Why does Minisinaakwaang Leadership Academy use Standards-Based Report Cards? Why ‘standards’ and ‘benchmarks?’
Standards and benchmarks identify the essential skills and knowledge that are to be taught and learned; that students and teachers are held accountable for. They are spiraled through the grades and woven into our curriculum and adopted materials to provide students with the opportunity to develop increasing levels of understanding over time. The focus on standards and benchmarks assists in consistency in marking across sites as well as on student learning. The cultural standards are also represented in the standards-based reporting system.
How are letter grades and the 4-3-2-1 scoring points comparable? What do 4-3-2-1 really mean? Why use them?
They really are not comparable, since the criteria are standards-referenced rather than based on percentiles. Some schools have used other criteria as well. In our move to a consistent set of criteria district-wide, these levels are used to report student achievement:
4 - Advanced; independently exceeds standard at this time
3 - Proficient; independently meets standard expectations at this time (an excellent score)
2 - Partially proficient; making progress toward basics of standard at this time, with support
1 - Needs improvement; lacks expected progress towards standard at this time
The score points assist teachers in maintaining a focus on the learning expectations, and encourage frequent diagnosis of how well students are meeting them. This focus has been shown to increase student achievement because it helps to align learning expectations, teaching and feedback.
When is ’NA’ used?
Not assessed at his time’ simply means that the content area or indicator was not assessed for the trimester for which the report is provided. In the first trimester, for some Kindergarten standards, and in some specialist classes, it isn’t yet appropriate to provide this information. In some other content areas, teachers may be balancing the distribution of content so that one or two areas are the focus in the fall and another in the winter so they will have no score.
How is progress reported for special needs students?
Progress by all students is reported against the same criteria; the standards/benchmarks for that grade level. A lack of proficiency on any standard does not signal failure – but that we need to continue to assist student development in that area. Teachers can include information on student progress on individual goals through the teacher’s comment section of the report, as well as to share if the student has a ‘replacement curriculum’ or the grades are actually provided by another teacher.
Where can we see the standards and benchmarks that clarify grade level expectations?
MN required standards and benchmarks are part of the curriculum and materials we use at all grade levels. They can be found at the MN Department of Education website
Minnesota Department of Education
Please click on a grade level link below to view the brochure for your child!
Download kindergarten_brochure.doc
Download kindergarten_reportcard.doc
Download first_grade_report_card.doc
Download second_grade_report_card.doc
Download third_grade_report_card.doc
Download grade_four_report_card.doc
Download grade_five_report_card.doc
Download grade_six_report_card.doc
The High School students are being graded on the Minnesota State and Minisinaakwaang Cultural Standards, although they are using a traditional letter-grading system that is based on a percentage scale. The work to develop a standards-based report card and rubric has begun.
Download high_school_report_card1.doc
High School Standards Brochures
