effort and he shouldn’t be so aware of being “graded”. I think on this one, leave the teacher to it. If you want to do harder spelling with him, you can.

Satisfactory is still a great achievement in lockdown etc. I'm sure your child has missed classes etc due to covid and to still be at a satisfactory level for the year is excellent . I'm sure lots of kids aren't.
I'd leave it as there is no impact on future performance but if there continues to be a disjoint between home achievement and school it might be worth a chat with them in the future .

Did you see his actual assessment? Did it contain questions that would show his understanding to a greater depth than what was taught in class? If it was just a test to check they've understood what they have just been taught, there possibly wasn't any evidence of working above expectation in this particular test.
At this age, teachers are also careful. So many kids are "very bright" at this stage. Then things become a little bit more elaborate and difficult, and the bright child may turn out to simply be "satisfactory". It makes the life of the new teacher very difficult, which is why teachers will only give "working beyond expectations" if they have plenty of evidence to back it up.

1- Your DC shouldn't know their grade at this stage so if that was passed on by the teacher I would have far more of an issue with that than with the assessment grade itself. (If you told him then you should really think about how you're going to support him in understanding that higher grades are not linked to self-worth, and make sure you don't tell him again in future).

PPs have given lots of good explanations as to why the teacher may have graded him where she did. I am a Support for Learning teacher and coach and mentor other teachers. In maths in particular I often come across children whose parents believe they are incredibly advanced in their mathematical thinking because they tend to get everything right and have whole workbook pages full of ticks. They are then shocked when my assessments flag them as requiring support in maths. I see this a lot in lower primary. This is because my assessments don't just check if a child can get to the correct answer, but they assess the actual depth of understanding that the child has of the mathematical concepts. It can be hard for some parents to get their head around the fact that getting the correct answer doesn't necessarily mean that the understanding is there. There are children who can remember the processes they've been taught without actually understanding them. When these children get flagged to me I come in and work with them to build that understanding, so they can link and apply concepts in various contexts, because if they don't gain that then these are the children who then don't do as well as they move through primary and the processes taught in become more complex. Even teachers I work with can often miss these pupils and see them as high flyers, when really they just have good memories for their age and stage but no or little real understanding.

I'm not saying that this is your son as I wouldn't know, but just to explain that it's not as straightforward as he's 'working above expectation' just because he has every answer correct.

Year 1 and you are this fanatical and pushy?

Not read each word in this thread but are you original poster saying:

1. your child is advance and feel not challenged or stretched in class (Year 1 age 6?)

1. The teacher is not particularly engaged with your child or believe child is not as high achieving or as educationally developed as you believe accordingly to your home environment observations?

If so perhaps you can:

1. Educate your child to the next level ie use materials for a higher year group and then present this to teacher as reflection of higher educational ability

1. Ask teacher if child can be pushed with deeper learning or at a more advanced and faster rate of learning compared to the norm in class. Perhaps there are others who are similarly advance and can be taught as a group with slightly different materials for deeper learning to realise fuller potential. This is the same teaching accommodation reasoning but opposite to provide extra educational support for those that may be slightly struggling.

However at this introductory schooling age each child will initially progress at different rates as there may be months of rapid educational advancement and months of seemingly slowed rate of learning. Only after a further longer assessment would you be able to determine and conclude that your child is a year or three ahead of the class average. However if your child is advanced already and shows a healthy appetite for further learning then I would not let this potential be unrealised and provide more suited learning advance learning materials as appropriate irrespective of whether the teacher can implement this or not. This is not pushing but going at the right pace as every child is different.

I'm really not understanding the heat you're getting and the 'pushy' comments - as a parent, part of your role is to advocate for your child and if you feel he's not been fairly treated/marked, I don't see a problem gently raising this with his teacher and asking her to explain her reasonings for the assessment. OP isn't suggesting she'll go in and berate the teacher for doing a terrible job, it's asking a simple question. When you factor in that the teacher has said she would move him up a class or whatever and still hasn't done it, yes that absolutely warrants a meeting for a discussion. Teachers are not above being asked for reasonings, even if it does come from lowly non-teachers

@Honeybeebloom Thank you.I feel comforted reading what you wrote

@ResIpsaLoquiturInterAlia

Not read each word in this thread but are you original poster saying:

1. your child is advance and feel not challenged or stretched in class (Year 1 age 6?)

1. The teacher is not particularly engaged with your child or believe child is not as high achieving or as educationally developed as you believe accordingly to your home environment observations?

If so perhaps you can:

1. Educate your child to the next level ie use materials for a higher year group and then present this to teacher as reflection of higher educational ability

1. Ask teacher if child can be pushed with deeper learning or at a more advanced and faster rate of learning compared to the norm in class. Perhaps there are others who are similarly advance and can be taught as a group with slightly different materials for deeper learning to realise fuller potential. This is the same teaching accommodation reasoning but opposite to provide extra educational support for those that may be slightly struggling.

However at this introductory schooling age each child will initially progress at different rates as there may be months of rapid educational advancement and months of seemingly slowed rate of learning. Only after a further longer assessment would you be able to determine and conclude that your child is a year or three ahead of the class average. However if your child is advanced already and shows a healthy appetite for further learning then I would not let this potential be unrealised and provide more suited learning advance learning materials as appropriate irrespective of whether the teacher can implement this or not. This is not pushing but going at the right pace as every child is different.

Thank you