Elementary Progress Reports
Holiday Greetings!
It's that wonderful time of year with the holidays fast approaching. This time of year also marks the end of first semester, and that is when Elementary Progress Reports are sent home to parents. Last year I let you know that the district had a 'brand new' format for these reports. They were not very successful - so yes, they have changed - again.
* Might I also advise that you stop reading right here? The rest of this post has the potential to overwhelm and frustrate you without the aide of the actual report in front of you. My suggestion is to save this for when you open the report and need to navigate the changes and information. EPR reports are released at the district level on Saturday, December 17th. If you struggle to find it, check the district website.
So you officially have my permission to just ignore me...for now😃
Wishing you the very best.
General Information about the EPR
You don't need your child's report up just yet....
What's the same:
* The reports are still electronic.
* You still access the report through your Parent Portal account.
* There is a tab for school-wide behavior expectations.
* Standard based grading for achievement.
* The report communicates achievement - not growth.
* They do not contain specifics. (No written report can really do this - only a conference with a teacher can give a parent this level of specificity and detail - by looking directly at student work.)
What's different:
* We are assigning an over-all category of mastery for a content area (reading, writing, mathematics, social studies and science) that labels the student: On Grade Level, Above Grade Level or Approaching Grade Level. (What??? Details and examples follow later in the post)
* The content area does not list all the state content standards.
* We are not reporting out on World Class Outcomes.
* We are not reporting out on the 4'C's or the 21st Century Skills.
* A few parents I field tested the new report with, report they like this much better.
What might be confusing:
* Navigating the report - though the desire was to make it easier.
* The interpretation of the rating within a category -standards based grade (see details below)
* Two ratings -
The category in black print (On Grade Level, Above Grade Level, Approaching Grade Level)
and a rating within that category (seen in green above).
Feedback on the last rendition of the report from parents and district survey:
* Most parents are not looking at the report.
* Parents appreciate comments.
* Parents unclear about what are World Class Outcomes.
* Many parents just wanted to know if their student was 'grade level'.
Pull your child's report up now...
(There are examples at the tail end of this section that should help you immensely.)
Here's what you need to understand about reading the report:
On Grade Level
Above Grade Level
Approaching Grade Level
* We hope this will make understanding the report easier for you as you'll know right away where your student is achieving in the content/concept of their current grade- On Grade Level, Above, or Approaching.
Within each of these categories (On, Above or Approaching grade level) teachers will have selected a rating: Exceeds, Meets, Approaching, Does Not Meet - so that you have a good sense of how the student is doing within that category.
What you see in blue will be the content.
Listed in black print is the category of achievement.
The 'rating' will be a color (orange, yellow, green, blue) and labeled.
Here's a little cheat sheet for understanding the ratings:
Ratings are on the following scale:
Exceeds
Meets
Approaching
Does Not Meet
Here's what they each mean: (You will also see this when you hover over the rating)
Exceeds: Indicates a high level of achievement; it communicates that a student has a strong understanding of the content/concept/skills taught during the semester and can demonstrate understanding independently and with very few errors. (A rating of Exceeds does not mean that the student is working on advanced content/concepts/skills. This has been a confusion.)
Meets: Indicates that a student demonstrates understanding of content/concepts/skills most of the time and with limited support. Student makes few major errors or omissions when demonstrating concept/skills.
Approaching: Indicates that a student requires moderate support to demonstrate understandings of concepts/skills. Demonstrated understanding of concepts/skills is inconsistent or infrequent indicating a partial understanding. Errors or omissions in work are more frequent.
Does Not Meet: Indicates that a student seldom demonstrates understandings of concepts and skills taught during the semester. Student requires considerable support to demonstrate learning of concepts and skills and makes frequent errors when demonstrating understanding.
Let's use this as an example:
This student is working on grade level concepts/content and has a rating of meets so that means that they are demonstrating understanding of content/concepts/skills most of the time and with limited support. This student makes few major errors or omissions when demonstrating concept/skills.
Here's another example:
Let's say the content is math again. This student is working on concepts/content beyond the grade level they are in. Within that more advanced content they are demonstrating understanding of content/concepts/skills most of the time and with limited support. This student makes few major errors or omissions when demonstrating concept/skills.
Another example:
Again, let's say in this example that the content is math. This student is working at grade level and requires moderate support to demonstrate understandings of concepts/skills. This student's demonstrated understanding of concepts/skills is inconsistent or infrequent indicating a partial understanding. Errors or omissions in work are more frequent.
I trust it will make more sense when you see the full report. You can hover over any of the ratings and the full explanation will be available.
Teachers have provided comment(s) personal to your child. The comments from the Performing Arts and Visual Arts are an explanation of the units of study thus far this year.
If you are frustrated or need some assistance in understanding the report, do not hesitate to reach out to me.
Happy Holidays!
Deborah
