I have never been concerned.... oldest is a senior in college, so I have been through them a time or two! Either our kids know the stuff or they don't. If they don't, grades and test scores through out the year will have given us insight to that. So we have had a whole nine months to help them master the skills needed to do well on EOG's. Some kids don't test well, I guess if that were the case with a child it would be more concerning, but academically now is too late to worry. :lol: Remember if you stress, you are just going to stress your child even more, so relax, what is learned is learned! I hate that the rest of the year is waisted. If you child does well on EOG's and has turned in all their library books etc... I wish they would just let them go home for the year! I am so sick of having to get them up early and out the door to watch movies and play games for the last 3 weeks!! In my opinion school is an academic environment, if the academics are over, we should be finished for the year. Not sitting around so others can retake the EOG etc... (yes, that is my soap box, I guess we all have one or two!)
I never stress over these things. I try to make it light hearted at our house so my daughter doesn't stress. Years ago a friend of mine called me at night and said his daughter was stressed and crying about it. We drove over and my daughter talked to her. By the time we left the girl was laughing. Our thoughts on this are that if they made good grades throughout the year the EOG is nothing. If they freak out and make a low score a parent can always show the trend throughout the year. Let your kid know that it is not life or death and not to discuss scores with others. It makes it easier if they don't discuss grades or scores with anyone but their parent. Hate the No Child Left Behind Act!!!!!!!!! Good luck, Sherry
Nope. They are a joke. Any test that you can take and fail, then take again and fail, take again and fail but a parent can go talk to the teachers and principals and explain that little Johnny's grades have been good all year....that he just is not good taking tests...and the principal can pass little Johnny to the next grade anyway....that....is a joke. There is no reason, in my opinion, to sweat EOG's. Ever.
I was stressed about them when I first heard of them, but now, not so much. Like Grinder said, if they fail, they can take them again. I am trying to keep it very low-key for DS. I don't want him to suffer from the same test anxiety that I had as a kid. This is our first experience with them, so we will se how it goes. 8)
Let me add to this one. Any test a child can take, not make as good a grade as they wanted, be allowed to take home and correct and then get the grade raised is also a joke. What happened too a test is a test is a test...that is your grade? Now that my child knows she can correct the test at home she has made the choice not to study...bet she studies from now on as she was grounded for doing that and I had them on an Excel spreadsheet to prove my point. What is with the quiz, test and exam difference? Why not just give a test and be done with it. And, while I am on a rant...when did grading numbers change? I want to go back to 90 to 100 is an A, 80s are a B, 70s are a C, etc. I am always having to look it up to see if she has an A or B. Why...why...why? Sherry
Well, I am terrified to have my son take them, his grades have been so bad because of what he has been through this year, that if he does not pass the EOG's he will fail the 4th grade. He feels bad enough about himself I don't want him to go through the humiliation of having to repeat the 4th grade.
It will be just fine. If you show confidence he will feel that from you. Like Grinder stated, they get to test, retest and then retest. I just make sure it is like every other day and don't make a big deal out of any of it. Just wait until he has to take the SAT, it is murder on the parent. Sylvan has great programs to help kids bring up grades, prepare for EOGs and especially helps with self-esteem. When my daughter would not read, in elementary school, I took her to Sylvan and signed her up for reading and math. I figured since she loved math that would allow the door to open to loving to read. It worked. Gave her self-esteem when she saw children from elementary to high school going in for help. Sherry
I'm going to add a soap box here...the State writing test. I think it's a great idea, as a method to assess and assist kids who are illiterate or functionally illiterate. My belief is that writing is an art and like any art, you can teach someone the basics/fundamentals, but if they don't have a talent for it, it just won't be that good. There are some objective assessments that the people grading will evaluate (grammar, punctuation, etc.) but a lot is very subjective (handwriting, whether or not the story is interesting) My daughter has always been an A/B student but struggles with the writing test. A lot of it is her handwriting (and we know they don't teach penmanship anymore...they barely teach cursive) Her teachers have told her that if she doesn't pass the writing test, she won't go to the next grade (not true but I think that they want to be sure the kids take it seriously). THAT'S where she gets her stress...not the EOGs. Anyhow, the writing tests haven't gone so well, but she's passed each grade with no problems. (as a side note...my 10th grader -who's another smarty pants- can't READ cursive because he only had to do it the one year in elementary school...but he sure knows how to fill in a bubble!!)
tigerlily's daughter my mom showed me that yall were talking about the EOG's and i just had to say something. i only missed the EOG by a couple points last year and i had to repeat the 8th grade. every morning the principal makes the annocements and right after she says the news she says something like "failure is not an option" when i am a perfect example that it is. the math teacher last year told me i was gonna be fine because i had other good grades in my other subjects. no one ever told me that the EOG's actually determine wheither you stay or not. my mom had a bunch of meetings with the teachers and they all told her don't worry about it. they only give you 3 chances to pass. my mom would've paid for sylvan if she knew i was probley going to fail. so yea i think the EOG's are complete bull****. a test shouldn't determine so much. i also might add that they don't waver you if you don't pass it. a large amount of people failed last year. and things still haven't really changed in my school. all of my friends got to go to highschool. it is a terrible experience to fail a grade. espeically when you know it was only by a couple points.
:iagree: and when YOU stress about them it makes the kids more nervous. In this house we study every night as a rule, but NOT EOG stuff. I don't make too big of a deal about them so my DS doesn't get all worked up over nothing!
Very good point! kids feed off of us and we should not get em all worked up! though i am prolly guilty of this.
I am WAY more worried about 6th grade starting (see 'incident at McGee's Middle thread :ack than I am the useless EOG's. There is a 'new' math placement test too after EOG's, for rising 6th grader's this year. double :ack::ack:
I was thinking the same thing KB. It's bad enough I have one in the middle school there next yr but short one worries me! Guess since yours and LC are tall he can walk in the middle of them. LOL
I am mother of a 2nd grader. The teacher has told her class about the EOG's and my child is now worried about this and it is a year in advance. That is crazy. I told my child not to worry and that everything will be ok. I understand in some context that they are only preparing them of what is to come, but this should not be done to scare the **** out of them and get them worried in the 2nd grade! This stinks! The schools need to :chillpill: out!
We got the practice booklets for the EOG's, but I really haven't had DS do them. He's gotten excellent grades this year, so I am just going to see how he does. It's only 3rd grade, not the end of the world. 8)
We had the practice books too, this time around. we have done math problems for over a week, even over the weekend. practice practice practice....dear children were not happy, but they learned a couple of concepts in which they were struggling.
