In this case, a high school vice-principal encounters tension and anger when she rewrites a staff member's report card comments without his knowledge. The case narrative examines the conflict that arises when, under time constraints and pressures to produce student reports, the vice-principal acts on a decision she believes is ethically correct…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the development and implementation process of the balanced scorecard (BSC) approach in an educational institution in the context of the Turkish educational system. It also aims, on the basis of the results of the applications in a particular school, to define principles through which the…

The purpose of this study was to determine parents' and teachers' perceptions of standards-based and traditional report cards. Participants included 115 parents/guardians of students from a single, midsize school district that had implemented a standards-based report card. During the first two marking periods, all parents/guardians received both a…

School discipline practices have traditionally been reactive and punitive in nature. Students violating a school district's code of conduct were often met with exclusionary discipline policies such as out-of-school suspensions, long-term suspensions, and expulsions. Districts attempted to resolve these practices by creating alternative education…

Grading reform has been a major focus in school districts across the country (Guskey & Jung, 2012). Reporting student achievement through grades can have a lasting and profound impact on a student's academic career. Grades are often considered to have little relationship to student performance (Brookhart, 2004; O'Connor 2016). Grading…

This article provides a historical interpretation of one of the defining features of modern schooling: grades. As a central element of schools, grades--their origins, uses and evolution--provide a window into the tensions at the heart of building a national public school system in the United States. We argue that grades began as an intimate…

Inclusion is never only a practical issue of placement. School-wide systemic change, together with well-functioning, multi-tiered support, can promote the inclusion of all pupils. This paper draws on research conducted in two mainstream primary schools in Finland. The primary focus was to gain insight into practical solutions to facilitate the…

A body mass index (BMI) report card is a tool to inform parents about their child's weight status. Body mass index notifications could curb childhood obesity by prompting parents to encourage their children to be more physically active and make better dietary choices, but they could also lower children's self-esteem and increase weight-related…

Background: Whereas legislation for body mass index (BMI) surveillance and screening programs has passed in 25 states, the programs are often subject to ethical debates about confidentiality and privacy, school-to-parent communication, and safety and self-esteem issues for students. Despite this debate, no comprehensive analysis has been completed…

Over the last decade, California leaders have made tremendous progress on supporting kids in some crucial areas. They have vastly increased the percentage of children enrolled in health insurance and made paid family leave available for most workers. They have also invested in free school meals, committed to universal transitional kindergarten,…

Compared with other ethnic groups, African American adolescents are exposed to higher levels of family and community violence, which contribute to poorer academic achievement. This study examines whether emotion regulation moderates the effects of exposure to family and community violence on academic achievement among low-income African American…

The purpose of the current study was to determine whether there would be a difference in academic growth measured by gain scores when parents and students received a cumulative standards-based progress report. Participants included 116 fifth grade math students in a Dallas-Fort Worth Area school. Data from district assessments were used to produce…

The scale development and exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses of the Protective Factor Index (PFI) is described. The PFI is a 13-item component of elementary students' report cards that replaces typical items associated with student behavior. The PFI is based on the Construct-Based Approach (CBA) to school counseling, which proposes that…

This paper describes daily report cards and the evidence relating to their use in schools for children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). This intervention typically involves teachers evaluating a student's behaviour at school against pre-determined targets and parents subsequently providing reinforcement at home for positive…

Direct Behavior Rating-Single Item Scales (DBR-SIS) have been advanced as a promising, systematic, behavioral, progress-monitoring method that is flexible, efficient, and defensible. This study aimed to extend existing literature on the use of DBR-SIS in elementary and secondary settings, and to examine methods of monitoring student progress in…