Springdale transitions to new elementary report cards

SPRINGDALE -- New elementary report cards will give parents a more detailed look at what their children know and are able to do, school officials said.

Parents started hearing about the new report cards at open houses and school events, Young Elementary School Principal Debbie Flora said. Teachers will provide more information at parent-teacher conferences at the end of September. The school also will send a letter to parents with an explanation of how to read the scores on the report cards.

Information on Springdale report cards

• Go to online to sdale.org

• On the alphabetical list of topics, click “R” for report cards

• Click “Report Cards (elementary)”

• Some information on report cards remain under development, so continue to check back for more information.

— STAFF REPORT

"We're excited to be able to report exactly what children have already mastered and what they are still working on," Flora said.

The first nine-week grading period ends Oct. 14, and schools will send home the new standards-based report cards for the first time the week of Oct. 21-28. Parents will keep the paper copies of report cards sent home, said Kathy Morledge, assistant superintendent for instruction for pre-kindergarten through seventh grade.

"Our whole purpose in the beginning was to communicate better with parents," Morledge said.

Springdale principals have asked for years to join other area districts in moving to standards-based report cards, but the district held off amid changes in state standards and in the curriculum taught in schools, Morledge said.

Rogers elementary schools have used standards-based report cards for more than 10 years, said Ashley Siwiec, spokeswoman for the Rogers School District.

The report cards sent home four times a year in Rogers provide a summary score of a 1, 2, 3 or 4 for each major content area, said Virginia Abernathy, assistant superintendent for elementary schools. Teachers also mark descriptors under each content area with an "S" for "satisfactory" or an "N" for "not yet."

The descriptors are based on the state's standards for what children are expected to know and do at each grade level, Abernathy said. In math, a parent can see where a child struggles and where they are doing well, for example.

"We believe it is a much more accurate reporting tool for parents," Abernathy said. "It's much more specific on the areas of growth and areas of weakness for a child."

Bentonville elementary schools use standards-based report cards, and pilot programs have started in the fifth through eighth grades in schools across the district, said Paul Stolt, spokesman for the Bentonville School District.

In Fayetteville, standards-based report cards are in place for kindergarten through second grades, said Steven Weber, associate superintendent for instruction. He's learning about what work Fayetteville schools have done on report cards and what training teachers have had.

Development of the new report cards in Springdale took a year and involved elementary princiapls, assistant principals and educators who were also parents, Morledge said. The new report cards were piloted last school year at George and Walker elementary schools.

George Elementary School reported student performance with the new report cards at the end of the third nine-week grading period last school year, said Annette Freeman, a principal at George Elementary School who was a member of a committee overseeing the project. Parents and teachers provided feedback, the report cards were revised and then were used again in the fourth quarter.

The design of the report card helps parents know the grade-level skills and whether children are performing at or below grade level in each grading period, Freeman said.

Instead of Es and Ses, for "excellent" and "satisfatory," or As and Bs, parents now will see scores of 1, 2 or 3, Freeman said. A 3 means a student has consistently demonstrated mastery of a skill and can apply that skill in new situations, such as applying addition and subtracting skills to solving a word problem in math.

Teachers will give 2s when pupils are making progress, but lack consistency and 1s when children need significant support, Morledge said.

A 3 is not like an A, though, Morledge said. When grades are averaged, the grade on the report card represents student performance on all assignments and tests over a grading period, Morledge said. A "D," an "A" and a "B" in science, for example, would result in a B average on a report card. The average doesn't show where the students excelled or struggled.

If a child has mastered a grade-level skill, the child's teacher will continue to challenge them, Freeman said. Teachers will continue to help other students work toward mastery.

"It's what we've always done," Freeman said.

As, Bs and Cs were easy for parents to understand, but didn't specifiy where students were lacking or where they excelled, said Kimberly Hull, who has a third grader at Walker Elementary School and was asked to give feedback on the new report cards.

The new report cards will be a change and require parents to open them and read them to understand, Hull said. Parents will know more about where their children need help.

"It gives a better assessment of where that child is in what they're learning," Hull said.

Samples of the new report cards will be posted on the Springdale School District website in a few days, Morledge said. The new version will span four full pages, instead of two sides of a folded piece of card stock.

An example of a third grade report card shows where teachers will report a numerical score for a child's reading level. The report card breaks literacy into five sections for phonics, reading, writing, language, and speaking and listening. Each of those sections has a list of specific skills, such as "capitalizes appropriate words in titles" under the language section.

Math is broken down into four components with specific skills under each component. The report cards have a smaller number of skills that will be graded in science, social studies, art, music and physical education. Teachers will mark an "X" for specific work habits, behaviors, handwriting or technology skills that are a concern.

Parents of children who are developing their fluency in English will receive a report marking where students are performing in reading, listening, writing and speaking, Morledge said.

With the new standards-based report cards, teachers focus on where a child is performing on specific skills by the end of a grading period, Morledge said.

"It's a whole different system," Morledge said. "We don't average grades any more."

NW News on 09/17/2016

Upcoming Events