Progress Reports

This week was a short week with 2 days off for grading/progress reports and Veterans Day! I love short weeks! (On a side note...did any watch Private Practice last night? I wanted to kill the mom who said her son "forgot" to tell her that there was no school that day. Umm hello?? Obviously she didn't read any of the notes or newsletters that get sent home from school with that information! haha. I know it's just tv, and  Mr. Bee laughed at me for reacting negatively to her comment, but really! there are way too many parents who do that! lol)

Anyways, this brings me to my questions about progress reports! Maybe you can help. You see, last year our district added a progress report in the fall to supplement our report cards that don't come out until february. I like that parents can get an update aside from their conferences, but it has brought up some questions for me.

On our report cards there are MANY different areas that each have an individual grade (plus, check or 0) and it seems pretty comprehensive. But, the progress reports only have 3-4 categories. Math, Reading and Writing (and we add behavior). Under the categories are 4 options. Above standards, meets standards, working towards standards and doesn't show any understanding (paraphrased, obviously). These vague areas make grading go pretty quick, but they make me question how parents are going to interpret them. You see, they could be interpreted in (At least) 2 ways
1. Standard=end of the year goals (which would make most students at working towards meeting)
2. Standard= where they should be right now (which would make most students meeting standard)

I have talked to my team about this before, but I can't remember what we decided. I think it was #2, where they should be right now. This makes the most sense to me, because it shows parents if their child is on track or not, but it also brings up the possible confusion in the winter/spring if their child is not meeting the standard but they were in the fall. Hopefully this won't be an issue, and all the kiddos will still be meeting standards, but realistically i'm not so sure. Some kids just "lose their flow" for a bit and fall behind. They all catch back up (usually), but it leads to some questions right around report cards. I know I would be able to explain this to the parents if needed, and we do talk in between report cards, but I still want to make sure parents truly understand what I am telling them through these progress reports.

What do you think? Am I making sense? What do you do?? I'd love your feedback!!

And on another note, Happy Veterans Day!! I am so thankful to be able to live in a place that respects our Veterans and supports all of those people who have or are continuing to fight for our freedom. I pray that we will never take this freedom for granted! Veterans- I truly appreciate all that you have done for us!! Thank You!

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