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From the Chicago Tribune, Monday, August 27, 2001. See
http://chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-0108270170aug27.story
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Parents fault way schools grade kids
Some want return to A-to-F system
By Lisa Black
After years of watching schools experiment with various methods of evaluating their children's work, Illinois parents are increasingly asking educators to try something novel: A's, B's, C's, D's and F's.
Letter grades may be old-fashioned, they say, but at least the
meaning is clear.
In many early elementary grades, today's report cards -- now sometimes called progress reports -- offer gradual glimpses of children's development instead of a hard-and-fast judgment. The trend has accelerated recently as many districts revise them in response to Illinois' new learning standards.
As a result, parents in Evanston, Mt. Prospect, St. Charles and
other Chicago suburbs have kicked up a fuss, saying it's hard to tell
from the new report cards whether their kids are doing well in
school.
"There's too much jargon," said Carolyn Laughlin, an Evanston parent and private tutor. "If we want parents to open the report cards and have good clear discussions with their kids and their teachers, we have to play it straight."
Even in Chicago -- a holdout district that still provides letter grades beginning with 1st grade -- a new standards-based report card will be tried out in 60 elementary schools this fall.
Letter grades are not popular with most educators, who contend that giving out an A, B or C presents only a subjective, limited picture of performance, forcing teachers to combine different types of knowledge and skills into a single assessment.
They prefer an approach toward measuring student achievement in which they present a portfolio of each student's work, as well as a detailed list of skills and how the child is progressing in each area.
For instance, a new 2nd-grade progress report to be used this
fall in Evanston/Skokie School District 65 lists 11 skills under the
subject of math, including "Understands basic concepts of
multiplication and division."
Teachers mark a box with a number from 1 to 4, with 1 defined as "Not making satisfactory progress towards meeting grade level standards," 2 as "Making satisfactory progress towards meeting grade level standards," 3 as "Meets grade level standards" and 4 as "Exceeds grade level standards."
The Illinois learning standards, adopted in 1997, spell out what a student should know at each grade level.
Laughlin, the only parent who served on a two-year committee that studied report cards for the Evanston/Skokie district, likes the detail of the new standards-based reports that will go home with every child in the coming school year.
But she thinks a letter should summarize results beginning in the 4th grade, instead of the 6th grade as decided. That put her at odds with the nearly three dozen teachers who served on the committee and were opposed to letter grades.
The Chicago Public Schools are unusual in that the system still uses letter grades, even for very young children.
"Whether or not we'll let go of letter grades any time soon is under debate," said Roberta Brooks, language arts manager for the schools who has worked with a committee on report card revisions. "Parents understand them. ... To move to a new point would take many pilots."
It also would probably generate controversy. Educators have
learned to be careful before messing with report cards.
"I think we're all struggling with how do we report
accurately to parents and how do we get parents to understand what
we're talking about," said Inna Kerrigan, curriculum director for
Deerfield School District 109. The Lake County district will begin
reviewing report cards this school year.
Critics believe well-intentioned officials have softened report
cards too much over the years to avoid hurting a child's self-esteem.
In Evanston, District 65 used categories such as "developing"
or "emerging" to describe mastery of various subjects,
prompting some parents to complain that they didn't know their
children were actually trailing far behind.
The "developing" and "emerging" categories have been omitted in the new progress reports. Still, "there's other language used that's almost euphemistic," said Greg Klaiber, one of two District 65 trustees who voted against the reports.
Educators suspect many parents oppose change because they want report cards to look the same as the ones they remember. Some also seem to be more concerned with how their child compares with his peers.
Locally and across the nation, report cards are hardly uniform. Nearly every school district designs its own or contracts with a consultant for a computerized program. Some software allows teachers to choose from hundreds of pre-written comments to summarize the child's work. Others consist only of narrative, pages and pages of personalized assessments.
"You get a report card that is a little too general and
people will say, 'I want more information,' " said Walt Warfield,
executive director of the Illinois Association of School
Administrators. "You fill it with specifics and people say that's
too much. I don't think it's nearly as important how people report to
parents as the dialogue that goes on. The process is really a healthy
thing."
In Mt. Prospect and St. Charles, school officials gradually changed the report cards over the past few years to adapt to state standards. Both found parents were happiest when they compromised, giving both letter grades and a checklist of standards-based skills.
Mt. Prospect School District 57, for instance, began providing letter grades in 3rd grade because if it didn't, parents attempted to do it themselves.
"They would ask, 'Now this "satisfactory"--is it a
C or is it a B?' " said Robbie Gibson-Minor, assistant
superintendent for curriculum and instruction.
"In their minds, they're translating things into letter
grades," she said. "We thought, 'Wouldn't we rather spend
our time talking about the progress the kids have made, the strengths
and where they need improving?' "
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Jerry P.Becker
Department of Curriculum & Instruction
Southern Illinois University
Carbondale, IL 62901-4610 USA
Phone: (618) 453-4241 [O]
(618) 457-8903 [H]
Fax: (618) 453-4244
E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Department of Curriculum & Instruction
Southern Illinois University
Carbondale, IL 62901-4610 USA
Phone: (618) 453-4241 [O]
(618) 457-8903 [H]
Fax: (618) 453-4244
E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
