WHAT THEY ARE | WHY THEY WERE DEVELOPED | HOW THEY WERE DEVELOPED | WHY THEY’RE VALUABLE | CONSIDERATIONS | SAMPLE
		STANDARDS-BASED REPORT CARDS A tool for districts to report on student progress in a traditional format with new standards-based measures Developed by Corpus Christi Independent School District

WHAT THEY ARE

Corpus Christi Independent School District's (CCISD) standards-based report cards, used at all grade levels, are easy-to-understand reports of student progress that merge traditional grading systems with new measurements on standards achievement.

The report card is formatted with places to report on two measures and give brief information about standards:

• The top of the report card contains places for traditional letter or numerical grades.

• The bottom of the report card contains space for indicators of student achievement on performance standards.

• The back of the report contains abbreviated descriptions of the standards listed by subject and grade.

WHY THEY WERE DEVELOPED

At the core of accountability is the process of communicating results. Standards are changing the conversation among parents about new expectations of students, yet parents in nearly every school district are confused when they see that student progress is still measured using traditional grades and report cards.

CCISD developed its standards-based report card as a clear and logical method for reporting student progress. The district needed a way to communicate to teachers, parents, and students that it was serious about standards, and one way to do that was to report achievement of the standards on report cards.

HOW THEY WERE DEVELOPED

A district Grading Guidelines Committee composed of teachers, administrators, and parents determined that the report card would have to retain elements of the familiar - the old grading system - as well as the unfamiliar - the academic performance standard.

The grading committee struggled over what it would accept as a passing grade and arrived at the following: to receive course credit, a student has to achieve all academic performance standards and receive a grade of at least 70. The Committee continues to revisit and refine the issues of a cut-off grade each year.

WHY THEY’RE VALUABLE

"Parents understand that a student has to achieve all of the academic standards in all core subject areas - reading, language arts, math, social studies and science - in order to be promoted," says Maria Goodloe, assistant superintendent for instruction in CCISD. The standards-based report cards not only gives parents the definition of the standard, but also provides a reference or check list to show that a child has achieved one standard but not another."

With the standards-based report cards, explains Goodloe, "the district has a way for parents to see what it is everyone is supposed to be teaching, what it is everyone is supposed to be learning and how well their kids are doing at it."

CONSIDERATIONS FOR LOCAL USE

The report cards are well accepted by students, parents and the community, and have the support of teachers in the district. Getting to this level of acceptance, however, required deliberate planning and extensive public engagement. It takes time plan for the expected stages of change, make change, and communicate change.

For districts working on their own standards-based report cards, Goodloe makes several recommendations for local planning and engagement:

Build parent understanding. For the report cards to be effective, parents need to know what students will learn at each grade level and in each class and how teachers will assess the quality of the learning. Corpus Christi administrators have used brochures, back-to-school nights and student-led conferences to build parents' understanding of standards.

Be prepared for parents who don't hear the message. Some parents are surprised how serious Corpus Christi is about the academic standards. The district uses several communications vehicles to help them understand that the only thing that counts is work toward academic standards.

Work closely with the technology. The first snag in Corpus Christi was technology. When the report cards were ready to go out, the technology was not ready to support the report card. Teachers had to calculate grades by hand and some made errors in the calculations. The first missteps earned the district bad press and caused skepticism among parents.

SAMPLE

See the three components of Corpus Christi's standards-based report card.