Nora Rose Rowley is a genius, but don't tell anyone. Nora's managed to make it to the fifth grade without anyone figuring out that she's not just an ordinary kid, and she wants to keep it that way. But then Nora gets fed up with the importance everyone attaches to test scores and grades, and she purposely brings home a terrible report card just to prove a point. Suddenly the attention she's successfully avoided all her life is focused on her, and her secret is out. And that's when things start to get really complicated....

Based on two national assessments of the writing proficiency of representative samples of students in grades 4, 8, and 11 conducted during the school years ending in 1984 and 1988, this report assesses the informative, persuasive, and imaginative writing performance of the nation's students and tracks changes in performance over time. The first three chapters of the report describe student performance on the informative, persuasive, and imaginative writing tasks included in the writing trend assessments, based on the results of the primary trait and holistic analyses. The fourth chapter summarizes trends in average task accomplishment for the nation and various demographic subpopulations. In the fifth chapter, trends in students' grammar, punctuation, and spelling are discussed. The sixth chapter discusses factors that appear to be related to writing performance, such as students' instructional experiences and home environment. The report concludes that despite some progress on some tasks, students' writing performance across tasks remains low and has changed little across time. The report also finds that the extent to which students at all grade levels value writing, use it in their own lives, and engage in writing process activities remains quite limited. (A procedural appendix and an appendix of data are attached.) (RS)

To better serve the whole child, look at the whole report card. Although parents and teachers spend more time in conferences talking about behavior than they do about rubrics and test scores, too many teachers are still guessing when it comes to using outdated behavior ratings and comments to describe the whole child. With this book, you’ll take report cards to the next level, integrating social-emotional learning and character development into any grading system. Resources include Guided exercises for analyzing existing report cards Suggested report card designs Tips on improving teacher-parent communication Case studies Testimonials from teachers and students

The Tiny Titans pickup their report cards at Sidekick Elementary--and that is only the beginning of their troubles.

This publication is the fifith in a UNICEF series that monitors progress for children towards achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). It assesses current performance in relation to MDG no.7 which aims to halve by 2015 the number of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation. As well as being vital in themselves, safe water and sanitation are also key prerequisites for achieving other MDGs such as reducing child and materal mortality, combating diseases, reducing child undernutrition and achieving universal primary education. The report estimates that, if current trends continue, the world is on track to meet the target for drinking water, although some countries and regions are lagging behind, but the target for basic sanitation will not be met unless progress is greatly accelerated.

The last several years have seen a growing resolve among educators and policymakers to assure the place of a solid arts education in U.S. schools. In 1997, the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) conducted a national assessment in the arts at grade 8. The assessment included the areas of music, theater, and visual arts. For each of these arts areas, this Report Card describes the achievement of eighth graders within the general population and in various subgroups. Taken with the information provided about instructional and institutional variables, this report gives a context for evaluating the status of students' learning in the arts. The arts assessment was designed to measure the content specifications described in the arts framework for NAEP. The arts have a unique capacity to integrate intellect, emotions, and physical skills in the creation of meaning. Meaningful arts assessments need to be built around three arts processes: creating, performing, and responding. To capture these processes, the arts assessment exercises included authentic tasks that assessed students' knowledge and skills and constructed-response and multiple choice questions that explore students' abilities to describe, analyze, interpret, and evaluate works of art in written form. Data are reported in overall summaries for creating, performing, and responding in terms of student- and school-reported background variables. Student results for theater are discussed in terms of teacher-reported background variables as well. The major findings of the assessment are that a large percentage of grade 8 students attend schools in which music and visual arts were taught usually by specialists; most students attended schools in which instruction following district or state curricula was offered in music and visual arts, but not in theater or dance; and most visual arts and music instruction took place in school facilities that were dedicated to that subject. (JH)

Fifth-grader Nora Rowley has always hidden the fact that she is a genius from everyone because all she wants is to be normal, but when she comes up with a plan to prove that grades are not important, things begin to get out of control.

In recent years, consumers, professional organizations, government officials, and third-party payers have become increasingly concerned about how to assess the quality of the services provided by organizations in both the private and the public sectors. One new approach is the organizational report card, which compares the performance of organizations such as public schools, colleges, hospitals, and HMOs. This book offers the first comprehensive study of such instruments. It discusses the circumstances under which they are desirable alternatives to other policy instruments, such as regulation; how they should be designed; who is likely to use them and for what purpose; and what role, if any, government should have in their creation. Informed by cases drawn from education, health, and other policy areas, this book develops a conceptual framework for analyzing these issues. It explores the tradeoffs in measuring performance, the methods of communicating results effectively to mass and elite audiences, and the ways in which organizations respond to the data gathered..

More than 200 model narratives help teachers find the words for their report cards--for every situation. Contains comments for student achievement in every content area and language for addressing behavioural and social issues, as well as sentence stems, word lists, and report card writing tips.

The contributors tell their own stories, presenting and describing some of the authentic assessment and reporting strategies they have devised and are using in their classrooms. Narratives, developmental continuums, and indicators of progress are all explored. Strategies focus on home and school collaboration, student self-assessment, the technology for developing report forms, and more. Throughout the book, abundant examples and samples of student work show ways to bring curriculum, outcomes, and progress reports together.

Based on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) 1984 assessment of the writing achievement of American school children, this report presents national and demographic subgroup achievement results for students in grades four, eight, and eleven, and discusses students' attitudes toward writing and instruction. The first chapter describes the tasks and evaluation criteria used in the study and highlights results of the study, including the following: (1) although many students appeared to know the basic elements of analytic writing, such writing was difficult for students in all grades; (2) while most students could express their points of view in persuasive writing, many had difficulty providing evidence for those viewpoints; (3) students had less difficulty with tasks requiring short responses based on personal experience; (4) students found it moderately difficult to write well-developed stories; (5) home environment is related to writing achievement; (6) students who indicated writing three or more reports and essays during a 6-week period had higher achievement levels than students who reported not writing during that time period; (7) students' positive attitudes toward writing deteriorate steadily across the grades; (8) students reported that their teachers are more likely to mark mistakes than to show an interest in what they write or to make suggestions for the next paper; and (9) content area writing increases between grades four and eight, and decreases again in senior high school. The next four chapters provide specific achievement data by grade level for informative, persuasive, and imaginative writing, and for writing performance among various demographic subgroups. The remaining three chapters focus on students' responses to questions concerning writing and writing instruction, specifically, their values and attitudes toward writing, how they manage the writing process, and what they write and the help they receive. (HTH)

Since the late 1960s, the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP)--the nation's report card--has been the only continuing measure of student achievement in key subject areas. Increasingly, educators and policymakers have expected NAEP to serve as a lever for education reform and many other purposes beyond its original role. Grading the Nation's Report Card examines ways NAEP can be strengthened to provide more informative portrayals of student achievement and the school and system factors that influence it. The committee offers specific recommendations and strategies for improving NAEP's effectiveness and utility, including: Linking achievement data to other education indicators. Streamlining data collection and other aspects of its design. Including students with disabilities and English-language learners. Revamping the process by which achievement levels are set. The book explores how to improve NAEP framework documents--which identify knowledge and skills to be assessed--with a clearer eye toward the inferences that will be drawn from the results. What should the nation expect from NAEP? What should NAEP do to meet these expectations? This book provides a blueprint for a new paradigm, important to education policymakers, professors, and students, as well as school administrators and teachers, and education advocates.