In fall 2016, William H. Barton Intermediate School introduced a new standards-based report card for students in grades 4-5.
Standards-based grading is a way to communicate what students know at a point in time, rather than an average over an entire period. It measures a student’s performance according to the standards taught and helps to ensure children’s grades are more fully reflective of the skills they have mastered.
The new report card is the product of a collaborative, two-year effort by teachers, support staff, parents and administrators.
Changes in the WHBI Report Card
- Category titles and descriptors reflect district-prioritized New York state learning standards
- Consistent academic grading keys reflect student progress toward the district-prioritized New York state learning standards
- Spartatude learning behaviors reflect the skills to be lifelong learners and to contribute to the global community
Report Card Academic Key
Achievement marks will be reported on a 4-point scale. A grade of “4” indicates a high level of achievement, communicating that a student has a strong understanding of all the concepts and skills taught for that standard during the quarter with little to no errors. Content areas in which students were not instructed will be marked with N/A, which indicates that the standard was not assessed at that reporting time. Below is a detailed explanation of each of the academic performance indicators.
4 CONSISTENTLY demonstrates concepts and skills of standard taught this quarter
- Frequency of behavior: nearly all the time
- Requires no support when demonstrating understanding
- Demonstrates a thorough understanding of content taught
- Makes no major errors or omissions when demonstrating concepts or processes taught
3 USUALLY demonstrates concepts and skills of standard taught this quarter
- Frequency of behavior: most of the time
- Requires limited support when demonstrating understanding
- Demonstrates a general understanding of content taught
- Makes few major errors or omissions when demonstrating concepts or processes
2 SOMETIMES demonstrates concepts and skills of standard taught this quarter
- Frequency of behavior: some of the time
- Requires moderate support in order to demonstrate understanding concepts and skills
- Demonstrates a partial understanding of content taught
- Makes some errors or omissions when demonstrating concepts or processes
1 SELDOM demonstrates concepts and skills of standard taught this quarter
- Frequency of behavior: seldom
- Requires considerable support to demonstrate learning of concepts and skills
- Demonstrates limited understanding of concepts, skills, and processes taught
- Makes frequent major errors when demonstrating concepts or processes
What the Report Card Looks Like
The new report card will be incorporated into the district’s student information system, known as SchoolTool. The advantage for teachers in using this system is that they are able to enter student information onto the report card from school or from home. Once parents have access to the SchoolTool Parent Portal, they will be able to access these report cards online as well.
How to Interpret Reading Levels
The reading levels on this report card reflect the types of texts your child is currently able to read with minimal classroom support. These levels are given in labels (A-Z) that reflect the text a child is reading.
For example, according to the chart at right, a fourth-grade student given an “S” during the month of January, is considered to be reading above grade level, while a fifth-grade student given a “V” during the month of January is also considered to be reading above grade level.