Susquenita Elementary SchoolEDUCATING AND EMPOWERING TODAY’S LEARNER;

GRADUATING TOMORROW’S FUTURE.

General Information

Report Cards are issued to provide parents and guardians with information about how their child is progressing in meeting the PA Core Academic Standards PA Academic Standards. These standards drive our curriculum and instruction in all academic content areas.

The purpose of the elementary report card at Susquenita Elementary School is to provide a clear and accurate description of each child 's progress in three areas:

• Performance compared to the PA Academic Standards established by the Department of Education (PDE).
• Level of success toward meeting Susquenita Elementary School 's written curriculum, as well as grade level benchmarks and teacher expectations.
• Work habits required of a successful student as related to our inclusive High 5 program.

Standards-Based Education

In standards-based grading, our focus is on a student 's performance over multiple opportunities, not simply the average of test and quiz grades. Standards are specified learning goals applied to all students and provide consistent targets for students and teachers to meet at each grade level. Comments provide additional information to parents.

Standards-Based Report Cards

A standards-based report card emphasizes "learning" over "earning". Each grading period provides students multiple opportunities to practice and demonstrate understanding of specified standards. Many standards are revisited in multiple ways across a school year as students develop a deeper connection to the content and application of skills.

Our classroom teachers measure each student 's progress against these standards during each grading period. Teachers collect evidence of achievement through careful observation, examination of a student 's work, discussion, projects, performance tasks, quizzes, and tests.

Measures on Report Card

Students in grades K-4 receive standards-based marks in all subjects, specials, and work habits on a numerical scale (1-4). These are not tied to a specific percentage or one assessment. Parents should review the standards to identify areas that your child needs to continue working on and those they have mastered at each stage.

Students in grades 3-4 also receive traditional letter grades in Reading, Language Arts, Mathematics, and Science/Social Studies. These traditional grades help both students and parents understand their progress as they move toward middle school. The standards based grades in these subjects help parents and teachers break down success compared to skills, which provides a better understanding than just a letter grade.

The Susquenita School District grading policy is used to determine these traditional grades:

Kindergarten students receive report cards twice a year. All other students receive report cards quarterly. Additional information regarding performance on universal assessments and our Multi-Tiered System of Support (MTSS) will also be sent home at periodic intervals. Students with IEP 's receive information regarding progress toward written goals quarterly and may receive a modified report card.

Please contact your child 's teacher regarding any report card related questions.

Understanding the Standards

Standards-based grading and report cards are different from traditional letter grades that parents may have received when they were in school. Susquenita Elementary School is required to assess student progress based on the PA Core Academic Standards. For more information and details on these standards, visit www.pdesas.org.

Beginning the Fall of 2017, SES will use a 1-4 point rubric to assess students against each standard each marking period. Some standards are not addressed in a marking period and will be marked NA (Not assessed). A student with a 0 (zero) was absent or remote and did not complete enough work for proper assessment.

The below example of riding a bike can help you understand this updated system: