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Transcript of Rethinking Report Cards
7/27/2019 Rethinking Report Cards
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Rethinking eportcards AcademicSkills I GreatSchools Page of6
K&*ats*h**ls
Rethinkingeportcards
Linkingeport ardsostate tandardss henewesteport ard rend.Here's hyschools redoing t andwhat oucanexpectfyour choolmakeshechange.
What hould do f my
child's chool s
switching o a
standards-basedeport
card?
Ask otsof questions!f there
is anything bout hereport
card hatyoudon't
understandr that s
confusing,skyourchild's
teachero explain.f youare
not sure f yourchild sdoing
well,ask he eachero
explainhesystem.For
example,fyourchildsnot
proficientn some kills, sk
his eacherfyoushould econcernedbouthis
progress.s heon rack o be
proficienty heendofthe
year?
Besureyou indoutwhether
yourchildscompleting
assignmentsnd4evelopinggoodworkhabits.That may
beclearlyndicated n
the report ard.Becauseheacademicmarkson a
standards-basedeport ard
usually onotreflecta chitd's
effort,attitude rworkhabits,
it is importantorparentso
besure heyhavea complete
picture f heir hild's
learning. ome hildrenmay
ByGreatSchoolstaff
Didyourgrandparentsiveyoua dollaroreachA onyour eport
card?Didyouspend ourhigh choolyearsopingouwould
squeak ywithC's n mportantlasses? idyoueversee he
dreaded on a paper,estor your eport ard?
Fora growing umber f oday's lementarychool tudents,hose
daysaregone. heymaynotsee etter rades n heir eport ards
untilmiddle chool r ater.As heNoChild efiBehindawpushes
schools ndeducatorscrosshecountryocenterheir eaching n
content nd earningtandards,eport ards rebeginningo ook
different,oo.FromNashville,ennesseeo Marlborough,
MassachusettsndHonolulu, awaii, chools repairing tandards-basedeport ardswith heir tandards-basedeaching,ndparents
aregettingmore nformationbout heirstudentsachievement.
What arestate standards?+
itsown ist of
t"rstatehasadopted
high [email protected]
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Rethinking eport cards AcademicSkills I GreatSchools
be able o showmastery f
the standardsnthe ower
gradeswithout oodwork
habits,but hatwillget more
difficult s heyprogress
through hegrades.f there s
aproblemwith
aftitude, ffortor study kills, arents eed
to be able o intervene s
earlyas possible.
Takeadvantage f theextra
information.tandards-based
report ardsgiveyoumore
detailednformationbout
howyourchildsdoing n
eachsubject. oucan use
this nformationo help our
child, hoose skillyou're
concemed bout ndask he
tr eacherryJou can el!'yourchildwith t at home.
Youcanalsoask he eacher
whathe candg o help our
childat schoollrx . (-{-rX/,inn.,/'l{ i : ^ " p r r t . r f i . t l ,
Letyourchild'seacher nd
principalnowwhatyou hink
of thenew report ard.
Becauseeport ardsaredesignedo communicate
withparents,hey need o be
easy o understandnd
helpful o parents.f youhave
anysuggestionsrconcerns
aboutyourschool's eport
card.share hemwith he
teacher ndprincipal.our
comments ayhelp mprove
Page of6
Theseistsare hestate ontent nd earningtandards. ereare
some-e-xffi-='
. InArizona,ifth-gradersreexpectedo be able o comparewhole umbers,ractions nddecimals.orexample,fth-gradershould eable o determinehat0.6 s argerhan112.
. InCalifornia,irst-gradershould eable o read ommon,irregular ordsike he,have, aid, ome, iveandof.
. ln Nebraska,welfth-gradershould ave n understandingfthestructuref heatom, ndbeable o describe ifferenttypes f nucleareactions.
Teachers re responsibleor teaching he skills or theirstudents'grade evel,although tandards o not say how eachers hould
teach.EducationWorldhas inks o thestandardsoreachstate.
What s a standards-basedeport card?
A standards-basedeport ard ists he mostmportantkills tudentsshouldearn neach ubject ta particg4qade evel.Forexample,inwriting, second-gradeeport ar(might]At hese kills:
Writesn completeentences
Uses apitaletters, eriods,uestion arks ndquotation
marks orrectly.
Uses hewritingrocessprewriting,
irstdraft, evision,ndfinaldraft). Writes friendlyetterwitha greeting,ody ndconclusion. Knowshepurposenduseof a dictionary,hesaurusndatlas
6s,Mg,s NS)Insteadf etter rades, tudentsgggle rnq1[slhatshovihowwell
theyhavemasteredheskills. hemarksmight howwhetherhestudentsadvanced,roficient,asic rbelow asic oreachstandard r heymight enumbersepresentinghether tudents
meet, xceed r approachach tandard. tudentssually et
geparate arksoreffort ndworkhabits, hich re mportantorparentso keepabsoneven f hese haracteristicsren'tncluded
assessmentf hestudent'scademickills.
Howare standards-basedeport cards different
from traditional eport cards?
Onmanyraditionaleport ards, tudentseceivenegradeor
reading, ne ormath, ne orscience ndso on.Ona $tandards-
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a
a
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Rethinking eport cards AcademicSkills I GreatSchools Page of6
based eport ard,eachof thesesubject reassdividedntoa listof
skills ndknowledgehatstudents re esponsibleor earning.
Studentseceive separate ark oreach tandard.
Themarks n a standards-basedeport ardaredifferentrom
traditionaletter rades. etter rades reoften alculatedy
combining owwell he studentmethisparticulareacher's
expectations,owheperformednassignmentsnd ests, ndhow
much ffort he eacher elieveseput n.Letter rades o not ellparents hich killsheir hildrenavemasteredr whetherheyare
working tgradeevel.Because ne ourth-gradeeachermight e
reviewingasicmultiplicationacts,whileanothers eaching
multiplicationf wo-or hree-digitumbers,etting nA ineachof
theseclasseswouldmean erydifferenthings.Theparent f a child
in hese lasses ould otknowf thechildwere earning hathe
should e o meethestate tandards.
Standards-basedeport ards hould rovidemore onsistency11betweeneachershan raditionaleport ards, ecause ll$ud#lJ
areevaluatedn he samegrade-appropriatekills.Parentsan seEir''cqtinnL l \ J v t r v r i ' t * l
exactly hich kills ndknowledgeheir hildren ave earned. V
Accordingo Hoover iddell,pecial ssistanto thesuperintendent
in heSanFrancisconified choolDistrictn California.he marks
ona standards-basedeport ardshowonlyhowwellthe hildhas
masteredhegrade-leveltandards,nddo not nclude ffort,
attitude r workhabits, hich reusuallymarked eparately.
Whyare some districtsswitching o standards-
based eportcards?
DianeMead, teacher n special ssignmentn heBeverly ills
UnifiedSchoolDistrictnCatifomia believes tudents re he
biggest inners hen tandards-basedeport ards reused. hese
report ards ivestudents pecificnformationbout ow hey?re
doing ndpinpoint here heyneedo mprove.
Thisapproachancarry ver o classroomssignments,oo,as he
report ardnfluencesheway eachers sse$s tudentearning
throughoutheyear. n he irst woyears fusing standards-based
report ard n BeverlyHills,eachers orked ogethero desc{beIclearly hatstudent orf n-Teachershare heseexpectationsithstudents, ftenposting
on heclassroom all.Nowwhen tudentsetan assignmenthey
knowexactlywhat heyhave o do o beproficientr advanced.
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That?s bigchangerom hewayassignmentssed o begiven ndgraded.lfyougeta 90%,t doesn?tellyoumuch boutwhereogo
from here," aidMead.
Liddell, ho eads standard$-basedeport ardpilotprojectnSanFrancisco,aid hat henew eport ard spartof an effortoclose
thegap n achievementmong ifferent roups fstudents. ecauseconcretekillsandknowledge re istedon hereport ard, t is oneway o helpmonitor hether llstudents rebeing xposedo hesame urriculumnd earningheskills heyshouldearn n eachgrade.
Thenew eport ards lsomakehestandardsery learo parents,
noted iddell.Parentshould now xactly hat heirstudentsshould e able odo."ThenewSanFranciscoeport ard sbaseddirectly n heCaliforniatandards,lthoughotevery tandards
listed n he eport ard.Parents ill eceive completeistof heCaliforniatandardslongwith he eport ard.
How will standards-based eport cards affectmychild?
Al Friedenberg,rincipalfGrantElementarynSantaMonica,California,okes hatkidswillgetrich f theyget$5 oreachgoodgrade na standards-basedeport ard, ecausetu(entseceive
dH'$'\rJoking side, neof hebiggest djustmentsorstudents ndparentss hatmany tandards-basedeport ards ocus nend-of-the-yearoals. hismeanshat n he irstor second rading eriod,
instead fgetting 's or rying ardanddoingwellon ests, high-achievingtudentmight ave everalmarksndicatinghatshe q not
W
yetproficientnsome kills. lthoughhis snormal ince
q nor
l.6v€€students illnotmeet llof he
- - - -' - - ;- ;
in he irstquarter,!gaf Lr
s' Of
$ -inn ,"[ ,,h*Lliq@glg:lglse forstudent., undgot"ndilgjh". *,h[-d -
luvrL.\.LJNlFrua Advanffinot necessariryAEEn6g Wfbf A#r t+ r rannrr nard Ear avamnra i+^ (to Fk \ilhA\t A4lin
. .1\rvorrt/Eu D rvt rrtiur;DDdrrry)CL
I |(fq vv L'r- YT 'the equivalent f an A on a traditional eportcard.Forexample, f a Qc.l
fi tsf [" ffl*SYie fifth-gradereceived'soneverymathestduringhesemester,he^ l
ES t l00U^ wouldprobablyeceive nA on a traditionaleport ard. f those {-[AS = &-\/: mathestsmeasurednly he conceptsifthgraders re expectedo
Rt=r3t6*
master,hose'swoulde he quivalentr proficient"na
wouldprobablyeceive nA on a traditionaleport ard. f those ry
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standards-basedeport ard; hestudentsdoingwhathe should e
doing, utnotnecessarily ore.
Friedenbergoted hat his lrcans eachers eed o provide
opportunitiesorstudentso show heycanexceedwhat sexpected
andbe rulyadvanced.tandards-basedeport ards anencourage
teacherso make ure heir essons ffer tudentshancesogo
beyondgradeevel."Mead aidoneanalogy erdistrict ses o
explainhisdifferenceoparentss:"You limb p hehilltobeproficient,utyouhave oflyoff o beexemplary."
Standards-basedeport ardsprovideheaddedbenefit f keeilnpnrnl4.lr^,
teachersndparentsocuseOnstuOentearninqgoa|sftomMiAV-""v'
verybeginningf heyear. riedenbergaid hisgives isstudentsE/chanceogethelpwheret?smostneeded, ooneratherhan ater.
Are thereproblemswith standards-basedeportcards?
As withanynewprogram,tudentsndparentshould lsoexpect
some litchesndchangesn he irst ewyears.BothMead nd
Friedenbergotedhat he irstcouple earswith heirstandards-
based eport ardswerechallengingor eacherss heydealtwith
technicaldifficultiest hesame ime heywereworkingoalignheir
teaching ndassessmentith he new eport ards.Patiencend
understandingromparents ndstudentsoa longwaywhenschools reworking utbugsn a newprogram.
Friedenberglsosaid heSantaMonica-Malibunified chool
District assignificantlyevisedtsstandards-basedeport ardeachyear.He said he irstyearstudentseceived 4differentmarks,
whichprovedoomanyor mostparentso comprehend.A otofparentsaid herewere omany ategorieshat heycouldn'tigure
outwhat t meant, o heyust ooked t he eacher omments,"aid- Friedenberg.or hisyear,he eport ardwasscaled owno
include smaller umber fkeystandards.
Why don'twe seestandards-basedeportcards
in middleor highschool?
Althoughtates ave tandardsormiddle ndhigh chool lasses,
therearemany hallengeso using standards-basedeport ardat
these evels.Accordingo Liddell, neof the bigrgestoncernssthat
students eedraditionalrade-pointveragesnd ranscriptso be
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competitiven applyingo college.He also noted hat he large
numberof subjects tudents tudy n highschoolwouldmake
standards-basedeportcardsunwieldy.
Meadsuggestedhatmiddle ndhighschoolteachershink heir
methodof averaging cores o get ettergrades s fairandprecisen
contrasto looking t piecesof work and decidingwhether hey are
advanced, roficient, asicor belowbasic.Shebelievesmostmiddle
and highschoolsneed o focuson developing tandards-based
instruction nd assessments efore heywill be ready o use
standards-basedeportcards.
Despitehe challenges, few pioneeringchoolsare experimenting
with standards-basedeportcards.Forexample, ix middleschools
in Portland,Oregonbeganusinga standards-basedeportcard ive
yearsago,accordingo CynthiaGilliam,Director f Accountabilityor
Portland ublic chools.While hereport ards rebeing sedsuccessfullyt hepilot chools,onsistencyn
standardsetween acrosshe
Jnpg**llgj$mg*"ge#gg*ffig9- accordinsoGilliam.haspuionhold fins o usehestandards-basedeportard t r"r+i-SU€fSschools hile t fine-tunesommon urricula ndassessments
\gASacrosshedistrict. illiam aid hedistrict idnotplan o pushahead I
with hereport arduntilherewasa "clear alibrationf howgood
wasgoodenoughtomeet particulartandard]."
ln HighSchool eport ards, arolBostonuggestedhata reportcard hatcombinesraditionalrades ith nformationbout rogress
toward tandards ight ea goodoptionor middle ndhigh
schools.f standards-basednstructionontinuesogrown
importance,heremaybe movementoward ombinationeport
cards t hemiddle rhigh choolevel.
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