Parent Guide to Elementary Standards Based Progress Report

Radnor Township School District
Guide to the Elementary Standards-Based Progress Report
Why this change?
In early 2011, the Radnor Township Board of School Directors established a set of goals for the District. One goal, Goal
1.2.2, charged the district “To develop/update elementary report card so that it aligns with the curriculum, accurately
informs parents of their student’s progress and is offered in an electronic format.”
This goal presented the professional staff with an opportunity to address a number of issues with the current reporting
system that have been identified by teachers, parents, and administrators for some time. Teachers and administrators
have been working together since February to revise and update the Elementary Progress Report.
What process was used to develop the draft of the Progress Report to what we see today?
In February of 2011, Assistant Superintendent Dr. Kim Maguire charged the Curriculum Team to research and to develop
a first draft of a new Progress Report. In March, all teachers in grades K-5 from across the district reviewed and
commented on the first draft. The Curriculum Team worked to incorporate as many of the comments from teachers as
possible.
Will the Progress Report be available to parents on line?
Yes. Parents will be able to use Home Access Center to review their child(ren)’s Progress Report every trimester.
Information sessions will be planned for fall 2011.
Why are you calling it a Progress Report rather than a Report Card?
While the terms are often used interchangeably, the documents communicate performance differently.
In secondary schools, a Report Card is issued several times a year and at the end of the year. During each reporting
period, or marking period, the grade that is issued to indicate student performance does not relate to marks earned
previously. Also, since student’s grades “reset” each marking period, it is natural to ask the question, “Given the grades
in each marking period, what is the overall grade for the year?”
For elementary students, a Progress Report provides information to parents on a student’s continual advancement
towards mastery of grade-level content and skills. Traditional report card grades issued on a quarterly basis do not
provide feedback regarding progress toward achieving the end-of-grade-level learning objectives. By using a year-long
focus, one can compare marks earned in one reporting period with those earned in the next, and can gather information
about students progress over the course of the year.

Why is it standards based? What is standards-based grading and reporting?
Standards-based education is not new to education or to Radnor; standards have been an important part of Radnor’s
curriculum for a number of years. Additionally, standards documents exist at the state and national level for all
disciplines.
Since standards are supported by classroom instruction using standards-based texts and standards-based lessons,
standards-based progress reports inform parents specifically about what students know and are able to do and align
more closely to our curriculum materials, instructional practices, and assessment systems.
How were these standards documents selected?
The Progress Report reflects language from the following standards documents:
Subject
English Language Arts
Mathematics
Science
Social Studies
Art
Music
Physical Education & Health
Library
Standards Document
Common Core State Standards (CCSS)
(www.corestandards.org)
Common Core State Standards
Section not revised extensively (see below)
Section not revised extensively (see below)
National Standards for Arts Education
National Standards for Music Education
National Association of Sport and Physical Education and
National Health Education Standards
American Association of School Librarians
The Pennsylvania State Board of Education adopted the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) July 2, 2010. States
adopting the CCSS must adopt the document verbatim and in its entirety but are permitted to add statements to
incorporate any PA standards not addressed in CCSS. Alignment studies and transition planning continues with full
implementation of the CCSS for the 2013-2014 school year. By aligning language on our new report card to CCSS now,
RTSD will save time later. CCSS standards are not yet available for Science and Social Studies. RTSD will examine these
sections of the elementary progress report depending on the outcome and development of CCSS standards in these
disciplines.
Additional information about the CCSS initiative can be found at www.pdesas.org/Standard/CommonCore .
How will marks determined?
In standard based classrooms, the focus is on the student’s performance over multiple opportunities, rather than the
simple grading and averaging of tests and quizzed. Student knowledge and skills are measured on a continual basis;
teacher collect evidence from a variety of sources including careful observations, examination of class work, discussions,
projects, quizzes, and tests. Teachers record information about each child’s progress, compile that information and use
the data to evaluate student performance.
How were the Rating Scales developed?

The Rating Scales that are proposed include two different scales: an Academic Performance Level and a Qualitative
Performance Level. Depending on the item that is being reported, an Academic mark or Qualitative mark would be
given. On the draft of the Progress Report available at www.rtsd.org/ElementaryProgressReport, you will see
indications of whether an Academic (A) or Qualitative (Q) mark would be issued for each item.
Work on the Rating Scales continues and we are asking for suggestions about how to improve this section. If you
have a question or comment on this section, please participate in our survey, located at
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/RTSDElementaryProgressReport.
If you’re measuring progress toward a grade-level standard, can a mark ever “go down”?
Yes. Student skills are expected to develop in sophistication over the course of the year, and it would be unfair to
students to assess them on skills they have not yet learned. Thus, concepts grow in complexity and the assessment
tasks students are asked to perform also increase in complexity.
Consider 2 nd grade mathematics. At the beginning of the year, students might be assessed on their ability to count by
10’s to 100, but by the end of the year assessed on their ability to count to 1000. At the first conference time, there
might be indication that the child is “Proficient” thus far in Operations and Computation, but as the skill demands
increase, there would need to be an increase in the child’s abilities to maintain that “Proficient” mark.
What if a child never reaches proficiency in all areas?
Our curriculum, instruction, and assessments are designed for students to show proficiency. It is our expectation that all
students be proficient. For those who struggle to meet those targets, the Standards-Based Progress Report helps
identify specific areas where students need support.
What if a child shows proficiency in end-of-grade-level expectations in all areas?
Teachers work with all students to continue to develop them to their highest level of potential. When a student is
proficient in all of the skills identified at the grade level, teachers differentiate instruction to move students beyond the
identified goals to deeper levels of understanding.

How were the Qualities of a Learner developed?
The work habits that students bring to the learning environment are critical to a student’s long-term success. The
Qualities of a Learner section draws on language that exists on our current report cards, but modifying that language so
that is usable from grade K to 5. Additionally, this section is expanded using language drawn from report cards in other
local schools. Teachers have reviewed this section in great detail and it has been modified extensively since its first
draft.
Work on the Qualities of a Learner section continues and we are asking for suggestions about how to improve this
section. If you have a question or comment on this section, please participate in our survey, located at
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/RTSDElementaryProgressReport.
How were the Core Subject sections developed?
In the case of Language Arts and Mathematics, descriptors were drawn and synthesized from the Common Core State
Standards (CCSS) documents (see above). Language in the sections of Science and Social Studies has been reviewed by
teachers and will be addressed in the future should CCSS become available in those areas.
Additional documents will be created that specify the grade-level knowledge and skills that students are expected to
master. Examples will be similar to the language in the CCSS (see www.pdesas.org/Standard/CommonCore).
Why is there a single mark for a skill-set like Operations and Computation rather than three different marks for each
of the skills in that set?
In order to give an accurate mark in any given category, it must be assessed multiple times and in multiple ways. Larger
categories allow for sufficient validity with fewer assessment events. Using the specific example cited in the question,
our current assessment system in math is based on the end-of-unit assessments. Using the end-of-unit assessments, a
teacher might not have formally assessed Making Reasonable Estimates enough times in a given reporting period to
provide an accurate mark for that specific skill, but will have assessed the skill-set of Operations and Computation a
sufficient number of times so that a broader mark is valid.
How were the Special Subject sections developed?
In March 2011, K-5 special subject teachers from across the district in Music, Art, Health and Physical Education, and
Library worked to develop their own sections of the report card. In each case, they based the language on the report
card on the nationally recognized standards document of their professional association. Library will appear on the
Progress Report beginning in the 2012-2013 school year.
Two marks appear in the Special subjects that do not appear in the Core subjects—Behavior and Comments. Since
special area teachers are typically unable to attend each parent-teacher conference, they wanted a way to communicate
students’ behaviors in their classes to you in a manner similar to how your child’s classroom teacher will use the
Qualities of a Learner section. Additionally, Special subject teachers will have a list of comments to choose from to
provide parents with additional feedback about how their children are performing in class.

What if my child is in 4 th grade? Will the Health section appear? What if my child isn’t in Instrumental Music? Will
those sections be blank?
As we have been redesigning the elementary report card, we have been examining how we can use the technologies
currently present in the district. Using that technology, we will be able to have the appropriate sections of the report
card appear (or not appear) as appropriate. Thus, students who are in Strings will have the Strings section automatically
appear on their report card. Students not in Strings will not have this blank space. Likewise, the section for Wellness
will be reported and appear on the report cards of students in grades 1-4, but will be replaced by a section for Health
when the student is in grade 5. There are other examples on the report card (recorder skills, some reading foundational
skills, and others) that will appear and disappear depending on the grade level of the child.
What improvements does this Progress Report offer over our current system?
This new Progress Report is better than our existing reporting system for the following reasons:
1) It helps to guide the discussions between parents and teachers about the knowledge and skills students should
master for the grade.
2) It improves communication between schools, parents, and students.
3) It helps students understand the expectations at each grade level.
4) It can help parents support learning at home.
5) It increases communication between and among teachers.
6) It uses consistent language all elementary grades and across all buildings.
7) It is grounded in nationally recognized professional standards documents.
8) It identifies learning patterns over the course of a child’s elementary career.
9) It is supported by current educational research.
What happened to the grades in 5 th grade? Won’t the absence of grades on the 5 th grade report card be detrimental
to my child at the Middle School?
In a standards-based learning environment, the emphasis is on learning and continual progress. A letter or percentage
grade tells a student how he or she performed on average in a broad area but typically does not provide the sort of
feedback that fosters mastery learning. Rather, objective, standardized measures of performance are used.
When will this be in place?
This new Progress Report will be in use November of 2011.

How frequently will Progress Reports be distributed?
Progress Reports will be issued on the same schedule as they currently are: once each in November and March,
accompanied by a conference, and once at the conclusion of the school year.
What will the Progress Report look like?
The final look of the Progress Report is still being developed at this time. Currently, our work is focusing on the content
of the Progress Report and how effectively it communicates with parents rather than the aesthetics.
How can parents provide feedback on the Progress Report?
A survey is available to parents by visiting http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/RTSDElementaryProgressReport. We invite
your feedback.
Will this be the final time parents can provide feedback?
No. Beginning with the first use of the Progress Report in November of 2011 and continuing until June of 2012, parents
and teachers will have the opportunity to provide feedback about the report card and offer suggestions for its
improvement.
Additional Reading
Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. (2002). Grading and reporting student learning: An ASCD
professional inquiry kit. Alexandria, VA: Author.
Colby, S. A. (1999). Grading in a Standards-Based System. Educational Leadership, 57(6), p. 52-55.
Guskey, T. R., & Bailey, J. M. (2001). Developing Grading and Reporting Systems for Student Learning. Thousand Oaks,
CA: Corwin Press.
Marzano, R. (2000). Transforming Classroom Grading. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum
Development.
Wiggins, G. (1996). Honesty and fairness: Toward better grading and reporting in communicating student learning: 1996
Yearbook of the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development T. R. Guskey, (Ed.). Alexandria, VA:
Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.