A standards-based report card, often abbreviated as SBRC, is a report of student progress and achievement toward meeting the learning standards set forth by the New York State Education Department. Teachers use these standards to plan for instruction with the goal of meeting or exceeding these standards for all students, by the end of the academic year. The Pearl River School District has used a SBRC for many years. 

Similar to the NYS Elementary Assessments in Reading, Math, and Science, each performance indicator will receive a rating of 4, 3, 2, or 1. A score of “1” indicates that a student does not meet the standards, “2” partially meets grade level standards, “3” meets grade level standards, and “4” exceeds grade level standards. Keep in mind, since the standards are written for what a student should achieve by the end of the year, the teacher ratings for each of the marking periods will be based on “Benchmarks” for that moment in time, when the grade reporting period ends. These benchmarks rate the interim progress toward meeting year-long standards. If a particular standard is not taught during one of the quarters, the box for that quarter will be grayed out.

The New York State Education Department defines each of these performance levels as indicated below:

NYS Level 4
Students performing at this level excel in standards for their grade. They demonstrate knowledge, skills, and practices embodied by the Learning Standards that are considered more than sufficient for the expectations at this grade.

NYS Level 3
Students performing at this level are proficient in standards for their grade. They demonstrate knowledge, skills, and practices embodied by the Learning Standards that are considered sufficient for the expectations at this grade.

NYS Level 2
Students performing at this level are partially proficient in standards for their grade. They demonstrate knowledge, skills, and practices embodied by the Learning Standards that are considered partial but insufficient for the expectations at this grade. Students performing at Level 2 are considered on track to meet current New York high school graduation requirements but are not yet proficient in Learning Standards at this grade.

NYS Level 1
Students performing at this level are below proficient in standards for their grade. They may demonstrate limited knowledge, skills, and practices embodied by the Learning Standards that are considered insufficient for the expectations at this grade.

Traditional report cards, often used in secondary schools, average scores to determine a percentage or letter grade. This grade may include tests, quizzes, essays, homework, participation, effort, etc., inclusive of all learning standards within a subject. This type of reporting is holistic and lends itself to easy grade averaging for reporting GPAs to colleges. The SBRC zeros in on the components learning standards of each of the subject areas. The standard splits the subject (Math for example) into sub categories (number sense, algebra, geometry, etc.). Performance indicators are offered for each of those subcategories so students, teachers, and parents can clearly identify the levels of performance within each subject. With this level of specificity, it is easy to identify areas in need of additional practice within a specific standard. This is like looking at the performance of an athlete and breaking down the isolated skills needed to be successful. A baseball player may want to improve his/her performance by working on different elements of hitting (batting stance, working the count, bunting, hitting with precision, power, etc.), fielding (grounders, fly balls, cut-offs, run-downs, accuracy, etc), base running, etc. 

A SBRC is not designed to list each of the individual NYS learning standards. According to the NYS Education Department (2017), "Although some standards may be taught and practiced in isolation, in actual use they are more often blended and interwoven" (p.15). Teams of teachers worked with curriculum coaches and elementary principals to consider the most effective ways to group sets of standards into descriptors on the report card. These groupings better reflect how students are actually taught and assessed throughout the school year. 

Yes. There are two sections associated that provide feedback on behaviors that promote learning and behaviors that  promote student health and wellness.  Since the goal of an SBRC is to accurately report a student’s actual achievement and attainment of specific academic learning targets, other factors, such as homework completion, work habits, effort, and social skills are reported separately. We believe that these learning behaviors are very important and should be reported to provide a complete picture of a student’s school experience and contributing factors to their performance. 

When a skill is not assessed during a marking period, the box for that marking period will be grayed out. For example, First graders are expected to understand a wide range of units of measurement (time, coins, standards and non-standard units of measurement, etc.). Time is one of the topics of focus during the fourth quarter. Since students are not assessed on their understanding of time during the first three marking periods, they will not receive a score on the report card for the first three quarters. 

Yes. While the standards are written for what a child is expected to achieve by the end of the school year, the curriculum is taught sequentially. Some skills are assessed throughout the year while others have a heavier emphasis during specific times of the year. For example, by the end of first grade, all students are expected to independently add and subtract numbers within 20. However, since this is a prerequisite skill for future work in first grade, it is emphasized and assessed during the year. These skills are then assessed again as students apply these skills while working with different math topics. Similarly, sometimes the general understanding and application of content area “concepts and skills” are assessed throughout the year (as applied to specific topics). Since the topics change, a student’s ability to demonstrate understanding may change from topic to topic as well. In Science, for example, students are assessed on their “understanding of key concepts” in each of the quarters. For third graders, the content focus in one quarter is “forces” (electrical, magnetic, balance, friction, gravity, etc.). During another quarter, the focus shifts to the weather and climate. The grade on the report card will be based on the demonstration of understanding of the Science content and skills of that particular marking period. 

Report cards will be distributed four times per year. Parents will receive a notification about when the report cards will be available on Infinite Campus.

The current report cards are based on the current NYS Learning Standards. If/when changes occur to the current standards, the SBRCs will be updated accordingly. Additionally, the benchmarks indicated on the SBRCs will be reviewed regularly to ensure our assessment practices are aligned with our curriculum and scope and sequence of skills. Curriculum is regularly updated by our faculty. 

In an effort to align the expectations for meeting four different levels on the SBRC, common language was used (as often as possible) to differentiate between them. Below are the most common terms found in the rubrics, and the associated performance levels on the report card:

• Student is Exceeding Grade Level Standards (used for level 4): After instruction introduces a topic, the student has a deep understanding and can independently apply skills across contexts.

• Student is Meeting Grade Level Standards (used for level 3): After instruction introducing a topic, the child can complete most work with minimal teacher support.

• Student is Partially Meeting Grade Level Standards (used for level 2): After instruction introduces a topic, the child requires frequent check-ins from the teacher to support work completion and comprehension.

• Student is Far Below Meeting Grade Level Standards (used for level 1): After instruction introducing a topic, the child requires a small group or 1:1 assistance with teacher *scaffolding and tools (graphic organizers, manipulatives, sentence starters, tables, etc.)

The image below reviews portions of the report card, with explanations for key items. Keep in mind, these are only portions of a report card and are not inclusive of all of the standards and/or grading indicators.