It's about that time of year again... evaluations

12 March 2012

Though this week won't be too bad for me, my students have it tougher. It's almost time for the second evaluation--sort of like getting your report card. Consequently, all of the teachers--including the English teachers--are trying to fit in another exam before assigning grades in order to get more information on how the kids are doing in order to give them a fair grade.

This week, my 6th graders, 3rd graders, and 4th graders will be taking exams in English.

Since the Spanish grading system is different from our American grading system, I thought I would explain how it works--as I understand it.

Grades are assigned from one to ten.

9 or 10 is a sobresaliente (outstanding/excellent)

8 or 7 is a notable (notable)


6 is a bien (good)


5 is suficiente  (sufficient)


less than 5 is an insuficiente  (insufficient)

You can more or less compare Spanish grades to American grades. If you were to do so, a 9/10 would be an A, 8/7 is a B, 6 is a C, 5 would be a D, and less than 5 is an F.

However, the Spanish grading system is much more difficult than the American grading system. From what I've observed, there isn't as much grade inflation as in the United States. In a class of 25, there may be only 5 kids who receive a sobresaliente and only if they've really earned it.