Student report cards distinguish Riverview Charter School
Student report cards distinguish Riverview Charter School
Student report cards are a distinguishing mark at Riverview Charter School, according to the most recent issue of Riverview’s monthly newsletter released yesterday, titled Currents.
Instead of sending students home with grades in each subject, Riverview presents students and parents with a different report, one designed, according to AnnMarie Bowden, Riverview’s academic excellence chair, to express “a meaningful, clear, and consistent approach to assessing learning goals”. Here’s Bowden’s explanation of Riverview’s refreshing approach to assessing a child’s progress through the school year:
Riverview’s Report Cards:
A meaningful, clear, and consistent approach
to assessing learning goalsWhen educators think about parents and grading, they often worry about the question foremost in any parent’s mind: “What grade did my child get?” When using a concept approach like Riverview, the questions parents are encouraged to ask are:
- What are the targets my child should know and understand by the end of the year?
- What has my child learned?
- What does my child know, understand, and care about?
- What is my child able to do?
- What concepts and skills does my child need support with and what are my child’s areas of strength? Is my child progressing well?
These questions are at the heart of Riverview’s assessment system.
A key component of meeting this commitment is the accurate communication of student learning. In addition to state standards, Riverview has expectations that exceed the state requirements and addresses national standards, as well as social and emotional targets. After a thorough examination of current research and best practice, student learning goals have been established for each grade level and are reflected on Riverview’s concept-based reports. While we believe these are not the only concepts and skills children need to learn, the report targets have been identified as “musts.”
Why use Riverview’s approach instead of a traditional report card? The purpose of a report card is to clearly, fairly, and objectively communicate how a child is doing in school. Schools nationwide have been moving away from the traditional format of letter grades, to focus on learning goals, accountability, and consistency. Riverview’s reporting structure provides specific information about a child’s progress throughout the year. Our report cards communicate a clear message to parents about what their child knows and is able to do, in addition to what concepts and skills need more attention.
Riverview’s report card:
- puts the emphasis on learning, rather than on comparisons among students
- separates academic performance from personal characteristics and work habits
- gives information to assist the teacher and parents to better understand the child as a learner
- helps students, parents, and teachers understand what concepts and skills have been mastered and which need more attention
- personalizes instruction and attends to individual development
By contrast, a traditional report card gives single letter or number grades on broad categories, like “math” or “reading” and often reflects such things as effort, extra credit, work habits, and attitude. While those attributes are important at Riverview as well, they do not help parents and students understand specifically what has been learned and what the student needs support with. At Riverview, learning will be reported based on evidence of what a student understands and can do at particular points in time, rather than an “average” over a reporting period. Performance scores reflect the quality of student understanding, rather than the quantity of points accumulated.
AnnMarie Bowden
Academic Excellence Chair
Click here to read the most recent issue of Currents in its entirety.
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