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Medford students like new report cards Grades provide more information By Vicki Guarino The report card on the Medford School District�s new student report cards is out, and the changes are earning passing grades. Among the thousands of teachers, parents and students surveyed for a review on grading system revisions, teachers gave the changes the lowest marks and students gave the highest marks. For instance, teachers doubted that students understood the new report to parents, which debuted this year, and doubted that it motivated students to study harder. Students, however, said they did understand the new report cards, were able to see what areas of the curriculum they needed to work on, and were motivated to work harder. "What I learned is never underestimate kids,�� said Lone Pine Elementary School Principal Rich Miles. "The majority of them know what is going on.�� Miles led a team of Medford teachers and administrators in a massive effort to overhaul report cards for the district�s 6,800 elementary school students. "The Report to Parents is probably the single largest change our district has implemented in its history," said Miles. "It has changed the concept of grades that has existed since the beginning of schools in the country." The ABCs of report cards are out, replaced by letters and numbers coded to a commentary that explains how the student stacks up against 36 uniform academic standards. The idea was to align the grading system with the new curriculum that is at the core of Oregon�s education reforms. District officials wanted to match up all of the new elements of public school education: the demands of the annual state academic achievement tests, which lead to the Certificate of Initial Mastery � the CIM � for 10th-graders, the curriculum, and report cards. Several school districts around the state have revised report cards for the same goal of consistency. The Phoenix-Talent School District made changes last year and, like Medford, earned favorable responses. In Medford, not only are grades more detailed, there are many more grades reported. Instead of a grade in reading, for example, there are six grades: word knowledge, ability to locate information, comprehension, recognition and understanding of literary forms and elements, and finally, effort shown. As part of the revision process, district administrators surveyed everyone: parents, students, teachers. Miles presented results to the Medford School Board on Tuesday. Miles also has called a day-long meeting of committees that originally put together the new report cards for Monday at Griffin Creek School. The teachers and administrators will review the surveys and recommend changes. The surveys asked similar questions of the three groups: Do the new report cards adequately show student progress; are they understandable; do they motivate students; are they accurate? Among the nearly 3,000 students in fourth through sixth grades who responded, between about 70 and 90 percent were either neutral or agreed. Among 3,040 parents, between 60 and 90 percent were neutral or agreed. Among 257 teachers, between 60 and 90 percent were neutral or agreed. However, in most categories, positive scores were in the 60 percent range � a lower range than recorded for parents. For students, positive scores were in the 80 percent range. Obituaries | Sports | Business | Classifieds | Tempo | Prime Times | So Oregon Sites | Outdoor Journal | Subscribe | Contact | Movies | Advertise | Real Estate Showcase | Archive | Editorials | Letters to the editor | Religion | Wake-up Call | NIE | Cyber Chef | Job Network | So Oregon Weather | WSJ Northwest | Forums | AP Wire | AP Money | F.A.Q. | Awards Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. The Community Newspaper Subsidiary of Dow Jones & Co, Inc Copyright �The Mail Tribune 2000, Medford, Oregon USA