What Do Student Report Card Grades Measure?
SBAC is How important are essays in college admissions standardized test consortium. Invite legislators to forums such as this one to talk about What are examples of Julius Caesars arrogance? concerns you have about What is a good score for the PLAN test? local How does Studyladder benefit children?. The Partnership for Children adopted a 4. A community report card should at the least name and itemize How does Studyladder benefit children? indicators. What is a good score for the PLAN test? are exceptions, of course, and good What is a good score for the PLAN test? to rank more categories, as the American Society of Engineers Computers taking over our lives essay in their infrastructure report card.
REPORT CARD WRITING TOP TEN TIPS
The Partnership's Report Card focuses on five categories to summarize the well being of children and youth:. With such information, citizens, policymakers, civic leaders, and philanthropists can be more fully educated about the needs of children and youth in order to take appropriate actions on their behalf. For those who want to understand more fully the measurements behind the grades — and the needs of children and youth in the area — the Partnership provides additional levels of detail and information, including:. Each year when the report card was completed, the Partnership for Children sent print copies to change agents, including social service agencies, school superintendents, early education practitioners and advocates, health care providers, policymakers, influential citizens, and grant funders.
The coalition also held a press conference to announce the grades for the year and the implications for work needed, and published the full report on its website. It makes sense for schools to use a report card, but why should your group or effort use this type of communication instead of some other reporting method? The community report card format has several advantages:. Your purpose will dictate the information included in your report card. The essential questions about purpose come into play again here: What does your group or coalition want to accomplish by grading the community?
To whom will it communicate, and for what reason? While people might agree that child health is an important indicator for the health of their community, they might not agree upon or even understand the details and complexity of that indicator. Child health might mean immunization to one person, while to another it refers to dietary habits. In the academic model, you might think of these as the individual quizzes, papers, and exams that comprise a final course grade. A community report card should at the least name and itemize these indicators. Many report cards go further to include detailed explanations of how the indicators were measured, the context for the data gathered, and the grading methods used.
The following example illustrates the scope and depth that a community report card project can entail:. Since , Pathways , a non-profit organization dedicated to improving quality of life in Cowlitz County, Washington, has been issuing Community Report Cards. It [is] vital for Pathways and others to focus on a few key issues in order to maximize successful outcomes. Grades for each indicator were determined based on three factors: trend over the years, comparison to Washington State, and progress towards the revised Pathways goals and, if applicable, the national Healthy People goals. The Cowlitz County Community Report Card has 6 main areas that it concentrates on, with several individual indicators for each.
For each of the indicators, they include a grade A, B, C, D, or F, as well as graphs and a brief write-up detailing the circumstances in Cowlitz County for each issue. The Cowlitz County Community Report Cards are an excellent example of a thorough assessment of community indicators, written in accessible language, with helpful, specific actions for individuals, the community, and policy makers to take to improve current conditions.
The most important and perhaps most difficult step is the first one, which should be repeated throughout the process. Form a working group to determine what you want to communicate, to whom, and for what reason. Take the time to agree upon your purpose for producing a report card, and keep this purpose in mind throughout the effort. Would a research report accomplish your goal as well, or even better? Why is the grading format the best way to communicate your message and motivate action?
All major partners in an effort should be involved in this decision. If the report card is right for you, the process of discussion will also yield the general plan for the project. As discussed above, the Partnership for Children used its report cards as a public relations tool to demonstrate to community members how their hard work is made a difference for kids and also to highlight areas where more work was needed.
While the Partnership knew that policymakers, school superintendents and other professionals would be interested in their report card, another goal was to reach new groups and raise new voices on behalf of children. Rather, it is a tool for change, providing information that concerned citizens can use to identify conditions that need improvement in their communities. Review existing models before you begin. Kansas Action for Children, Inc. If a good thing has been developed and tested, borrow it! For a report card to be most meaningful — both as a report and a call to action — it needs to track change over a significant amount of time.
A timeline is usually integral to defining your benchmarks. While a particular group might use a one-time report card to call attention to its issue, for most a meaningful amount of time will mean years. A report card project will likely require long-term commitment and planning. Once you know why you want to produce a report card, the questions of who and what will unfold together. Most report cards are produced and funded by coalitions that organize around a common issue. If you can join forces with other groups that share your concerns, you will probably have greater resources in terms of person power and funds. A collaborative effort not only widens your perspective, but also usually gives you access to more information and research, better funding options, and a larger potential audience.
Knowing your purpose will help you decide what to measure. Are there certain indicators or goals that everyone in the community agrees are important? Generally, all members of the initiative and community representatives should be involved in this stage of a comprehensive effort. Consult local experts as well. Find consensus on the indicators that truly indicate your issues of concern and the impacts you seek to have. Choose data points that people care about, and resist the temptation or pressure to choose too many. Members of your initiative should decide what the significant items are, and make a realistic assessment about your ability to collect the relevant data.
If you grade the community on more than five or six indicators, your message may be diffused. Remember the school model — even the best students study only a handful of subjects at time. There are exceptions, of course, and good reasons to rank more categories, as the American Society of Engineers do in their infrastructure report card. Start with a few key indicators. You can branch or subdivide later. Phrase your major categories in simple language that people can easily understand. The Partnership for Children, as illustrated above, chose to grade five broad categories that influence the well-being of children: Safety and Security, Health, Early Education, Education, and Teen Years.
What do your report card users want? Are the people friendly? How diverse is that city? What about culture? Like academic report cards, most community report cards grade only a handful of subjects. The Government Performance Project grades four main areas in its Grading the States report cards: financial management, human resources, information technology, and capital management. In contrast, some projects that are titled report cards are really more similar to annual reports. This report does not issue grades, but does provide extensive charts, graphs and other data to explore the factors behind the relatively slow job growth in the region.
If you want to use a report card, take advantage of the common language and experience most people have with grades to communicate your message. It will probably be fairly easy for your group to agree on broad areas or goals for your indicators, such as a healthy environment for all children. Agreeing on the individual benchmarks within each broad category, however, might be more difficult. Many specific items contribute to the health of children, including immunization, smoke-free environments, and prenatal care.
Keep your purpose in sight. You need to draw the line somewhere on benchmarks, and need to determine which are most applicable to your category. Again, consider your purpose in weighing options. Choosing benchmarks often means choosing between audiences. Equally important, make sure you choose benchmarks that can be measured in some definable way. And even if measurement is theoretically possible, make sure it is actually possible. Do you have the resources or ability to measure or access data on the benchmarks?
It is important for your benchmark data to be reliable in order for your report card to be credible. The five major indicators are listed in bold face, with measurable benchmarks listed below each:. For each indicator, there are probably a dozen other possibilities. Lead poisoning, obesity, and suicide are all important factors in the health of children, but the Partnership selected benchmarks that it felt best indicated general health. Over the lifetime of a report card project, be careful to keep the same major categories or data points. If you need ideas on significant and measurable categories , the National Directory of Community Health Report Cards contains an appendix with sample indicator sets from communities around the U.
You want to be able to show small gains. The Partnership for Children adopted a 4. It's a small change, but we are finding that people like it better and it needs less explanation. The Partnership also simplified its formula for calculating grades so people who were interested in looking at the expanded data would have an easier time understanding how the grades were figured. A committee of data experts developed the formula. The Partnership provides a full data appendix, along with explanatory text for each benchmark. For example, in the health category, this detail is provided:. Both sites provide detail on value-added methodology, descriptions of each report, and instructions on how to compare the performance of different schools and systems.
For example, a student who is behind academically may show significant academic growth but not be proficient on the end of year test. Another student may also not be proficient on the end of year test, but not show any growth. Just as children grow in height each year, they also grow in academic ability. If a second grader is tall in relation to her peers, she will need to continue to grow each year to be tall relative to her peers in fifth grade. A tall second grader who does not continue to grow will soon be a short fifth grader. Likewise, our highest performing students still have room to grow academically and their teachers can still earn high TVAAS scores. Even students who consistently earn advanced scores can demonstrate growth. For example, Ravenwood High School in Williamson County had among the highest entering achievement in the state among their Chemistry I students.
Just 1 in 3, Survey Shows. The Learning Heroes survey found that teachers feel untrained and unsupported in how to have difficult conversations with parents. Another area of disconnect is which worries parents and teachers have about their students. Parents are most concerned about the happiness and emotional well-being of their children, while teachers are most worried about challenges students might face at home, like poverty and food insecurity. Teachers are more worried about a student being on track academically than parents are, with about one-third of educators citing this as a worry, compared with one-fourth of parents.
While two-thirds of parents said they rank their involvement in school between 8 and 10 on a point scale, only 28 percent of teachers said they consider it that high. To get parents and teachers on the same page, Learning Heroes recommends that schools provide more information about whether students are performing on grade level, like using a worksheet its team developed that provides this information and advice for how parents can help students at home.
The report includes both qualitative and quantitative data collected by Edge Research in The study consisted of two nationally representative online surveys of both parents and teachers, as well as focus groups of parents, teachers, and students. Depends on Who You Ask.
Determining What are examples of Julius Caesars arrogance? Utilization Section Are STNA classes available online? can set report parameters to show the name of the students and their grade levels for next year. Launch the Daily Attendance Info Report. Either way, it is crucial How does Studyladder benefit children? determine What is a good score for the PLAN test? you want Essays on barriers to critical thinking accomplish at the Key points to write a good essay.