Parents and guardians of students in grades 1-4 will notice some changes to their children’s report cards when they are sent home this month.
Due to issues with the software NLPS was using for report cards, the division had to change providers and design a new report card from scratch. While this was unexpected, it provided an opportunity for the division to develop a report card that was more streamlined for both parents and teachers. NLPS was also able to use feedback collected from middle school parents in a survey last year to create a report card that gives parents the information they need about the progress their child is making. The input received from parents was invaluable as the new report card was developed in conjunction with administrators from throughout the division.
One of the major changes to the report cards is that instead of seeing a list of outcomes that change from term to term, parents will be updated about their child’s progress in relevant curricular strands. For example, students will be assigned an achievement indicator to show how well they are doing in reading. This will encompass all of the outcomes the teacher has covered related to the reading strand in that term.
Those curricular strands will remain consistent from term to term so parents are better able to compare their child’s progress from term to term as the year progresses. In addition, the new format of the report cards allows for the achievement indicators from the first term to be displayed on the term 2 and 3 report cards. Parents will be able to see how achievement indicators for their child have changed throughout the year.
Achievement indicators have also been changed slightly. Parents will now see the terms Exemplary, Proficient, Approaching and Not Yet used to describe how their child is doing in each of the curricular strands. We have also changed the terms we use in the Learner Attribute section of the report card. Parents will now see Excellent, Satisfactory and Needs Improvement used to describe how students exhibit characteristics that are important for student success such as completing assignments on time, working well with others, and applying the appropriate effort in class.
These changes apply to report cards for students in grades 1-4 only at this time. Students in Kindergarten and grades 5-12 will continue to receive report cards that are similar to what they received in previous years. Over the course of the 2020-2021 school year, NLPS will begin work on revising the report cards for grades 5-8 and 9-12. The feedback collected in the middle school survey done last February will be used in the development of those report cards as well.
If you have any questions about your child’s report card, please discuss them with your child’s teacher or, if applicable, with school administration.