These grades are a true representation of the learning that is happening in class, however, many students have test anxiety and will overthink simple test questions. As a parent, you know your child and their level of anxiety when approaching a testing situation.
These grades are important to show that students are putting work into their learning. If they do not do the daily practices and meet the learning objectives, they cannot be successful on the tests/quizzes, lab reports, and projects. Middle school students are not always good at assessing if they are prepared for tests. * Students always have the ability to retake tests for up to 80% for unit tests and 100% for quizzes. It is always helpful for them to do the retake. Encourage them to STUDY first. Failing a second time is really hurtful to their grade.
These grades are very limited in their impact on the overall grade. This would include exit tickets and learning checks of new materials. I use very few of these and typically if I want to check if they are understanding the content, but they don't want to do the check. It can help bump them up to a higher grade, but it does not hurt them if they are incorrect. We are learning.