21st Century Literacy? What about navigating through the Informational Age?
Did seeing Kelly Gallagher's Six Pillars help you think about ways to get kids to read?
What do you think about Responsive Report Card Formats? What is a good way to show what kids really know?
8 comments:
As a parent, it would be great to see a report card format similar to this. This would really let the parent and student know where the child needed help, standards where they were successful, and concepts/standards where the student might need more help. This is critically important where the curriculum builds, (ex. Algebra I) This would be more work on the teacher - rubrics, grade book design, etc. - but would be an accurate report of student progress. I would think this would also be useful information for the next teacher. They could analyze learning and would help them prepare where more instruction might be needed. I know some of this can be accomplished with MAP testing, but students could still have a bad day and the progress report would be more reflective of overall learning.
I believe in rewarding students for effort. It encourages them and builds self-confidence which is needed by so many of our students.
Hopefully, our new PowerSchool software will lend to more options in reports if only in the email progress reports.
Chapter 14 BCSCRI STUDY GROUP
Responsive Report Card Formats
The first paragraph says it all. The parents really drive the report card format. As parents we want to know how our children do compared to other children. After all we have been trained to look for that, even in our child’s growth. “Your child is in the 75th percentile for his height and weight” is a typically statement you hear at your child’s annual physical with the pediatrician. In the school environment we want to know our child’s strengths and weaknesses. But we also want to know why our child scores better on a standardized test in math than in English when the grades reflect that they are better at English than math! We want to know what needs fixing in our children because a test or two defines everything about them. Should they take Honors or College Prep classes? Are they capable of doing college level work? The grades of courses, determine all of that, so you betcha we want to know how are children stack up to others!
The suggested report card format which has the dual approach of personal progress and achievement standards sounds like it is right on the money. For students who could complete all high school requirements in three years this format could reduce the over crowding conditions of schools. The continuous progress report combined with no overall grades report card would help teachers and parents to see clearly if a child is ready to go on to the next level. Each grade would have concepts to be mastered. A student would progress from simply identifying a concept to application, and then mastery. The student would follow each step. Once they master a concept they would progress to the next one. If the student didn’t master the concept, that would be recorded. Students would not be promoted unless they mastered a certain number of concepts. This is sounding like a winner to me but as educators, we won’t know if this is functional until we try it. We would also have to consider our other stake holders- colleges. IF acceptance is based on the traditional grades and GPA, how would this affect our students? Maybe this is food for thought in Wormeli’s next book.
Chapter 14 & 15 Blog 13 Jane Gregory
I believe that the Responsive Report Card formats could be very helpful to next year’s teacher. Because of its specific content areas, these areas could remain constant for the entire semester. Then as we recycle the skills and students gain expertise in each area, we could check them off. Even the basic arithmetic skills could be listed so that when my weaker students make their strides, these concepts could be checked off also.
I have taught for thirty-five years and I can’t ever remember being in a meeting to discuss grading techniques. Each year at the beginning of the year, there is a short discussion concerning percentages for each area of grading. For example counting tests 60%, quizzes 20% and homework 20%. But never have I been involved in a discussion concerning how to grade. I hear how other teachers grade and do not agree much of the time, but these topics should be discussed often. I enjoyed reading about the author’s 36 suggestions. I did follow the author’s suggestions to write down my own grading policy. On paper it looks sound, but I still don’t believe any grading system is truly fair to judge the skills obtained. Many of my students gain expertise long after the initial test is given since our skills are recycled again and again. It then becomes my job to reassess their learning at a later date. I like the author’s statement “ Three steps forward, two steps back is still progress, and it’s easier with a smile.”
The report card format would be a great improvement. Parents want to know where their child is placing in reference to standards. By being more specific, parents would know which skills their child needed assistance. Feedback is the most important factor in helping a student progress to comprehension. This format would create a portfolio for the next teacher which would be helpful because he could assess the class' specific skills prior to teaching them.
I agree with Lendy--this sort of format could also elminate the MAP testing process. We can evaluate a student's learning based on progressive, day-to-day notations rather than two days of testing (either or both of which the student could have decided MAP time was actually NAP time).
The graph on 163 is very interesting...it allows for not only evaluative sections (Analysis and Synthesis) but also for Prediction--this allows academic communication with the parent and student rather than computer optioned comments "Great student, hard worker" "Capable of better work..." etc.
This has been the first year that I have constantly used rubrics and I have found them very helpful. It would be great if there was a universal grading system but we don’t live in a perfect world. While I was reading I disagreed with the statement “the reality is that the difference in learning (mastery) between the high and low versions of one particular grade is not that much.” Yes the difference may only be a few points but a few points here and there can add up and show what the student has mastered. The reading tried to say that ranking a student according to grades shouldn’t be a part of the education system. To me having a ranking system is necessary for achievement and some students really need it to be successful. I don’t believe that grades hinder a student but it keeps them on track and works as a reward system that they can understand.
I agree that a new report card format would be beneficial but would all parents be able to determine where their kids were in relation to the class? An A-F is pretty cut and dried and easy to understand. My child is not doing well or my child is doing great. A-F tells us nothing else. As I mentioned in an earlier post, Montessori School does a great job of reporting on a child's proficiency. Included in their report is a child's understanding of certain concepts and where they may need help. In keeping with Kate's theme, perhaps we should do away with the grades such as 9th 10th 11th etc. Instead move a student along when they are proficient and shown mastery in their standards. What do y'all think. Mitch
Responsive report card formats is in issue that the school district will have to wrestle with even more next year now that all of our students are “college-prep”. All of our students are not above average, but if parents are getting report cards that say their children are passing and doing well in college prep classes, most will believe that the child is at or above grade level. Unless we have an “asterisk” next to the grade, as Wormeli suggests, with a full explanation it appears that we maybe lying to the parents, as well as the students.
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