Virginia’s Fixing the Gap Between What Report Cards Say & What Kids Really Learn

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Nationally, 9 in 10 parents believe their child is at or above grade level in math and reading. But the data paint a starkly different picture: At best, only about half of students meet grade-level expectations. How is it that so many parents are unaware of their child’s grade-level achievement?

Report cards are the culprit. Almost 80% of parents say their child consistently brings home B’s or better on their report cards. But those grades don’t necessarily reflect whether a student is truly performing at grade level. Report cards measure more than just mastery of academic content — they also factor in elements like classroom participation, attendance and completion of assignments. While important, these additional factors can make it difficult for parents to assess whether their child is where he or she needs to be academically.

What would happen if families had an accurate and holistic picture of their child’s and school’s academic progress? Virginia is about to find out.

Over the past two years, Virginia has developed a new accountability model for K-12 schools that prioritizes transparent and timely information for parents. It focuses on academic mastery and growth as well as skills necessary for life after high school, such as collaboration, critical thinking and communication.

Instead of simply receiving quarterly report cards with classroom grades and an end-of-school year report showing how their student performed on a single exam administered in the spring, families will also get fall and winter growth assessment reports that show how their child is progressing throughout the year.

This new system, part of which was created in partnership with Learning Heroes, will provide parents with a host of data points and resources about their child’s performance. And they will come early enough in the year to let families know if they need to sign their child up for tutoring or summer school.

To help parents gauge how well their school is doing, a new online platform will rank each into one of four categories — distinguished, on track, off track, and needs intensive support — explain what each rating level means and provide specific data points for the public to explore.

This is a huge change from the old system, which sorts schools into broad categories based on whether they meet the minimum criteria for accreditation — meaning that parents cannot differentiate between a school with standout performance and one that is mediocre or stagnant.

To help teachers have meaningful conversations with parents, Virginia’s Bridging the Gap initiative provides training in how to communicate with families about their child’s progress and create a personalized plan to help students recover academically from the effects of the pandemic. Giving families a holistic picture of their child’s and school’s academic progress seems like common sense, but it’s actually all too uncommon.

Research from Learning Heroes shows that when parents know their child is struggling academically, they take specific actions. One of the primary actions they take is talking with their teacher. Parents who know their child is behind stack rank academics above paying the bills and concerns about social media. But they cannot help solve a problem they do not know they have.

Disclosure: Andrew Rotherham is a member of the Virginia Board of Education and sits on The 74’s board of directors. He played no role in the reporting or editing of this essay.

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This story was produced by The 74, a non-profit, independent news organization focused on education in America.

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