Sun, 24 February 2008  We would do well to take notice of the potential report card changes coming our way for the Madison Metropolitan School District Middle Schools. Word on the street is that the district will bring these changes to the middle schools in the Fall of 2009 - just as the new superintendent takes over the helm of the district.While testing and all of its pitfalls and promises is part of our intellectual history, I am a strong proponent of including the community from the ground up and sharing information in an accessible and concise manner. Report Card Reform in simplistic terms is a matter of moving from the A-B-Cs to the 1-2-3s. Although reform has been a national trend for over ten years, changing report cards is not as simple as do, re, mi... This change to one of the key components of a child's education has thus earned both cautious critics (parents) and supporters (educators) and must proceed with caution. Rumblings of report card changes have surfaced over the past month in the district and I thought it would serve us well to find out more about the history of this movement. Here's a great piece from the American Association of School Administrators on the history, pitfalls and lessons on report card reform. Planning to revamp your school district's report card? Here are few suggestions from Grant Wiggins, president of the Center on Learning, Assessment and School Structure: No. 1: Letter grades aren’t the problem. The central issue is that a single letter grade stands for too many different things. Instead, give separate grades for different aspects of performance (e.g. for achievement, progress, effort for an overall profile; or writing, reading, speaking and listening for language arts) When using a single summative grade or phrase, clearly identify the math formula by which the separate elements are weighted and combined. Differentiate the level of performance from the quality of the work. Little is gained by giving an A to someone who is very bright but careless and a C to someone who is behind but methodical and accurate. Give two different grades or comments to show this. No. 2: Avoid euphemisms. They hide more than they reveal. Calling a student’s work "in progress" or "moving toward mastery" tells the parent nothing about where the student stands vis-à-vis grade-level expectations or exit standards. No. 3: Offer more information, not less. Grading systems that assign A, B or "incomplete" give the parent far too little sense of the school’s standards and where students stand with respect to them. New grading systems are meant to give greater insights to parents. Yet too many new reporting systems seem designed to conceal, not reveal, how students are really doing. No. 4: Grading on a deliberate curve is indefensible morally and technically. Often, giving out final grades for a semester or year on a curve is an easy way to avoid setting clear performance standards. You can deal with grade inflation by clarifying standards and criteria for grading. No. 5: Validate local grades. You can accomplish this by linking the grades with a wider-world or next-level standard. Some high schools, for instance, use college-level entrance exam standards to anchor their exit standards. Give the parents confidence that grades stand for something more than one teacher’s taste and values. No. 6: Link grades to work samples. For this purpose, use samples of work that have been collaboratively scored on site by faculty across classes and grade levels. Give the parents confidence that the right hand knows what the left hand is doing. No. 7: A portfolio is not a substitute for a grade. A portfolio still needs to be evaluated and given a summary judgment, which is all a grade is meant to be. No. 8: Consider alternatives to letter grades. It doesn’t matter whether you use letters, numbers, phrases or smiling and sad faces. The important thing is that grades stand for something credible, clear, fair and honest. No. 9: The client is always right. The report is not designed to satisfy teachers but to inform the clients. Parents should have a say at all stages of the process, and focus groups should be used to give parents the opportunity to react to current, proposed and other systems’ reporting methods. No. 10: Reduce the reporting burden At the same time, you can improve the quality of reports by staggering them over a month. (Students whose names end with A-G during the first week of November, H-M the second week of November, etc.) No. 11: Use your website. Placing explanatory information on the school or district web site can illuminate the meaning of grades. Consider posting samples of graded work with teacher comments for those parents who want even more detail. No. 12: Educate parents ongoingly. Parents need to understand what the problem is with existing report cards and how the change you are proposing is an improvement. Publishing a newsletter is one tact. To avoid sharing our problems with parents is to avoid making essential changes that will help our parents become our partners. What do you think? Category: Report Cards -- posted at: 5:00 AM Comments[0] |
Sat, 23 February 2008  Reauthorization of No Child Left Behind; a six-year anniversary.A good place to learn about the process of reauthorization and keep up with current news on what is happening on a national level is to go to Public Education Network's webpage. This is an excellent site to get information and you can also sign up your organization in favor of PEN's proposed changes to the bill by going here. I found this opinion piece back in 2007 to describe in two typed-pages the cost and benefit to NCLB. This could be the start to a conversation our community could have on NCLB reauthorization. Recent court rulings and commentary on NCLB from the National School Board Association can be found here. John Merrow's reporting on PBS NewsHour has a great deal of information and audio on NCLB. Comments[0] |
Sat, 23 February 2008 A short primer on No Child Left Behind in 5 minutes or less. If you've never heard of this federal mandate, please listen.For more on NCLB and how it has affected the Madison Metropolitan School District over the past six years, go to:
Schoolcast 7 will address current reauthorization of NCLB.
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Wed, 20 February 2008 A wonderful update for this podcast! Maya talks about the beginning of the school year; transitions for elementary and alternative schools; some upcoming events; safe routes to school; and, a short interview with alders from the north and east sides of Madison. Comments[0] |
Sat, 2 February 2008 The WASB Delegate Assembly approved 10 resolutions at its annual meeting on Jan. 23, 2008. The proposed resolutions were drafted by the WASB Policy and Resolutions Committee from proposals submitted by member school boards. To read about the resolutions adopted or a report from the convention you can click on these links. To get more information about the superintendent search for the Madison Metropolitan School District, please click here. Category: Blog Post -- posted at: 10:33 PM Comments[0] |
Fri, 1 February 2008 Maya discusses community dialogue, the selection of a new superintendent, and the Wisconsin
Association of School Boards.
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