New FCPS report cards - no letter grades?!?

[Anonymous]

Anyone know about the new report cards ("progress reports") that FCPS is rolling out this year? (Our school is one of the 2011-12 selected schools.) I looked at the sample on the website and I'm not sure how any of this is an improvement.

http://www.fcps.edu/DIS/elemProgReport/index.html

[Anonymous]

They used this at my daughter's school last year and I didn't even realize it was something new that was going to be implemented county wide. I thought it was a normal K thing. I liked them a lot last year, but it'll be interesting to see how they play out in the older grades.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They used this at my daughter's school last year and I didn't even realize it was something new that was going to be implemented county wide. I thought it was a normal K thing. I liked them a lot last year, but it'll be interesting to see how they play out in the older grades.

Thanks for posting. I'm curious how students in the upper grades have a sense of how they are doing, especially in math, as they approach middle school.

[Anonymous]

First: kindergarten, first and second have always had this kind of report (although first and second have used Outstanding, good, satisfactory and needs improvement). It makes sense in the lower grades where they don't have tests and therefore, they don't have numeric scores to compare to benchmarks.

However, once kids start taking quizzes and tests, IMO, they should be given actual grades. I really hate the "always shows this skill," "sometimes shows this skill," etc. for the mid/upper elementary grades. Kids need to know that getting a "C" is not acceptable (in my house it isn't ) and they should know where they stand compared the the amount of material they were taught and expected to learn. When parents see "sometimes shows this skill" it sounds like == eh, it's probably good enough. Parents don't have a good idea of whether they need to help/push their kids more or if they are doing ok.

I've seen this even in first grade. The reports/comments are written with such positive language, that it doesn't really tell parents where their child is falling behind. I have seen kids whose reading skills were way behind. The parents probably don't know that the child is behind b/c the comments are something like "is working toward full comprehension of passages" == which sounds ok. Except, in real life, that kid is not keeping up with the benchmarks in first grade.

They take away all the worksheet and work products -- so parents don't get regular feedback on the child's work. Then they put in these fuzzy, feel-good comments that make it sound like everyone is successful, and THEN, they wonder why parents aren't helping their kids more and why the kids are behind! There is a connection.

Bring back the letter grades for the middle/upper elementary kids!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:First: kindergarten, first and second have always had this kind of report (although first and second have used Outstanding, good, satisfactory and needs improvement). It makes sense in the lower grades where they don't have tests and therefore, they don't have numeric scores to compare to benchmarks.

However, once kids start taking quizzes and tests, IMO, they should be given actual grades. I really hate the "always shows this skill," "sometimes shows this skill," etc. for the mid/upper elementary grades. Kids need to know that getting a "C" is not acceptable (in my house it isn't ) and they should know where they stand compared the the amount of material they were taught and expected to learn. When parents see "sometimes shows this skill" it sounds like == eh, it's probably good enough. Parents don't have a good idea of whether they need to help/push their kids more or if they are doing ok.

I've seen this even in first grade. The reports/comments are written with such positive language, that it doesn't really tell parents where their child is falling behind. I have seen kids whose reading skills were way behind. The parents probably don't know that the child is behind b/c the comments are something like "is working toward full comprehension of passages" == which sounds ok. Except, in real life, that kid is not keeping up with the benchmarks in first grade.

They take away all the worksheet and work products -- so parents don't get regular feedback on the child's work. Then they put in these fuzzy, feel-good comments that make it sound like everyone is successful, and THEN, they wonder why parents aren't helping their kids more and why the kids are behind! There is a connection.

Bring back the letter grades for the middle/upper elementary kids!

PP, are you a teacher?

[Anonymous]

No. I just think that parents need (and want) more concrete feedback about what the child is doing compared to what they are expected to do. This focus on "Johnny is working on recognizing sounds" when actually 75% of the other Johnnys and Janes in the same grade are reading more complicated books does everyone a disservice.

If I didn't work in the classroom I wouldn't have a clue about whether my child is on target, ahead of target, or behind the target. I think a lot of parents must assume that all is good unless they are specifically told that their kid is behind. Let's stop telling everybody that they are just fine, and start telling parents that they need to get more involved with their child b/c they are falling behind early on. The kids have great potential, but some are not reaching it and I think there is a connection with the parents not knowing that they need to work with the child more in some areas.

I hate the pre-authorized comments that the teachers are required to use to... doesn't tell me anything personalized to my child and how s/he is doing. I was told by a friend that she always requests a conference (every quarter) and I think I'm going to start doing that just to get the personalized evaluation that doesn't come on the report card.

[Anonymous]

We had these report cards in California, and they were TERRIBLE.

Ours were structured in 2 parts. Each subject listed a heading with the tradional unsatisfactory/satisfactory/outstanding grading, followed by the second part, the list of testing standards for each core subject. In the testing standard section, the students received a ranking of 1-4. This ranking was related to the classes progress towards the material, NOT the individual student's mastery.

For example, on the Math section of my son's third grade report card, there was a standard of "memorizes and understands multiplication and division facts through the 10s" My son received a 2 out of 4 on this skill for first trimester, not because he was at a 50% mastery point personally (he could do these skils since 2nd grade so was at an 90-10% mastery starting 3rd grade) but because the teacher had not yet fully covered the material in class. So, you might have a student who is performing above or far above grade level and who has already mastered the skills listed, but because the class has not yet covered the material or only been introduced the material they are receiving a report card full of 2s and 3s.

I assume that works on the flip side as well where a student does not comprehend the material, but because the class has covered the testing standards they receive 3s and 4s on their report card. As I said, this is just an assumption based off how the report card was explained to us by the schools and not based on experience.

The most frustrating part was when you compared the actual California testing scores (which followed the standards on the report card line by line) and a child received perfect scores on the actual test, but a 2 or 3 on the report card standards. This happened to several students at our school.

I really hope the FCPS is not going to the same standards based report card as we used in Califonia. It was confusing, inaccurate, frustrating, did not promote student achievement, and none of the parents could understand how it correlated to their kids actual performance.

[Anonymous]

I do like the Life, Work, and Citizenship skills area. I think these are important skills and am glad that they are on the front page and appear just as important as all the other subjects. I do agree that there should be a separate progress report for K-3 verses 4-6. It is just too many years to lump together.

[Anonymous]

PP 15:11 here. OK, I looked at the pdf online, and this looks like the same report card from California, but the ratings address the student's demonstration of the skills, and not whether the material was covered by the teacher. I hope that I am understanding it correctly for the new report cards. The California report cards were so frustrating.

[Anonymous]

I like it. I think it tells a parent much more than the current system does. I don't think "sometimes shows this skill" communicatest the child is doing well. It communicates that the child is inconsistent in application of the skill and requires additional work. "Working towards mastery" communicates just that. I'm much more interested in knowing my child's competency level than what their score on a test is and I really don't care how my kid compares to other kids in the class. We have regular contact with the teachers, know the areas they need to work on and complement at home what they've been doing at school. A letter grade tells me nothing.

[Anonymous]

I agree that letter grades are not informative. A few years ago, my kids went to a private school where the report cards were narratives -- very detailed, personalized accounts of my kids' strengths and weaknesses. They were very helpful and also made me feel that the teachers REALLY knew my child.

The letter grades are so random. For example, my youngest daughter is an amazing reader -- reads hundreds of pages a day for pleasure and reads five grade levels ahead. Yet her reading grade was a B. Now, someone who didn't know her would assume she was just average in reading. Of course, I was puzzled about this and when I asked the teacher, she said it was because she did not complete her reading log. (They are required to write down all of the books they read, with pages numbers, etc.) And apparently the completion of the reading log -- not their actual reading effort or reading ability -- was the sole basis of the reading grade.

So this new system may be no better...but to those who defend the random letter grades and think they actually are meaningful, I encourage you to probe further to see what the grades are based upon.

[Anonymous]

I agree that a personalized description would be great, but we're not going to get that. And I disagree that the letter grades are meaningless. They tell me how my child is doing compared to the totality of what has been taught.

The "sometimes," "always," "rarely" stuff is worse than letter grades by far.

[Anonymous]

I think these new report cards are terrible. I can't imagine gaining any really info from sometimes does it, versus consistently does that. Just another way to PC the whole grading system. I wonder if all the other countries with better education systems that ours use these report cards.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I agree that a personalized description would be great, but we're not going to get that. And I disagree that the letter grades are meaningless. They tell me how my child is doing compared to the totality of what has been taught.

The "sometimes," "always," "rarely" stuff is worse than letter grades by far.

The new system also tells you how your child is doing. Maybe you're just not able to make the 'translation'. If you don't understand how your child is doing, ask the teacher. Or are you just disappointed that you're not going to be able to brag that you've got an 'A' student?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:First: kindergarten, first and second have always had this kind of report (although first and second have used Outstanding, good, satisfactory and needs improvement). It makes sense in the lower grades where they don't have tests and therefore, they don't have numeric scores to compare to benchmarks.

However, once kids start taking quizzes and tests, IMO, they should be given actual grades. I really hate the "always shows this skill," "sometimes shows this skill," etc. for the mid/upper elementary grades. Kids need to know that getting a "C" is not acceptable (in my house it isn't ) and they should know where they stand compared the the amount of material they were taught and expected to learn. When parents see "sometimes shows this skill" it sounds like == eh, it's probably good enough. Parents don't have a good idea of whether they need to help/push their kids more or if they are doing ok.

I've seen this even in first grade. The reports/comments are written with such positive language, that it doesn't really tell parents where their child is falling behind. I have seen kids whose reading skills were way behind. The parents probably don't know that the child is behind b/c the comments are something like "is working toward full comprehension of passages" == which sounds ok. Except, in real life, that kid is not keeping up with the benchmarks in first grade.

They take away all the worksheet and work products -- so parents don't get regular feedback on the child's work. Then they put in these fuzzy, feel-good comments that make it sound like everyone is successful, and THEN, they wonder why parents aren't helping their kids more and why the kids are behind! There is a connection.

Bring back the letter grades for the middle/upper elementary kids!

You sound like one of those hyper-competitive parents who is never satisfied and is always pushing, pushing, pushing. I really don't care what grades my kids get. Grades don't tell me how well my child has mastered the material or if he's doing his best work, giving school his best effort. You have no idea what other parents know or don't know about their kids. It's also none of your business. You should focus more on your own child and if you don't understand where your child is in terms of his learning, feel free to ask for a conference.