A transitional approach

REPORT CARDS

PHONE CALLS TO

PARENTS

EMAILS

PARENT-TEACHER

CONFERENCES

STUDENT-TEACHER

CONFERENCES

EVALUATED STUDENT

WORK

STANDARDIZED

ASSESSMENTS

NEWSLETTERS TO PARENTS

TEACHER WEBSITES

SCHOOL/DISTRICT

WEBPAGES

EXHIBITS OF STUDENT

WORK

CLASSROOM VISITATION

CAN YOU THINK OF MORE?

FORMS OF COMMUNICATION WITH PARENTS

• Grades are based on teacher evidence of student performance against year-end standards.

• There is a clear focus on student learning toward goals

• A consistent grading and report system is in place for all grades, schools.

• Communication with parents is clearer.

• Grades are no longer composites, but distinct measures of student performance.

WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF A STANDARDS BASED REPORT CARD?

• Declining US competitiveness with other developed countries

• High rates of college remediation

• NAEP performance that is largely flat over the past 40 years in 8th grade

• Slight improvement at the 4th grade level

• Slight decline at the high school level

RATIONALE FOR THE COMMON CORE

• Traditional grading is subjective.

• Report card grades generally consider other factor components.

• There is limited consistency across teachers, grades, buildings.

• Students may be rewarded or penalized for good or bad work habits, irrespective of their mastery of learning.

WHY THE CHANGE?

Reading:

•Increasing complexity: college and career readiness

•Engagement in both classic and contemporary, as well as informational text

Writing:

•Write logical arguments using substantive claims, sound reasoning and relevant information

•Research, both short and long term

ELA STANDARDS: A BRIEF SUMMARY

Speaking and Listening

•Students gain, evaluate, and present increasingly complex information, ideas, and evidence through listening and speaking and media.

•Academic discussion in one-on-one, small-group, and whole-class settings. Formal presentations as well as informal discussion that takes place as students collaborate to answer questions, build understanding, and solve problems.

Language

•Vocabulary is gleaned through a mix of conversations, direct instruction, and reading. Word meanings as well as the connotation of words are a focus.

•Vocabulary and conventions are treated in their own strand not because skills in these areas should be handled in isolation but because their use extends across reading, writing, speaking, and listening.

ELA STANDARDS: SUMMARY CONTINUED

1. Building knowledge through content-rich nonfiction

2. Reading, writing, and speaking grounded in evidence from text, both literary and informational

3. Regular practice with complex text and its academic language

SHIFTS IN ELA

Stress not only procedural skill but also conceptual understanding

K-5:

Provides students with a solid foundation in whole numbers, addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, fractions and decimals – building blocks for middle and high school.

Focuses work on the number core at the primary level: learning how numbers correspond to quantities, and learning how to put numbers together and take them apart (the beginnings of addition and subtraction).

Content builds upon content as grade levels progress.

Offers detailed guidance on how to navigate topics such as fractions, negative numbers, and geometry by maintaining a continuous progression from grade to grade.

Middle School:

Students are encouraged to participate in hands on learning in geometry, algebra and probability and statistics to be well-prepared for algebra in grade 8.

The middle school standards provide preparation for high school mathematics.

The high school standards call on students to practice applying mathematical ways of thinking to real world issues and challenges; they prepare students to think and reason mathematically and emphasize modeling.

MATHEMATICS SUMMARY: A BRIEF SUMMARY

1. Focus: Focus strongly where the standards focus.

2. Coherence: Think across grades, and link to major topics

3. Rigor: In major topics, pursue conceptual understanding, procedural skill and fluency, and application

SHIFTS IN MATHEMATICS

• The SBRC can provide teachers, parents and students with a more accurate description of student progress toward meeting the grade level Common Core state standards.

• Important, specific information is offered to parents in terms of their child’s achievement and progress.

• Components of the Common Core Standards are outlined and included in the report card; parents have a better understanding of our instructional program and expectations for student learning.

• Useful and relevant information (such as participation, involvement) will be reported in a separate category (Behaviors that Support Learning).

THE STANDARDS BASED REPORT CARD (SBRC)

Traditional report cardsStandards based report

cards

Students receive one overall grade for each

subject.

Subject learning is reported by separate

indicators of skills and learning.

Letter grades are determined by individual

teacher’s beliefs on homework, effort, class

participation, in addition to test scores, etc.

Numbers show how students have mastered

grade-level standards and do not include other

content, such as effort, participation, etc.

Parents do not know end of year grade level

standards.

All students are evaluated on the same grade level

expectations, known to all.Grading is on a curve,

comparing students to one another and telling little

about individual students.

Students are measured against an established set of criteria, not subjective

formulas.

STANDARDS BASED AND TRADITIONAL REPORT CARDS

•The current school year is a transitionary one.

•In addition to the removal of the overall grade, the rating scale has been revised.

•A re-imaged report card will be available next year.

•Indicators and scale will be aligned.

•Common core standards will be presented; academic end of year indicators are included.

WHERE ARE WE CURRENTLY?

Websites:

•Common Core Standards Initiative (http://www.corestandards.org/)

•National Governors Association (http://www.nga.org/cms/home.html)

•Council of Chief State School Officers (http://www.ccsso.org/)

FOR MORE INFORMATION…