TECHNOS—Standards-Based Progress Reports of North Spencer County (Indiana) School Corporation

March 14, 2010

Meet the Team: Standards-Based Progress Reports of North Spencer County (Indiana) School Corporation

Becky Bates, Media Specialist at Lincoln Trail and Chrisney Elementary Schools (Special Area representative)
Teresa Boyd, Principal of Nancy Hanks Elementary School (Administrator representative)
Jennifer Hauser, 6th-grade teacher at David Turnham Education Center (Teacher representative)
Ginny VanKirk, Deputy Treasurer of North Spencer County School Corporation (Parent representative)

The North Spencer County School Corporation in south-central Indiana consists of four elementary schools, one middle school, one high school, and one alternative school/adult education center. The district serves more than 2,200 students through a small-school, personalized approach that offers a curriculum based on Indiana Academic Standards. Student growth is then measured by locally developed benchmark assessments, and teachers report student progress through a standards-based progress report for grades K–6 and an online assessment program for grades 7–12. The team that devised the progress reports in the North Spencer elementary schools started their discussions in the year 2000 because they had observed that the letter grades of their students didn’t reflect their standardized test scores—something had to be done! Dedicated to standards-based, authentic assessment, they tracked test scores, letter grades, and survey questions and responses from teachers and parents alike to determine how to better track and report student learning. In the process, progress reports were devised that eliminated letter grades for student work and instead rated student performance according to established benchmarks for grade levels. Teachers communicated these results to parents and explained what needed to be done for students to improve performance. While the road hasn’t been without bumps, it is smoothing out and hopes are that this method of assessment will move up to the middle and high school levels. Technos interviewed a few of the people heavily involved with the progress reports. Here are their comments…

Becky Bates, Media Specialist at Lincoln Trail and Chrisney Elementary Schools

Ms. Bates has been a teacher/media specialist for eight years. Originally a classroom teacher, at present, she meets with more than 300 students per week in two subject areas at two different schools. She may be reached at Lincoln Trail Elementary School three days a week, at 812-544-2929.

Technos: How did you become involved with the standards-based reporting system?

B.B.: I wasn’t involved in the initial phase but became involved later, when I made the transition from the classroom to media specialist. But I’ve always been a big fan of standards to guide curriculum and instruction. For a while I had been teaching to the standards but reporting through an outdated letter-grading system. It didn’t make much sense to me, and it didn’t reflect what the kids really needed to know and what they were learning. Also, I think there is a lot of emotion involved with letter grades…for instance, it’s hard to give a really wonderful kid who tries very hard an “F” grade. The rating system of 1 through 4, depending on work at grade level, is a lot less emotional.

How has the standards-based reporting changed instruction at your school?

I can still teach “how” I want but I need to teach “what” the standards call for. There are no state standards for technology classes in Indiana, but we abide by the national technology education standards and assess performance accordingly. We teachers have a lot of conversations among ourselves about what “grade level” on the report for our subject area looks like. Students are either at or above or below grade level as they progress through the curriculum, and it isn’t subjective assessment. For literacy instruction, I meet once a week with upper-level teachers, grades 4, 5, and 6, and we talk specifically about what grade-level work looks like there, too.

It doesn’t sound any easier than giving out letter grades, A, B, C, D, or F.

It isn’t easy. It’s been a hard road, really, because we weren’t necessarily trained to do authentic assessment. For one thing, this method is constant—it’s not easy because you’re always paying attention. I can’t just present the content, give out homework assignments, then sit back and wait for results. We have instant feedback, too, if we’re doing it right, watching and listening to the students and what they’re doing. Instruction is much more intentional this way, and I think learning is much more authentic.

How does the progress reporting process work?

We have benchmark tests to assess retention of knowledge and mastery of skills, which we monitor throughout the school year. Teachers gather information and the reports are produced to share with parents during Parent-Teacher Conferences after the first nine weeks of school are completed. During the school year, each student has what we call a “Thursday folder”—because they take it home with them every Thursday—for parents to view, sign, and send back to the teacher. If parents want or need to discuss their child’s report, we set up a meeting for that.

What has been the reaction from the parents of your students to the progress reports?

Not all are on board 100 percent, but they’re becoming more and more comfortable with the reports. Most were brought up with the traditional letter-grade system, so it’s an adjustment for them at first. But what they do like is the conversations we have about what their kids need to know, according to the standards, and what they actually do know, according to the report. If the report shows a student is consistently performing below level, then it means he isn’t gaining the knowledge and skill he needs. And something has to be done about that. That’s what we’re here for.

Did your college education courses prepare you for this?

Well, I think anyone who was trained in the field of education will tell you that the learning you get in a classroom doesn’t compare to what you studied in college! But trends in education swing like a pendulum, too, and they’re hard to keep up with. I learned mostly whole language and manipulative math methods when I was in college. I’m very fortunate to be employed in a school district with many forward-thinking individuals who are able to use experts to help us become experts. They’re great models who care about the kids’ education and help us teachers become better. We have a lot of great facilitators of learning in our corporation office.

Teresa Boyd, Principal of Nancy Hanks Elementary School

Ms. Boyd was a classroom teacher for 13 years and has been an administrator for 18 years at various levels. Presently, she is principal of Nancy Hanks Elementary School in the North Spencer County School District, where she can be reached at her email address, tboyd@nspencer.org.

Technos: Were you involved from the beginning with the planning and implementation of the standards-based assessment process?

T.B.: Yes, all the principals of our district’s elementary schools were included on the original team. Each of us also had teacher and parent representatives, and we made the effort to appoint a good cross-section of people who would offer hard work plus a keen eye for any problems that might arise. We also wanted people who would speak their minds and let us know if something bothered them about the process or the reports.

Which came first—the chicken or the egg? Was the curriculum changed first, or the reporting system?

Definitely, the curriculum drove the changes in our assessment and reporting. It became apparent that we would need to revise our reporting mechanism to parents. For instance, we were moving toward more writing — and I don’t mean handwriting—to balanced literacy standards, so there were questions about the meaning of the letter grades. We felt our assessment system had to change.

How did the process of changing to the progress reports go?

Well, let’s just say that any time you’re in a kind of process that you’re really not sure where you’re headed, it takes a while and it’s not easy. We had to do our research, a lot of reading about education reform and how to implement it; we had to talk about it amongst ourselves and listen to a lot of viewpoints. We needed facilitators to move the discussion along—and we had some really good ones.

Who served as the facilitators in your school district?

Janet Tassell, Julie Kemp, Michael Schriefer, and Diane Litkenhus were all great at moving the conversations through to the end point, which was to establish our standards-based assessment. [NOTE: These are the authors of this month’s Featured Article.] Also, Indiana has ICAN, Individualized Classroom Accountability Network, which references the Indiana Academic Standards, and those folks came in to demonstrate samples of reporting mechanisms. That was very helpful, and something these four people arranged for our teachers.

What was the next step?

The principals all went about developing or adding to the progress report mechanism for our district. I’m a PowerPoint® person, so I put a presentation together for all four elementary schools. And each principal helped their school’s teachers to communicate the results of students progress reports to parents. We decided to set up Parent-Teacher Conferences after the completion of the first nine weeks of school to go through the reports and explain the process and terminology; then subsequently the reports are sent home with the kids to go over with their parents. As the years go by, we obviously have more students and parents who are familiar with the process, but we still have some new kids each year who need orientation to it, and I have handled that.

What is your opinion of the new progress reporting mechanism?

As an educator, especially a former classroom teacher, I don’t think letter grades have much meaning. When students from other school districts come into our school with their letter grades, it has no meaning for me. How do I know what an “A” from a school in upstate Illinois is compared to our progress numerals? At least when I see a “4” in a progress report, I know that means the student has performed at or above grade level; it’s a constant. Of course, those ratings when moved to another school district that doesn’t have the same assessment rubric, need to be defined, but the definition is easily gleaned from the report.

You’ve been a teacher and administrator for a number of years in a few different places and different levels. Is that an advantage or disadvantage to you?

I’m really glad I’ve been able to have all those experiences! I think it would be so good for teachers to be able to move about, change grade levels or try a new subject area — it would keep them fresh intellectually. You learn and grow through interacting with other people and experiencing different places and events.

Do you miss the classroom at all?

Always! I’m a teacher in an administrative role. I’m not teaching content anymore, but I’m still guiding students through the learning process and assessing where they are and where they’re going. That’s very satisfying to me.

Jennifer Hauser, 6th-grade teacher at David Turnham Education Center

Technos: How has the progress report affected communication of student learning?

J.H.: The progress report’s most significant effect is that it has made communication more effective in the respect of giving teachers, students, and parents a more clear look at where specific strengths and weaknesses are occurring. For example, math is broken down into seven standards—such as computation, geometry, place value, etc.—so students and parents get a view of each standard rather than one grade that blankets all the skills, thus leaving little communication about that student’s math capabilities. A student in theory could have an overall “B” grade yet in the geometry standard not have any skills needed to be at grade level. The “B” would leave the student and parent alike feeling comforted, yet there could be a big problem hidden by just communicating academic performance with that one grade. Our progress reports have the capability of showing teachers they need to target re-teaching strategies in geometry with this student while at the same time communicate to the parents and the student that overall, the student is strong in math, but there is a problem that needs to be addressed in this one area.

Communicating from the educational perspective has greatly improved; however, there has obviously been some parent resistance to the new reports. Parents say they like grades, and in conversations with them the only real thing they like about grades is that they are comfortable with what they perceive grades to communicate. Once I explain all the hidden problems grades can cover up, they see the importance of our progress reports. Perhaps the most important part of success with communicating these new progress reports has been educating parents as well as students on how much more the new reports can tell them over one single grade. Once there is this understanding established, parents and educators alike can see the obvious communication benefits of these reports.

How does the rating system compare to letter grades?

Organizing all these individualized standards for every student was my biggest fear when we first implemented these progress reports. As a result of this fear, I developed a system that would allow me to “see” how each child is doing on each skill.

If you ever had a teacher who figured grade percentages by dividing the number correct by the number possible, then grade and ratings are not that different. The greatest benefit of ratings is that 75 percent does not always have to be the grade level expectancy. If I am introducing a skill to students for the very first time, my grade level rating expectation may be 50 percent of the problem correct. On the other hand, if I am assessing a skill we have been working on for months I might have the grade level expectation of 100 percent correct. The ratings allow teachers to use professional judgment to adjust the expectations for their class as the understanding of the skill progresses.

The method in which ratings are communicated to students and parents is another difference from traditional letter grades. Parents and students do not see the traditional percentage and letter grade most people are accustomed to on the tops of tests and homework. Ratings are not written as percentages, but rather as fractions. This procedure was standardized across our corporation after a Progress Report Team consensus. The decision was made that the student score would be indicated with the number correct over the number possible. The teacher would then indicate the grade level expectancy in the same manner just to the right of the student score. The grade level expectancy is also circled to help students and parents see how they are performing in relation to the grade level expectancy.

How has the new progress report affected your view of traditional reporting and letter grades?

The progress reports have made me realize how truly ineffective grades really were for me personally, for my past students, and for communicating with my students’ parents. In reality, a grade conveys very little information about a child’s individual strengths and weaknesses. Unless as an educator you choose to be very explicit in communication with parents and students on each individual strength and weakness, grades leave parents and students with just a symbol of comfort or discomfort for their academic performance. It is like judging a book by the cover when just using letter grades. Our progress reports allow parents to open the book to get a much more in-depth description of how their child is performing in the grade level curriculum. The progress report provides educators a systematic method to communicate distinctively the specific strengths and weaknesses for every child.

How has the standards-based progress report changed instruction in North Spencer?

As far as changing instruction, there should have been little change for the majority of teachers. In my nine years with the corporation, we have always been progressive in taking a standards-based approach in our teaching. There has been more of a shift in scoring students.

The progress reports, if used to their fullest potential, should be enhancing instruction on an individual student basis. When I look at my student’s scores I can quickly pinpoint individual students in need of remediation on a particular skill. This helps me to focus my instruction to meet my students’ individual needs.

How do the technology-based entry and printing of the reports affect the initiative?

We have a strong support system in respects to technology in our corporation, so this was not much of a factor at all. Our “computer guys” are prompt and always helpful when a problem arises. One of them, Mike Kemp, was instrumental in the development of our online progress report capabilities. This I would say has been another key to our success.

Of course, teachers with limited computer skills were at first apprehensive but over the past three years have become comfortable with the technology aspect. Those who are still apprehensive have colleagues they trust to support them. It is that old live-and-learn attitude that made the implementation process livable.

Each building handles the printing a little differently, but as a corporation we set up deadlines for special area teachers to have grades on so that there is ample time for classroom teachers to print and get the reports home to parents. It is my understanding that most of the initial glitches have been smoothed out over the past couple of years.

How did the decision to implement standards-based reporting come about? And, who are the leaders in this effort?

The conversations starters came from our central office staff (Janet Tassel, Mike Shriefer, and Julie Kemp). [NOTE: These are the authors of this month’s Featured Article.] during curriculum writing. From there teacher conversations evolved into a progress report team being formed. That team was comprised of central office staff, parents, teachers, and administrators from each elementary building. This team, with the help of our corporation technology professionals, developed the progress report you have seen.

What is the difference between “teaching” and “facilitating learning”? How is this difference perceived/received by parents in the community? by teachers?

In my philosophy, teaching is facilitating learning. Teaching is not about the teacher—it is about the students and their strengths and weaknesses. Teaching is about knowing your curriculum and your students. Teaching is insuring each child learns as much of the curriculum as possible. Teaching is letting students know that a weakness and mistakes are perfectly okay when we learn from them and continue to try different things until we can better understand them.

I think our progress reports have helped raise our corporation’s teacher and parent expectations for schools. The parents and teachers who have come to understand the full potential of progress reports would tell you they could never again be satisfied with the limited information gained from a letter grade.

Two keys to this process and its effectiveness have to be accountability and trust, which it would seem must go hand-in-hand. Parents have to trust the teachers, and the teachers have to accept their accountability for student learning. How are these two key elements integral to the success of your progress reports? (and of course, the students’ success)

Communication is key to trust. Parents must first understand the progress reports before they will trust them. This is an educational process that we are as a corporation still working on to help our students’ parents to better understand. The communication must be ongoing if trust will be there.

As for the educational accountability of teachers: With these progress reports, teachers are held accountable to the very standards we are to teach in our grade level curriculums. If ever there was a showcase of who is being accountable in their instruction and who is not, it would be these progress reports. You can’t hide from what is to be taught with these progress reports, and they clearly show what each student is and is not learning.

Ginny VanKirk, Deputy Treasurer of North Spencer County School Corporation

Married, living in small-town rural America, Mrs. VanKirk defines success in her life as “parenting”—raising our fourteen-year-old son. Garrett is in the 8th grade at Heritage Hills Middle School. His mother graduated from Heritage Hills High School and Lockyear Business College, after which she moved to Houston for five years, and later returned to Spencer County. Mrs. VanKirk has been employed as Deputy Treasurer for North Spencer County School Corporation since 1999.

Technos: How has the progress report affected communication of student learning?

G.V.: Students have a more detailed report as to their strengths and weaknesses with the progress report now in place. They can go directly to the standard they are struggling with and focus on the problem at hand.

How does the rating system compare to letter grades?

Letter grades can include student homework, extra credit, “teacher pet” factor, participation, etc. With the new reporting system, a student focuses on the standard at hand—either they know it or they don’t! Letter grades also average all scores together and do not separate performance by standards.

How has the new progress report affected your view of traditional reporting and letter grades?

Fortunately, my child experienced the new progress report for two years. However, he is now receiving letter grades again—for me, it is like taking a step back in time, as the letter grading system takes into account extra credit, homework, group assignments, etc. I want to know my child is learning and will be able to pass the state-mandated test to graduate. The “A”s look great on his report card; however, will he pass the state-mandated test? The progress report rating reflected his independent performance, including assignments, assessments, and activities. But a letter grade reflects an average of all these things plus group work and homework outside of school, which may not represent what he can do independently. I am not against homework, because practice makes perfect, but I think a grade should not be issued for homework due to the potential of outside support.

If you were speaking to a group of parents from another school, what would you say to convince them the progress report is better than the past format?

The new progress report system allows parents to distinguish their child’s strengths as well as weaknesses. This knowledge allows parents to guide their child into a career he or she would enjoy and excel in. Certainly someone who hates math would not want to become an accountant and work with numbers day in and day out.

Read more about North Spencer’s progress reports in our Featured Article.