Our school's report cards have undergone some fairly drastic changes. They still include narrative comments, but we've added skills checklists to give you some more specific feedback on your child's performance in many areas within each subject. I hope you find this helpful when you see them on Thursday of this week, and I'll be creating a survey to get some of your thoughts and impressions, too.
I did want to give you a bit of a sneak preview of one thing in particular: the rating system. In the checklists, students are rated "Needs Improvement," "Developing," and "Secure." As I'm filling them out this weekend, I'm noticing numerous students rated "Developing" in many areas (especially writing) and I want to let you know in advance that in the Fall/Winter of fourth grade, "Developing" is good. It means they're where they're supposed to be and making the proper amount of progress.
A rating of "Secure" is not very common this early in the year. The goal is to move students from "Developing" to "Secure" during the course of the year so that their fourth grade skills are solid and they are ready for fifth grade. I feel pretty safe in saying that none of my students are ready for fifth grade yet, nor should they be. But they are well on their way and making terrific progress.
Some of this might not make sense now, but it will when you get the report cards on Thursday. If you have any questions once you see them, please let me know. I'll be available Friday of this week from 9:00-10:00 a.m. if you want to call or stop by and I'll also be checking my email fairly regularly during the Christmas break.
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