High school report cards will look very different starting this fall. Rockdale County Public Schools officials announced last week that it has begun the move to replace the traditional report card at the high school level with the same reporting model currently used at elementary and middle schools.

Effective fall 2012, high school students will be graded using the standards-based report card, signaling RCPS’s full integration of the standards-based reporting model.

Chief Academic Officer Richard Autry called the move to incorporate standards-based reporting at the high school level a “solid alignment between reporting, assessment and instruction” at all levels.

RCPS will be the first school system in Georgia where students will be assessed using the standards-based report card from elementary to high school.

All three high schools, the Magnet school, Open Campus, Rockdale Career Academy and Alpha Academy will convert to the new grading system. 

Leslie DeMarco, RCPS Director of Curriculum and Instruction, said that since the 2010-2011 school year, high school teachers have received seven separate formal training sessions in addition to the support they received from their respective schools.

DeMarco said that not every course has been converted to standards-based reporting standards, but all courses will be phased in over the next couple of years.

Career, Technical, and Agricultural Education (CTAE) courses are currently undergoing major curriculum changes at the state level and will not implement standards-based grading until 2013-2014, said DeMarco.

Several elective, AP and Honors courses have yet to be prepared to accept the new reporting system.

Other classes like study skills and remedial education do not have a criteria that would fit the standards-based model. And online courses will not use this approach yet, said DeMarco. 

At the BOE work session, Autry pointed out that the high school report card will maintain numerical grades, creating a hybrid approach to grade reporting, similar to what’s happening at the middle school level.

DeMarco said that this allows college-bound students to send transcripts only listing a numerical course grade, while still upholding the primary purpose of tracking and assessing a student’s overall academic profile using the comprehensive performance-based report card.

“We don’t want to do anything that would interfere with students getting HOPE and go to college; our system will have no impact at all,” she said.

Potential Challenges

Currently, high school teachers only have to report a single numerical grade for each student based on a series of assignments and tests throughout the semester.

With the new grading system, teachers are tasked to provide a three-pronged scoring system to assess a student’s complete academic profile: an overall achievement average, measurement topics score and a leaner behavior and work habits rating.

The overall achievement average is calculated from the sum of all individual scored assignments from each measurement topic divided by the overall achievement average or percentage of all points possible.

That average is what is reported on transcripts.

In addition, each measurement topic—which is a specific concept that must be taught in a particular course—will receive an average of the scored assignments for that particular subject area.

Lastly, teachers will evaluate a student’s behavior, work ethic and timeliness based on a four point score, with one meaning no progress and four meaning evidence of a student exceeding expectations.

Each score is recorded a two nine-week “quarters” with final averages recorded at the end of the semester.

Teachers maintain grades using an electronic grade book and have the freedom and flexibility to assess student behavior, DeMarco said.

At the elementary and middle school level, students are restricted to a limited number of courses, which makes grade reporting simpler. However, at the high school level, students can choose from a variety of courses at different levels and from different sources including dual enrollment and online. 

Couple this with high schools transitioning back to the discrete mathematics courses based on the new statewide Common Course Georgia Performance Standards curriculum, as well as other academic changes at the state level could potentially create inconsistency in reporting.

DeMarco does not foresee that happening.

“In some ways it is more work because A – it’s new, and B – we’re reporting more information,” she said.

“Is it a different sort of work; yes. But we’re going to help [teachers] change their habits, not just add to their workload.”

DeMarco pointed out that instruction will be better focused on the curriculum, with a higher level of teacher accountability, something not upheld in the traditional grading system.

Standards-based report cards, said DeMarco, will require teachers to provide detailed reports on specific topics within the course and assign achievement grades based on skills the student knows they can do.

This is something Heather Duncan looks forward to with her high school student. The mother of four has experienced the success of standards-based grading with one child in elementary school and two in middle school.

“I call it my bible,” Duncan said of the report card. She said it creates mutual accountability between the parent and teacher in a child’s education.

For Duncan, she no longer has to ask why her child is getting a bad grade; the detailed reports allow her to pinpoint the exact areas where her child needs improvement and can come equipped with a comprehensive knowledge of her child’s academic standing when speaking to teachers at parent conferences.

“I can pick it up and know where my children are in school. Components are broken down and I’m not just looking at mathematics of it.”

As a PTA Treasurer and Parent Advisory Council member, Duncan has encountered parents who are confused and somewhat indifferent to the grading system.

“A lot of it is from the fact that we’re caught up in what were accustomed to,” she said. “Parents want to know what a 3 is and how to turn it into an A, B or C; or 80, 90 or 100.

Parents also want to know how the scores stand up if they choose to move to a school in another county.”

But Duncan said that some of that doubt can be alleviated if effective communication between parents, teachers and school leaders is made a priority.

Additionally, continued efforts to provide training for teachers can improve communication with parents and create a better academic environment for students.

However, Duncan does hope to see the same detailed reporting of measurement topics at the high school level that she sees at the middle school level.

Unlike the standards-based report cards in the elementary schools where fuller descriptions are given for each sub-topic within a given course, the middle school report cards are a bit more broad-based in illustrating each academic skills component that a student must learn.

Duncan hopes to see that consistency carried across the board.

Ultimately, she sees each parent as a stakeholder in their child’s education and looks to a collaborative effort between parents and teachers as key to the success of the program.

“I love the equalization it provides children in public school system,” said Duncan. Depending on how effective you are as a teacher, students will be on same pace at same time.”