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Amanda Martemucci
__FIAE-Chapter 14:__ Chapter 14 describes different types of report card formats. Just like with grade books, it is important that the report card shows a truthful account of a student’s mastery. They must also be able to report any differentiated instruction. This aspect can be difficult as some schools choose to have pre-made comments for teachers to choose from, and more than often, there isn’t one to describe differentiation. Rather than write this on the report card somewhere, it would be better for the teacher to fill out a separate sheet to attach to the report card to explain the differentiation that connects to the students grade(s). I particularly like the “Adjusted Curriculum” (p. 173-174) and the “Multiple Categories within One Subject” (p. 176-177). The adjusted curriculum allows for the progress of a student to be revealed on the report card. A teacher will examine where the student was at the beginning of their time with the teacher to where they are today. The average between the two is the starting point of the student’s grade. This report card also allows for the teacher t comment about any type of differentiation required for the student. I particularly like the multiple categories report card because it allows an opportunity for a student to get a good grade in some components of the subject and not others instead of one grade standing for all the categories. Students and their parents will get to recognize the student’s strength and weaknesses in a subject. I will definitely be considering both of these types of formats when I teach.

Bridget Ferry
Chapter 14: Responsive Report Card Formats If we differentiate in the way we teach and grade, we must also learn to differentiate in the way we present grades on report cards. Unfortunately most schools have report card programs that limit teachers’ abilities to show more than just the regular letter grade. When this is not the case, it is good to show that we grade students against their own progress as well as against the expected standards and the rest of the grade level. Signifying adjusted curriculum appropriately with an accompanying comment explaining how it was adjusted is one good idea. Another is to grade the student’s progress and the standards students their age are expected to meet. Teachers can also give separate grades for each standard, showing whether or not they met each particular standard. The continuous progress report can go over a period of two or more years to show how a student is progressing over time. While all these ideas are solid ones, I prefer the idea of students’ progress //and// students against expected standards. I feel like this most accurately depicts what a student has learned and mastered, and how well they are mastering what is expected of them. It also lets parents see both sides of the grades we must give.

Moe
One way to help students, parents, and other viewers of a students’ report card is to put asterisks next to the grades you give a student if you used an adjusted curriculum. The asterisks allow for the teacher to make specific notes about what the student accomplished in that class. If you took the time to break down student grades when you recorded them and change the curriculum for a student, then the specific notes will be easy to write and won’t add much time to the process of putting in grades at the end of a term. Another way to report grades that are true to student learning is to put the complete breakdown of grades on the report card as a separate entity. I think that the asterisks and separate comments and breakdowns are the best for report cards. This way there is no question when parents and others read a student’s report card and give them a better idea of what they accomplished within the expectations that were set forward by you, the teacher.

Kristen
There are many different ways to grade our students and therefore there are many different ways to report what they know and how they’ve grown. The author lists several approaches teachers could take to report student grades. The first is adjusted curriculum which allows the teacher to grade students against their own progress. The second is called the dual approach which allows the teacher to grade students against their own progress and compare them to the goal standard. Teachers can also use multiple categories which identify the goals the teacher wants the student to meet and then the teacher can provide a grade for each goal. I think I like the last example best, that way the student and parent knows where the child needs extra help and where the child is achieving. Sometimes a student can write a beautiful body paragraph but fails to introduce the topic or conclude the paper. If you break down the pieces of the assignments or the class then it is easier to see where things need to improve.

Christina
Chapter fourteen discussed report cards. In this chapter, Wormeli presented an array of different ideas on how a report card can be used to convey information other than how a student is performing academically in a class. For example, upon using special characters or another unique system, report cards can tell a parent how well a student is meeting the standards for that subject or how the student's skills compare to their skills of previous report cards (student growth). This is truly a more informative format of report card that enables students and parents to be actively involved and adequately updated on their/their child's progress. While this is a spectacular idea, I do have concerns about how I would integrate such a method into my own classroom. I know most schools have a set format that report cards are sent home in (they merely have A, B, C, D, F lined next to the course title) and I would be hesitant to approach administration with an idea to reform this format, especially in my first few years of teaching.

Chelsea
This chapter discussed report card formats. The first that was discussed is a modified curriculum. This allows for students to be graded against their own progress. Students are graded based on growth and where they started. The second method that the book discussed was grading students bases on their own personal progress and how they achieve against the standards. The chapter also discussed report cards that show multiple categories within one subject. I think the method that I like the most was the idea of a modified curriculum in which students are graded against their own progress. I think it shows the most amount of mastery as well shows students progress.

Kevin
Chapter 14 discusses ideas for report card formats. The first conundrum presented is how do you grade a student who has made tremendous progress in the class but is still below grade level. The first solution Wormeli gives is that you should give that student a high grade that represents the amount of progress that is made, but indicate in some way that you are using an adjusted curriculum for the student. Another idea is to have a report card with two grades, one which shows the progress the student has made and one which represents where the student is at relative to grade level standards. Another idea is to have the student receive grade for each standard or objective the students were trying to master. The author definitely presents some good ideas on rubric formats that allow students to learn much more then just seeing a letter or a number. The problem I have is that I don’t know how much say any teacher can have in what the report card format is for a school. I have a feeling that it can be a difficult thing to change. The best idea I think I can come up with to counter that is maybe a teacher could use one of these kinds of formats to give progress reports or an extra report card the child gets with that class in addition to the standard one.

Jesika
This chapter talks about report cards and how they are formatted. In an ideal world the report card would be able to accurately represent the student's mastery. But in a differentiated classroom there are more factors that should be reported that the typical report card does not include. Ideally there would be sub categories for reach class and space for teachers to write comments. but in the current world there is room for a grade only and if there is a comments section the responded are typically limited to pre-determined, vague, generic choices.

I wish that schools would adopt a more detailed method of reporting grades. It would be more work for all parties involved. But we didn't choose teaching as a profession because it was easy, right?