Report Cards
Reporting Methods
District 76 uses a variety of tools to support student and parent understanding of student progress. Three times per year, each student receives a report card to provide information on their progress in relationship to the Illinois Learning Standards and the Common Core State Standards.
|
Grade and/or Subject |
Grading System |
|---|---|
|
K-5 All subjects |
SBRC |
| 6-8 All Grades and Subjects | SBRC |
Standards-Based Report Cards
Standards based grading is the practice of measuring student proficiency against defined standards and learning targets. Because standards based grading closely ties academic performance to learning standards, it allows for a more accurate and specific report of student academic performance. While traditional grading may include such behaviors as student motivation, extra credit, participation, organization and other non-academic behaviors, standards based reporting is designed to report student progress toward achieving an academic standard while separating out all other non academic behaviors. The goal of standards based reporting is to provide clear feedback to teachers, students and parents as to the academic performance of the student.
The purpose of the standards based report card is to clearly communicate student progress towards achieving established state/district learning standards. The standards based report card supports parents/guardians and the student in understanding academic strengths and areas in need of improvement.
Standards-Based Report Cards Give Meaning to Grades:
- Grades reflect the student's mastery of the content or skill.
- Defines what learning and student mastery should look like.
Standards-Based Reporting Changes the Way We Look at Schooling:
- We now look at learning based on mastery of specific skills not just an overarching grade in the subject area.
- Educational tasks align to the standards.
Standards-Based Reporting Creates Greater Consistency in Grading
- All student grades reflect mastery of standards rather than individual grading practices.
Standards-Based Reporting Impacts Instruction
- Allows teachers to focus on learning tasks more specifically on skills and content.
- Gives teachers feedback as to how to reteach or focus instruction.
Diamond Lake School District 76 has adopted research based guidelines for the development of standards based grading:
- Grades will reflect proficiency in defined standards-based learning targets.
- Grades will be based on academic performance using formative and summative assessments.
- Students will be given multiple ways to demonstrate their knowledge.
- Feedback will be timely, specific, and related to the standards-based learning target.
- Students will be given multiple opportunities to reach proficiency on specific standards-based targets.
- Grading scales will be devised into incremental performance level descriptors.
- Level 4.0: Student demonstrates an in-depth understanding of concepts, skills, and processes taught in this reporting period and exceeds the required performance.
- Level 3.5: In addition to score 3.0 performance, partial success at score 4.0 content.
- Level 3.0: Student has mastered the concepts, skills, and processes taught in this reporting period.
- Level 2.5: No major errors or omissions regarding score 2.0 content, and partial success at score 3.0 content.
- Level 2.0: Student is beginning to demonstrate an understanding of concepts, skills, and processes taught in this reporting period. (This is usually a foundational goal.)
- Level 1.5: Partial success at score 2.0 content and major errors or omissions regarding score 3.0 content.
- Level 1.0: Student does not yet demonstrate an understanding of concepts, skills, and processes taught in this reporting period.
- NE: Not evaluated at this time.
-
Standards-Based Report Cards Give Meaning to Grades:
- Grades reflect the student's mastery of the content or skill.
- Defines what learning and student mastery should look like.
Standards-Based Reporting Changes the Way We Look at Schooling:
- We now look at learning based on mastery of specific skills not just an overarching grade in the subject area.
- Educational tasks align to the standards.
Standards-Based Reporting Creates Greater Consistency in Grading
- All student grades reflect mastery of standards rather than individual grading practices.
Standards-Based Reporting Impacts Instruction
- Allows teachers to focus on learning tasks more specifically on skills and content.
- Gives teachers feedback as to how to reteach or focus instruction.
-
Diamond Lake School District 76 has adopted research based guidelines for the development of standards based grading:
- Grades will reflect proficiency in defined standards-based learning targets.
- Grades will be based on academic performance using formative and summative assessments.
- Students will be given multiple ways to demonstrate their knowledge.
- Feedback will be timely, specific, and related to the standards-based learning target.
- Students will be given multiple opportunities to reach proficiency on specific standards-based targets.
- Grading scales will be devised into incremental performance level descriptors.
-
- Level 4.0: Student demonstrates an in-depth understanding of concepts, skills, and processes taught in this reporting period and exceeds the required performance.
- Level 3.5: In addition to score 3.0 performance, partial success at score 4.0 content.
- Level 3.0: Student has mastered the concepts, skills, and processes taught in this reporting period.
- Level 2.5: No major errors or omissions regarding score 2.0 content, and partial success at score 3.0 content.
- Level 2.0: Student is beginning to demonstrate an understanding of concepts, skills, and processes taught in this reporting period. (This is usually a foundational goal.)
- Level 1.5: Partial success at score 2.0 content and major errors or omissions regarding score 3.0 content.
- Level 1.0: Student does not yet demonstrate an understanding of concepts, skills, and processes taught in this reporting period.
- NE: Not evaluated at this time.
Standards-Based Report Cards at the Middle School
District 76 recognizes that students are beginning the transition to secondary education. With this in mind, students will have a letter grade on their report cards that corresponds to the average of each of their standard scores for each standard. For example, if a student earns a 3, 4, 2.5, and 3 for the four different standards in their Math class, the teacher will average the four scores. The average of the four scores in the example is 3.125. Using the scale below, the student would earn an ‘A’ for the Trimester in Math.
|
Grade |
Description |
Cut Off |
Grade Value |
Letter Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
4 |
Exceeds |
100 |
100 |
A |
|
3.5-3.99 |
Exceeds |
95 |
99 |
A |
|
3.0-3.49 |
Meets |
90 |
94 |
A |
|
2.5-2.99 |
Meets |
80 |
89 |
B |
|
2.0-2.49 |
Approaches |
70 |
79 |
C |
|
1.5-1.99 |
Approaches |
60 |
69 |
D |
|
1.0-1.49 |
Not Yet |
35 |
59 |
F |
|
NE |
Not Evaluated |
0 |
0 |
NE |
IMPORTANT:
Due to the limited capabilities of PowerSchool, the letter grade will be updated by the teacher at the midpoint and near the end of the Trimester. That means the letter grade may not appear until the teacher updates it because no assignment will be given a letter-grade.
This capability in PowerSchool cannot be fixed at this time. Teachers will conference with students and set goals for the grade they can earn at the end of the trimester throughout the Trimester. Additionally, students can do the math at any point to calculate their current grade. Honor Roll criteria will remain the same.