| Standards-Based Education: A Guide for Parents |
An Introduction to Standards-Based Education
Benefits of Standards-Based Reporting
While letter grades are familiar to parents, they only give limited information about what a student has learned. Averaging traditional grades does not necessarily present an accurate picture of the learning that a student has achieved. When using letter grades, the grades are averaged and do not necessarily reflect what a student has mastered in a particular area for the “final learning.”
| TRADITIONAL |
STANDARDS BASED |
- Subjects are listed by name.
- Grades reflect an averaging of scores to determine a letter grade for a subject area.
- Letter grades A-F reflect an individual teacher’s expectations, student effort, and achievement.
- Labels a child’s performance and often includes such things as extra credit, work habits, an attitude.
- Curriculum and instruction are teacher centered, textbook driven, and not consistently aligned to the state standards.
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- Standards are defined by standards.
- Grades reflect the level of achievement on various standards for each subject area.
- Numerical and/or proficiency levels indicate mastery of the grade level standards. Achievement and effort are reported separately.
-Gives concrete information to assist your child, and separates academic performance from work habits and personal characteristics.
-Curriculum and instruction are aligned with state and district standards.
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What Do the New Achievement Records Look Like?
Understanding the Academic Key
A Student’s Achievement Record will Contain the Following Academic Key:
As you can see, four levels of progress are indicated on the achievement records. The levels are (N) Not Progressing, (P) Progressing, (M) Meeting, and (E) Exceeding. In the academic key the descriptors explain the level of independence as well as the learning demonstrated by the students.
The Following Chart Explains the Academic Key in More Detail
| Academic Key |
(N) Not progressing – Not progressing toward the year-end grade level standard at the expected rate of growth. Indicates a student’s progress is at an instructional level needing maximum teacher support. Application of learning is inconsistent. Typically very few students are at this level.
(P) Progressing – Making progress toward meeting the year-end grade level standard. Indicates a student’s progress is at an instructional level needing moderate teacher support. Application of learning is progressing but may still show inconsistencies. Most students will be working at this level throughout the year until they have moved to the meeting level.
(M) Meeting – Meeting the year-end grade level standard with little teacher support. Application of learning is consistent. If a student is meeting the standard, the teacher will continue to provide opportunities for the student to explore subjects at greater levels of depth and complexity. This is the expected level of student achievement by the end of the year.
(E) Exceeding – Consistently exceeding the grade level standard. Application of learning is independent and consistently demonstrates higher level thinking skills. Indicates a student’s progress goes beyond mastery of grade level expectations.
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A Parent’s Guide to Achievement Records, Kindergarten-Fourth Grade
Download Parent Guide
What Will My Child be Taught?
Teachers throughout the district will be pacing their instruction using district-wide pacing guides. These pacing guides organize Ohio Academic Content Standards according to what is to be taught each quarter. Bolded items on the pacing guides are the content statements to be assessed during the quarter and reported to parents on the achievement record. Not all content will be reported every quarter.
Download First Grade Pacing Guide
Download Second Grade Pacing Guide
Download Third Grade Pacing Guide
Download Fourth Grade Pacing Guide
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