Introducing Our New Elementary Report Cards For 2007-08

Last year, a tremendous number of parents and educators worked together to revise the Report Cards used in our Knox County elementary schools. As a result of these extensive efforts, some significant changes have occurred:

• Elementary schools will no longer divide the school year into six six-week grading periods. Instead, we will join Knox County’s middle and high schools with four nine-week grading periods, including an Interim Report to Parents at the mid-point of each. This increases our number of reports from six to eight, providing parents a much better opportunity to monitor their children’s progress and to address any concerns in a more timely manner. This will also promote greater consistency among all Knox County schools, K-12, in keeping parents well-informed.

• The new Report Cards will use a clearer and more appropriate set of grading scales. We will use the E/S/N scale with our primary grades (K-2), and the more rigorous A/B/C/D/U scale with the intermediate grade levels (3-5). The only exceptions will be Work Habits (to be reported with the E/S/N scale, K-5) and Behavior (A/B/C/D/U, K-5). Both parents and teachers overwhelmingly supported these changes during last year’s revision process.

• The old Report Cards awarded separate grades for Language, for Spelling, and for Handwriting. On the new Report Card, this has been changed to a single overall grade in Language / Writing. We will continue to teach and to assess our students’ spelling and handwriting skills, but we will do so within the more meaningful and more demanding context of writing at each grade level.

• On September 11, 2007, we will have reached the mid-point of the initial nine-week grading period, and parents of children in Grades 1-5 will soon receive the First Interim Report of 2007-08. As you might expect, this first Interim Report will be unique in several ways, reflecting the limited amount of time our teachers have had with your children during the opening month of the year. In 1st Grade, teachers will mark “readiness” rather than academic grades, and students in Grades 2-5 will not receive a grade in “Reading” or an assessed “Reading Level” until the first Report Card is sent home in early October. Please note that Special Areas teachers (Art, Music, PE) award “behavior” grades only on the Report Cards.

We are proud and greatly pleased that the current academic achievement levels of our Knox County elementary students have reached an all-time high. We are also aware that we must continue to improve as we prepare our young students for future success in a demanding 21st century world.  To do so, we must elevate our expectations of ourselves – both as educators and as parents – even as we raise the standards for our students’ growth and performance in school. Our new Report Cards will become an important part of this vital process.

Nearly two thousand parents, teachers, and principals have contributed to the development of a more coherent and “family friendly” Report Card, and we greatly appreciate their efforts.  It is important to remember, however, that no report card can ever take the place of direct person-to-person communication between parents and teachers.  We invite and encourage all parents to become fully engaged with our schools as we work together on behalf of our children. We’re looking forward to a great year!

Sincerely,

Fred Nidiffer
Director of Elementary Schools

nidifferf@k12tn.net