1. Grade 6 Report Cards October 2008

2. Why Standards Based Report Cards  Standards based report cards give a better picture of a student's specific strengths and possible areas for growth within a content area.  Keeps the focus on essential content standards as teachers monitor student progress on those standards.  Teachers have been using standards based grading, so it makes sense to report using those same standards - 2 systems down to one!  Effort and academic progress/performance are separated  100 point scales and averaging may give the illusion of accuracy

3. Walk through of the Report Card  Guiding Principles Similar to K-5 Comments  Content Areas Grading Scale MLR standard numbers http://www.maine.gov/education/lres/ Standard descriptors Effort

4. Role of PowerSchool  Tracking individual assignments  How are “grades” figured? This year is a learning process Use of rubrics Making standards the categories (teachers can then do reports of assignments pertaining to a category) – developing assessments that accurately report to standards Goal is accurately reporting what your child knows and is able to do – how does averaging fit in?

5. Thomas Gusky on Averaging Grades  “Simply combining all the measures and calculating an average or even a weighted average is rarely appropriate or fair.  Instead – teachers must look for consistency in evidence  If evidence is inconsistent: Give priority to the most recent evidence Give priority to the most comprehensive evidence Give priority to the evidence related to the most important learning goals or standards.

6. Final Thoughts  Report cards are one part of a system that enables parents to understand their child's progress in school.  Performance on individual assignments is available to parents through the parent portal.  Parent conferences, student-led conferences, and student work samples provide other means for communication.  Finally, if either parents or teachers are concerned with a child's progress, it is important that that concern be communicated at any time.  This will be a learning journey for all of us!  Questions?