Final Draft of New Report Card Offered

A committee of more than 30 parents, teachers and administrators has offered a final draft of a revamped report card for young children that scraps traditional grades in favor of a skills analysis.

The committee, which has been revising the card since the Simi Valley Unified School District began a pilot program using the new evaluation system in the fall, presented the card for discussion to the school board Tuesday.

“It’s a real exciting change in looking at kids and how they go about learning,” said Rob Hunter, principal at Park View Center School in Simi Valley.

Board President Judy Barry praised the new card as a means of providing much more and detailed information to parents on their children’s progress.

“I think we need to know what our children can do, and where and how we can help them improve,” she said.

“It’s more important to know what my child can do rather than what place my child is in.”

Trustee Diane Collins said the new cards help build self-esteem in young children by not assigning grades.

However, Trustee Norman Walker said that his children were receiving the new cards and that they were sometimes difficult to understand.

“I’m not as impressed as I thought I would be,” he said.

The board will decide whether to permanently implement the new report cards at its next meeting in two weeks.

Under the new system, teachers fill out 11- by 14-inch cards every quarter. Instead of A-F grades assigned for reading, writing and math, the new cards provide teachers a continuum on which to evaluate skills.

The skills include such fundamental things as whether the child can track from left to right across the page, whether the child is interested in reading, and whether the child reads in phrases and sentences or halting word groups.