Harrell Horne Integrated School Preschool (Kinder 1) Experience PART 2

Grading system at Harrell Horne Integrated School.  I started to doubt about the grading system of Harrell Horne Inegrated School when I got my son's second quarter report card and yet I found a lot of my son's activities left unchecked.  How did they come up with the grades without even checking the activities? The school's explanation made me regret more why I enrolled my son there. 

For the LAS or written worksheets which is 30% of the total grade, regardless if the score is 0 or perfect, what they look after is if the child did his work without a need for prompting from the teacher. So even if my son got perfect score, if he had to play around first before answering his worksheet, his grade will be low. Even  if the child gets 0, but if the child just sits still and do as told, then a high grade will be given. I saw their grade guideline, sad I was not able to ask for a copy.  5 if no need for teacher prompting, then 4, and the lowest is 1, if the teacher keeps on prompting the student to do his work.

This, I found in Deped Kindergarten Curriculum Guide, page 9. It is part of Character and Values Development (Personal Values - Responsibility) - 
"The child takes on responsibility and accomplishes these as best he/she can. 
*Does his/her share of work in the classroom. 
*Does and finishes assigned tasks without prompting.

How come they made it as a major basis in grading a student totaling to 30%?
When I got a detailed grading system of the school, I was extremely disappointed.
5% -  Homework
25% -  Exam (Monthly +  Periodical)
30% - LAS (based on the prompting of teacher to do the worksheet)
40% - Class Performance (Behavior + Attitude + Focus + Class Recitation)

Class Performance (40%) has four categories: Behavior (10%),  Focus (10%), Attitude (10%), Class Recitation (10%). Behavior, Focus, Attitude totals to 30% and are all based on the child's behavior inside the classroom.  How to you expect a preschooler to behave? Cutting the wings at an early age huh?!

It appears to me that almost 60% of the total grading system comes from behavior.  I have a very active, playful, smart kid. This system is very unfair for him. I questioned them on this.  My son can count up to 100, can rhyme even without them teaching him yet; but they did not tick those academic abilities of my son in his progress card. Why? Simply because they have not taught them yet about those things.  Same thing with behavior, why grade a student in something they did not teach? They do not even correct the behavior, my child was bullied, remember?

Deped and my son's soon to be new school were right, there should be a separate reporting for behavior. Math grade should show the child's competence in Math not in Math slash Values.

I contacted Deped several times and asked the same question about behavior and academic reporting.  Different persons gave me same answers, "There should be a separate reporting for behavior, it should not be mixed with academics."

Have I known that they were grading the students in behavior, I would not have enrolled my son there.  So sudden they changed the grading system from Nursery to Kindergarten.  Or, have the teachers just become subjective? 

If you have a child who is not so smart but behaves well, that child will get high grades. But if your child is smart but is 'makulit' as they say, he gets low grades. How do I know? My son's classmate gets high grades in exams, was a medalist too when they were Nursery, but because he does not behave well, his grades remained 'Developing' for 3 consecutive quarters. 

The person I have spoken to in Deped frankly told me that the system is wrong. Why? Because the teacher, as I have mentioned, is being subjective. A preschooler is normally "makulit." You cannot expect them to sit down as you told them to. If the teacher is subjective and gets annoyed or 'inis' of your child's behavior, expect a minus point from the grade.

So, no matter how smart my son is, regardless if he gets 100 in all of his exams, if he always recites, if he keeps on running around the room, if he does not sit still in his chair, if he throws tantrums, he will still not be good enough for them.

With this kind of system, favoritism is very much expected.

My son went home one day telling me that "medal is important so they can post it in the wall and remember their school," as told to them by their teacher. I was surprised because it contradicts my teaching to him that "Medal is not important. You went to school to learn.  What's important is that you learned." Another parent told me that "Medal is just bonus but is not as important as learning." I kept on insisting to my son that I do not need a medal from him, as long as he enjoys learning, I am more than proud. Sad that that kind of teaching will be coming from the school.

In Part 3, I will discuss about Academics and Extra-Curricular Activities.

(I aired this to them as well the conversation I had with the staff of Deped in-charge of the grading system during our Parent-Teacher conference last January.)