At the end of this week, the first report card of the school year will be sent out to hundreds and hundreds of parents in Oxford.
For parents of elementary students, however, the card will look completely different than in the past.
Over the last two years, Oxford schools has been looking at evolving the elementary report card into a more simpler look.
Oxford’s Director of Curriculum, Jim Schwarz, said numerous parents, teachers and administration were contacted for input on creating a new card.
‘Some of the concerns with our current report card is that it’s becoming outdated,? Schwarz said. ‘Parents want more of a global grade or score versus different numbers and to remove the teacher lingo from the cards.?
The current report card consists of a certain subject area, for instance reading, and then 10 sub-categories in that subject.
‘Before, we were doing check this, check that or you can get a high here, low there,? said Sue Johnson, who teaches third grade at Clear Lake Elementary. ‘I think parents will have a better handle on where their child stands.?
Originally, Schwarz said there was an idea to create one card for kindergarten through fifth grade, but that it was too much of a broad area to cover for that many levels.
Now, all report cards for kindergarten through fifth grade will have a simpler, more consistent grading scale.
Also new to the third grade cards is an actual letter grade. Kindergarten through third grade used to be graded on a 4-point rubric, but Schwarz said some people got confused by the meaning of the numbers.
‘The 4-point scale isn’t equated into a percentage like most people think,? he said. ‘It’s more of a developmental scale.?
For instance, Schwarz said a student could get a three in reading which means the child is meeting the expectations at that grade level for those specific attributes, not that he or she is a B student.
‘The elementary grading scale was all over the place as far as what people equated as a certain percentage,? he said.
Schwarz said Oxford’s never really had a specific policy for grading and it was different from teacher to teacher.
Also new to the cards will be a more personalized teacher comment card.
Schwarz said parents really pushed for the more individualized comment cards because previous comments were too generic and not specific enough.
Cover letters will be sent home with the student’s first report card describing to parents the philosphy behind the new cards.