Question: What Is a Standard and Why Report on Standards and Not Simply Skills?

Westford School Standards Based Reports New K-4 Report Card

Questions and Answers

Westford School has revised the K-4 report card to reflect Common Core State Standards -CCSS. The purpose of the CCSS standards‐based report card is to communicate to parents, students, and other educators involved in instruction and assessment the progress each of student within these standards. Parents may view the new CCSS report card on the Westford webpage. CCSS reflect literacy and math standards. Other content areas are aligned with state standards.

Question: What is a standard and why report on standards and not simply skills? Answer: A standard describes what your child is expected to learn in a given content at a given point in the year. Skills are smaller subsets that help move a student toward meeting a broader expectation.

Question: How often will I see a report card reflecting standards? Answer: Westford School uses trimester reporting periods. Parents will receive a report card three times per year. The end of the first reporting period is November 22nd. Thus, the first report card will be sent home with students December 6, 2013.

Question: What is the purpose of a standards‐based report? Why the change? Answer: The purpose of a standards‐based report is to provide a specific description of a student’s progress at three designated times each school year. The standards being reported are aligned with the newly adopted Common Core State Standards in Literacy & Math. In order to come to a common understanding of what we expect of our learners and to create a manageable number of identified Power Standards, in areas outside of literacy and math, the Vermont Standards were previously examined by representative K-12 teachers across our Supervisory Union. These Power Standards allow all teachers to vertically support continuous student progress by focusing on essential knowledge and concepts while requiring increasingly sophisticated and skilled applications at every grade level. Westford teachers participated in this work along with rigorous professional development on Common Core State Standards. The new K-4 report card reflects CCSS in Literacy and Math and Power Standards in all other content areas.

Question: How does a teacher determine the description of a child’s progress each trimester? Answer: A variety of evidence (information about learning) is collected to monitor student progress throughout each reporting period in connection with the standards‐based targets. Attendance, behavior, attitude, and effort are not included in those learning artifacts. They are identified as Learning Dispositions and are assessed on the new a standards‐based report card separate from academic standards by the classroom teacher. This distinction gives parents a clear picture of their child’s academic progress based on the expected standard in each content area at each grade level, and provides critical information about other factors that impact a child’s.

Question: What should I do if my child is not “Securely Meeting” the standards‐based targets set for the trimester? Answer: We firmly believe that all learners can make continuous progress. There are many factors that contribute to the rate of progress for each child. If your child is “Developing” at the time of the trimester report, talk to your child and your child’s teacher about what he or she knows and is able to do as well as he or she finds challenging. Westford School welcomes strong partnerships with families in creating solutions to learning challenges. In many cases, there may be one or two skill areas your child needs more time in that the teacher can specifically share with you.

Question: How is “progress” indicated on the standards‐based report? Answer: Learning Progress is described as follows ‐ E – Expanding understanding and application at this time. Student demonstrates sustained competence, understands targeted content and skills, and can independently extend, generalize, and apply concepts and/or processes to new learning in multiple contexts beyond the standards‐based targets. S – Securely meeting the standards‐based targets at this time. Student understands the targeted content and skills and independently, relevantly, and consistently applies concepts and/or processes in a variety of contexts. D – Developing approaches to learning the standards‐based targets at this time. Student understands and can apply some of the targeted content and skills and can complete some learning tasks independently and some with assistance. Progress is noted. B – Beginning the learning process toward the standards‐based targets at this time. Student attempts to make progress, but progress may be limited based on the student’s understanding of targeted content, concepts, and/or application of skills. NA –Not assessed at this time. Your child’s “Learning Dispositions” are described using this same approach.

Question: Can my child actually be “Securely Meeting” targets one trimester and then move to “Developing” the next trimester in the same standard? Answer: Yes. A student’s progress may indicate they are “securely meeting” the benchmarked trimester targets for one trimester, but they may not make sufficient progress to meet the next trimester’s benchmarked targets, which have increased. Conversely, if a child is “developing” or “beginning” in one trimester, they may be “securely meeting” the targets by the following trimester. This would mean they are making progress through the established learning continuum.

Question: What about numeric grades and overall grades? What’s the problem with a traditional report card? Answer: There is research to support that a single letter or percentage grade that represents averaged and/or weighted learning activities, behaviors, and effort is not the best method to report student achievement or progress. Most reporting of grades, no matter how much “grading criteria” has been put in place, remains vulnerable to varying expectations, and therefore cannot represent a description of the learner that is necessary for monitoring continuous progress. According to leading educational researcher, Robert Marzano, “Any technique used to obtain an overall score results in a distortion of information” (Transforming Classroom Grading). Researcher Doug Reeves asserts that changing grading practices is not an option, but a “moral imperative.” He goes on to say, “If you wanted to make just one change that would immediately reduce student failure rates, then the most effective place to start would be challenging prevailing grading practices.” The goal of the K-4 standards‐based report is to provide an objective description of progress based on agreed upon benchmarks and learning evidence (student work) to parents three times a year. Classroom teachers have reviewed their assessment and progress monitoring practices in alignment with the standards‐based targets for the new reporting system to more accurately reflect their standards‐based instruction and formative assessment. Question: What about the 5-8 report card at Westford School? Answer: Westford 5-8 teachers will be adopting a standards based reporting system next year that is compatible with our grading program and complements work being done around the supervisory union at these grade levels. Teachers in the middle school are already implementing CCSS in Literacy & Math and adhering to previously identified Power Standards in all other contents. This year the report card will contain numeric grade averages based on identified grading criteria. The move away from numeric grades to standards based reporting is grounded in research identified best practices as shared above.

Question: What about special education information concerning my child? Answer: The standards‐based reports will not separately indicate a child’s progress status in specialized instruction. Teachers work very hard to differentiate their instruction and collaborate with other learning support personnel to meet the learning needs of all students. If your child is on an IEP, information will be shared with you about the alignment of learning targets with IEP goals each trimester along with the report card. You will continue to receive information regarding your child’s progress toward IEP goals through the IEP process as well.

Question: What if I still have questions? Answer: This is meant to be a brief overview of the standards‐based report card. If you have any additional questions please contact Principal Marcie Lewis. Opportunities to deepen parents’ understanding and support their child’s progress in the standards will occur throughout the year. Please continue to use the Westford School webpage for updates and information.