Discusses impact of the scientifically based research and student-performance data requirements in No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 on elementary and secondary schools. Describes potential consequences for school administrators, teachers, and parents. (PKP)

Explores parents' perspectives of elementary school assessment in Clark County (Nevada) School District, using data gathered from indepth telephone interviews. Generally, parents were highly satisfied with the current system for reporting student progress, although many were concerned about subjectivity and meaning of letter grades. A majority…

Integrates research on educational indicators with that of school profiles to frame relevant issues that states, school districts, and schools should address as they develop or update school profiles. Current practice in designing report cards appears to have resulted in a proliferation of indicators with little demonstrated statistical…

Parents in Anchorage, Alaska, and Rochester, New York, have been rating their children's teachers. From these report cards arise three major concerns: how well teachers know and care about teaching, about their children, and about communicating with parents. Educators can capitalize on parent reports, on getting credit for what they do well, and…

Investigates the effects of manipulating the periodicity and quantity of information on student progress that teachers send to families on a student's achievement. Indicates that increases in both frequency and detail of individual student progress reporting to the family are positively related to student achievement. (ASK)

This booklet is intended to be a guide for local communities concerning the six National Education Goals articulated in 1990 and on how to become an "America 2000 Community" in the context of that program. There are four principal criteria for an America 2000 Community: (1) Adopt the six National Education Goals; (2) Develop a…

Letter grades or an equivalent rating system serve a natural, logical, and perfectly defensible function in evaluation and reporting. (RC)

An effective school board policy on grading needs to include the following six components: (1) philosophy; (2) definition of terms; (3) line of responsibility; (4) legal review; (5) academic achievement and behavioral skills reported separately; and (6) policy review. (MLF)

Randomly selected students from two disruptive classes (n=28 and n=30) were subjected to a daily report card reinforcement system. The study employed a time series design. Results showed significant improvements in work and behavior of both sets of target students and positive 'spill-over' effects in one class. Concludes with recommendations for…

This study investigated possible differences in the perceptions of three stakeholder groups (teachers, students, and parents) regarding grading and grade reporting. Data were gathered through questionnaires completed by 215 teachers in 2 states, 4,265 elementary school, middle school, and high school students, and 944 parents. Different forms were…

Teachers are receiving mixed messages about assessment. Encouraged to use alternative assessment practices, they are expected to express a student's progress in a single letter grade. Interviews with eight urban middle school teachers participating in the QUASAR (Quantitative Understanding: Amplifying Student Achievement and Reasoning) Project…

Too many report cards have grades and comments that are encoded and not standard referenced. To ease parents' confusion, reports should clearly distinguish between standard- and norm-referenced achievement, express teachers' judgments about student progress, consider longitudinal standards, identify strengths and weaknesses, distinguish between…

Discusses grading in elementary and secondary schools, focusing on the following topics: combining and weighting data, grading criteria, absolute grade standards, relative grade standards, contracting for grades, mastery and continuous progress grading, grading for effort or improvement, report cards, and procedures for grading students. (SR)

Do seemingly motivated students with learning disabilities work hard in general education classes only to receive lower grades than their peers? Donahoe and Zigmond (1990) found that 60-70% of students with learning disabilities passed their mainstreaming classes but received a below-average (below a C-) grade. A similar finding was reported by…