I recently had a chance to see an El Paso Independent School District (EPISD) report card.
The courses were listed (along with a grade level) as:
- SS
- Sci
- Math
- Pub Spk 1
- Eng
- Span 1 SL P2
- PE 1A FND PE HE
There was a column that I guess had the grades. The heading was NWI.
Spelling
There was room to spell out the names of the courses. Is this how they are teaching our kids to communicate?
Would they allow the kids to write that way for school work?
Knda hrd to rd.
We deserve better
Brutus
elpasospeak 
NWI ~~ Not worth it?
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I think it’s time to face facts: texting will eventually become the new English. l’m already a bit surprised that there aren’t any “Texting Bees.” l’m sick of these home schoolers usually winning a Spelling Bee. A Texting Bee would give a public school student a fighting chance. l might even watch the Indianapolis Texting 500. Only because there would be more accidents.
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Good idea, but everyone disregards correct spelling in texting.
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CUBI? NGAF!
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Brutus, I think this is a case of selective indignation.
Have you ever read a receipt from ANY store or fast food place? Full of abbreviations.
Have you ever read a cell phone bill? Full of abbreviations.
Have you ever read a bill from a doctors office? Not only is it full of abbreviations but it ALSO has medical codes in it that only people familiar with CPT® codes, ICD-9 codes and HCPCS codes. I suppose not many patients are.
So maybe the schools are actually preparing students for a world full of abbreviations.
As for the NWI, I believe that has to do with whether or not the grade was weighted in some manner. That is the “pre weighted” grade.
In any case, a quick call to the school would get you an answer.
Now, try that with your next medical bill…
grin
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Tim. You’re always a thoughtful guy, but I think you’re on the wrong side of this one. How many parents do you think can figure out those codes on their kid’s report cards? Does EPISD provide a glossary on its website? Shouldn’t we make it easier for the parents to be involved? Most of them already have full-time jobs. I get just as irritated with my phone bill, but I hope most parents spend more time with their kid’s report cards than they do analyzing their phone bills. The healthcare and insurance industries have created entire specialties around coding and those jobs require specialized skills and education. So, are parents expected to take a special course?
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Indignant,
I didn’t mean to imply that the abbreviations are not right or wrong, just that they appear common throughout our lives in a common day. Heck I saw this in front of a McDonald’s the other day “$2 Chck Sand” Are they “wrong” for advertising that way? Maybe, maybe not. They might assume some level of intelligence on the part of the public that they can understand that as a $2.00 Chicken Sandwich. I suppose someone with poor English skills would have problems with that.
A gas station near my house sells UNL, and PREM gas…I don’t think anyone goes up to them and complains that the abbreviations are too difficult to understand.
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Yes, others do it.
This is a school. What else should they declare to be unimportant?
Do two wrongs make a right?
This is not hard. All they have to do is enter the course name.
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Okay, if the report card is the FIRST time a parent has heard from a school about their children’s grade, then maybe we have issues of more importance than abbreviations on a report card. Report cards come out once every 9 weeks. If the parent has not heard from the school in 9 weeks, then there is another issue all together.
In EPISD, the district provides an online Parent Portal for all parents to check their children’s grades on a daily basis. It includes all assignments, grades, attendance, and current grade.
I can check to see how Susie is doing in Mr. Smith’s Algebra Class at any time 24/7. It can even be set up, if I recall correctly, so that a parent receives an email if a child misses a class, is tardy, or receives a grade below a parental determined level.
There is also parent conferences that any parent can call on, parent / teacher conference day for all parents, where report card grades are explained to any and all parents that show up,
The Report Card should actually be anti-climatic to any parent paying any kind of attention to their children’s education.
Okay lets look at the example above:
Math? You cannot figure that out?
Sci? Hmm, that is close, but I am guessing that those are the first three letters of science…
PE…dont most people call PE “PE?” I don’t know anyone that calls it Physical Education anymore.
I suppose someone with absolutely no knowledge of what their child was taking might not know SS or SPAN of PUB SPK…but really, as I said before, by the time the parent gets the report card, they should have some idea that their child was taking a Spanish Course, a Public Speaking Course and maybe Social Studies.
The report card is not for the student.
The report card is for the parent.
And the parent should be doing some sort of due diligence on what their child is taking.
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