Some SAD 43 parents will get new report cards.
RUMFORD – Many parents of SAD 43 students will see a different kind of report card sent home at a new time of year when they are issued during the soon-to-start school year.
Gloria Jenkins, curriculum coordinator, told the board Monday night that the state’s assessment mandates have changed, calling for report cards that provide information on how well a child is meeting specific prescribed educational requirements.
In place of A’s, B’s, C’s, etc., report cards will record whether a child has exceeded the standards (E), met the standards (M), partially met the standards (P) or not met the standards (N) for each subject, such as English language arts, math, science, social studies and health and physical education.
This new type of reporting will be for all children from kindergarten through grade eight. High school freshmen will also receive such cards, along with a traditional report card. Within the next several years, grades 10, 11 and 12 will also receive assessments using the E, M, P and N system.
The traditional quarter reports will be changed to three times a year for students in grades K-8. Quarterly assessments will continue for high school students, for now.
The new way of grading students is tied to the Maine Learning Results, adopted by the state in 1997. Students in grades K-4 must meet a certain number of skills; those in grade five through eight must meet another set of standards; and those in high school must meet yet another before they can receive a diploma.
The four times a year reports for high school students may change in the future, as well, said Mountain Valley High School Principal Bruce Lindberg.
“The stakes are raised as a student gets closer to graduation. In the future, I will recommend grade reports every six weeks. It’s very important that parents know where there kids are,” he said.
In addition to the new grading system, Jenkins said report cards will also list teacher comments for such things as effort and passing work in on time.
Mountain Valley Middle School Principal Charles Lever said the new report cards are a more honest way of reporting student progress than the traditional letter grades.
“They give much more information for parents on what their children can and can’t do,” he said.
Grades five through eight served as a pilot program for the new assessment system during the past school year.
In other matters, the board appointed Robert Winchell as a new alternative education teacher; Kate Flewelling to a sixth-grade position; and Donna Peare as a high school physical science teacher.
Superintendent James Hodgkin said only a high school Spanish teacher position remains open.
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