Teachers have aligned their instruction to the Common Core Standards and have developed several essential questions to help drive their instruction. However, grading and reporting practices remain the same. Teachers are still communicating student achievement the traditional way. Traditional grading practices do not communicate what a student is able to do. As a result, parents lack an understanding of student grades and how these grades are determined. This research evaluated the effects of the standards-based report card in comparison to the traditional report card. Research participants were a group of second-grade parents. For the first marking period of the 2020-2021 academic year, teachers determined student grades using both the traditional grading practices and standards-based grading practices. Student progression was reported to parents using the traditional reporting system as well as the standards-based reporting system. Parents were asked to determine which reporting method they found to be most effective in communicating what their student was able to do. Data from this study determined that the standards-based report card was most effective in communicating student academic achievement. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]