Question: My daughter's fifth-grade teacher never lets the children bring home graded papers until after a grading period is over. The teacher says that she does this because there are always parents who come in screaming after report cards are handed out that there is NO WAY their child earned these grades. If they do, the teacher can show them all the papers.
Our daughter does get to see and correct her test papers in class and will come home and tell us her grades. Just the same, we would like to see where she is excelling and falling short more frequently than every six weeks. What do you think of this approach? -- Frustrated
Answer: We wonder why a fifth-grade teacher does not want to return tests to students immediately to take home. It seems strange that she fears an avalanche of parents criticizing her grading and feels the need to back it up by showing them test papers.
If this teacher is actively communicating with parents about how their children are doing, there should be little parental unhappiness when grades come out. Many teachers use email, notes and phone calls to keep parents in the loop. Some go so far as to post grades online almost daily. We would guess that this teacher is not communicating as well as she should be with parents.
It is good policy for teachers to return tests for students to look over and correct their mistakes. If sufficient time is devoted to this activity in class, students learn a great deal from seeing where they went wrong and learning the correct answer -- more than they would if they corrected the test papers at home without a teacher's guidance.
We understand your frustration in not being able to immediately see your daughter's test papers. However, if you study all the returned papers, you will have an opportunity to see trends in what has gone well or wrong. Also, ask the teacher for a progress report on your daughter occasionally.