Your child’s progress reports will be loaded into The Source sometime on December 18. You will be able to access your child’s progress report in The Source on or after that date. If you have not yet set up a Source account, you can learn more about how to do this here: https://www.seattleschools.org/departments/dots/support-training-forms/source/. This is a great resource as you can access report cards, standardized test scores and more from this account. This is also where you can go to update your address and phone number. (You are always welcome to ask for a hard copy of your child’s report card too, by calling our office at 206-252-2800).

In talking to parents about report cards over the past few years, I have noticed that as hard as teachers work to be clear in assigning grades and comments, there can still be some confusion. You are always welcome to talk to your child’s teachers or to me about questions you have, and I thought I would also address our system of grading here.

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We measure the academic benchmarks on our report cards by using a scale of 1-4. This reflects your child’s progress towards specific grade level standards. The scale is as follows:

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1. Below performance expectations for this time

2. Approaching performance expectations for this time

3. Meeting performance expectations for this time

4. Exceeding performance expectations for this time

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Standards based grading is different from traditional grades of “A”, “B”, “C”, etc. that most parents received growing up. The numbers 1-4 do not equate to traditional grades (i.e., a “4” does not equal an “A”).  They are also not an average of work that a student has done over the first trimester, meaning that if a student really struggled with a concept at the beginning of the year and earned scores of mostly “1”s, but had demonstrated consistent grade level understanding by the end of the first trimester earning a “3”, that child would not receive an average of the “1”s and ‘”3”s equal to a “2”. She or he would receive a “3” because they were able to meet the standard. Likewise, a child who was able to meet the standard early in the trimester and continued to do grade level appropriate work by the end of the trimester would also receive a “3”. The purpose of standards-based grading is not to compare your child to other children, but rather to give you information about how your child is progressing towards the expected grade level skills.

You may also see an area marked “*” on your child’s report card. This is to indicate that a particular skill has not yet been addressed by the teacher. Because teachers cover a range of skills across grade levels, they do not address every standard in every trimester. During conferences, your child’s teacher discussed their progress with you, but if you have questions about what you see on the report card, please do reach out to your teacher.

The Learning Behaviors section of the report card gives you information about your child’s behaviors that promote learning, such as perseverance, organization, and self-control. This section is scored in the following way:

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S: Strength (consistently uses skill across subjects and settings)

D: Developing (applies skills in most subjects and settings)

E: Emerging (beginning to apply skills in some subjects and settings)

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Attendance is also marked on your child’s report card. You will see the number of days your child has been absent or tardy. If your child has a bus that was consistently arriving late, you will see the tardies and also see that they are excused. If your child has missed more than 3-4 days of school so far, it may be helpful for you to set a goal for attendance with them. Missing more than 10 total days of school for the year (for any reason) can impact your child’s learning.