Having grown up oldschool - pun intended - I find it hard to imagine a life without report cards and letter grades to strike the fear of God and parent into a student.
Everything was cut and dried back in the day. The report card memories up through grade 12 go something like this: You made an A? Good job. B, OK, we’ll take that, but do better next time. C? The “side-eye” and a “Girl, what’s wrong with you?” D or F? Well, you just didn’t make them. If you did, you might as well fake your death … or not go home.
But the traditional A-F grading system may be on its way out in North American schools. Some schools are opting for frequent communication and feedback, also known as standards-based grading, according to a story by Emanuella Grinberg on CNN’s website, cnn.com. Grinberg starts out telling how a parent of a 7-year-old girl at Georges Vanier Elementary School in Surrey, British Columbia, got weekly alerts with such things as her daughter’s journal drawings and activity in class.
“Eventually, the district is hoping to phase out periodic report cards in favor of regular, descriptive communication and a year-end summary or portfolio review,” according to the story, in which school district Superintendent Jordan Tinney is quoted as saying report cards are “highly ineffective.” Meanwhile the parent praised the program, commenting that by receiving images of her child’s work, she can get a better grip on any problems her daughter is having.
Wait a minute. Don’t interim reports do that? I remember these as terse forms children had to take home warning their parents that if the child stayed on his present course, “his or her grade will be D.” My one and only experience with an interim report was being surprised by one of these in - not surprisingly - the eighth-grade math class provided for those who weren’t exactly math whizzes.
Apparently, all such reports will be companions of the dinosaur if standards-based grading tales hold.
Although the theory behind this system is the same, schools carry it out differently, Grinberg writes. She names other Canadian schools that have replaced report cards with “a color-coded sliding scale with cues like ‘approaching expectations’ and ‘meeting expectations,’” or ranking student comprehension with word descriptions and holding biannual “student-led” reporting conferences. And lest you think all this is going on just in Canada, a Virginia Beach, Va., elementary school is trying it, also.
I couldn’t help but amuse myself by considering how my classmates and I might have fared had our school days been modern-day … and defined by standards-based grading. It would have been sitcom-worthy, to say the least: Mom getting an iPhone alert, followed by a video of me banging my head against Mrs. Wilson’s math class chalkboard and crying out, “Whyyyyyyyyy?” Me sleeping during junior high social studies films, with Mrs. Smith’s sarcastic text caption, “Wakey-wakey!”
Other progress report by cell phone images come to mind: color-coded progress charts labeled with such categories as “Has a good grip on [fill in subject here],” “Thinks bathroom is for smoking” and “Does well in skipping.” A texted image of a paddle - you know, those things teachers aren’t allowed to use anymore, and the message, “I can’t use corporal punishment, but boy, I wish I could.” Or, for older students who aren’t cutting it, a warning in the form of a video of an older dude burger-flipping at a fast-food restaurant.
I don’t know if I would agree that traditional report cards should be abandoned. But to echo the remarks of one of the experts quoted in the story: Report cards and letter grades should never be a “be all/end all” as far as assessing the intelligence or future success of any student.
Everyone knows that’s the job of those popularity contests.
Shoot me a grade-A email: hwilliams@arkansasonline.com
Style, Pages 49 on 04/20/2014