Standards-based reporting is a way that teachers can communicate to students and parents how individual children are performing on a set of clearly defined learning targets called standards. The purpose of standards-based reporting is to identify what a student knows, or is able to do, in relation to pre-established learning targets, as opposed to simply averaging grades/scores over the course of a grading period, which can mask what a student has learned, or not learned, in a specific course.
It is important to remember that grading and reporting is a way that a teachers can communicate feedback to parents and students within a given framework, however, it does not mean that instruction changes. The same rigorous instruction that parents and students in Wilmette have come to expect will continue to be present in every classroom.
Unlike with traditional grading systems, a standards-based grading system measures a student’s progress toward mastery of grade-level standards by prioritizing the most recent, consistent level of performance. Thus a student who may have struggled at the beginning of a course, when first encountering new material, may still be able to demonstrate mastery of key content/concepts by the end of a grading period.
In a traditional grading system, a student’s performance for an entire quarter is averaged together and reported as one final mark, without consideration for specific strengths and areas for growth. This means that early quiz scores that were low would be averaged together with more proficient performance later in the course, resulting in a lower overall grade than current performance would indicate.
Standards-based report cards separate academic performance from work habits and behavior in order to provide students and parents better, more accurate feedback of each individual's progress in academic areas, as well as separate report on learner behaviors.
Comments will be less frequent as the standards listed better explain each area studied, and the accompanying marks report each child's progress. This is what comments used to do. Comments will be given for students who are extending and applying standards in many areas, as well as for students who are experiencing difficulty in areas. In the majority of cases, the most recent pieces of evidence will best determine the mark on the individual standard.
Students with Individualized Education Programs (IEP) in general education classes have the same opportunity to progress toward the same grade level standards covered in the class they are in. Often students with IEPs will be given accommodations to meet these standards, or may progress at a slower pace than grade level peers, but they will receive marks such as 4, 3, 2, or 1 with respect to the priority standards for the class that they are in. Comments may indicate that accommodations were given to support the student's progress.
Some students with IEPs are in Instructional classes as determined by their IEP goals. In these cases students may have modified standards that they are working toward, so comments will share specifics about the standards that the student is working toward in that class and how he or she is progressing.
HERE is a form with more details.
Teachers, as always, will use a variety of evidence to determine a student's progress toward each standard. This evidence includes traditional tests and quizzes, projects, and performance-based assessments such as presentations and pieces of writing. Some assessments will use rubrics to support students' understanding of the learning targets, and others might be scored in a traditional way using points or percentages.