Alternative Grading System Flunks with Parents

Downers Grove, IL - It shouldn't take a rocket scientist to read a child's report card, but some grading systems, including those in District 58, aren't easy as A-B-C anymore.

Downers Grove Grade School District 58's Report Card Information web page houses a brochure on standards-based reporting, three sets of directions for reading report cards and report card samples to help parents navigate the the alternative grading method.

Standards-based cards report achievement and effort separately, and the cards are designed to indicate what students know, what they can do and what they need to learn to meet standards, the parent brochure states.

"This system provides an easy-to-understand student progress reporting tool that merges a traditional format with new standards-based measures," the brochure says. But parents don't necessarily agree.

According to the Chicago Tribune, some parents used a district survey to express their frustration and confusion about report cards and to demand the district revert to the letter grade system.

District 58 first piloted standards-based report cards in grades K-6 for the 2008-09 school year, according to the district. But based on parent feedback, the district may bring the letters back for certain grades in the coming years, the Tribune reports.

Read more on this story from the Chicago Tribune.