A standards based reporting system is designed to inform parents about their child’s progress towards achieving specific learning standards. Standards based grades are a timely reflection of students’ demonstration of:

• Knowledge
• Skills
• Abilities 

in relation to grade-level content standards. Grades provide parents and students with feedback for next steps and growth areas.

A standards based report card:

• Has clear performance standards based on levels of proficiency, not points and percentages.
• Eliminates behavior, penalties, extra credit, attendance and group scores from grades.
• Recognizes that mistakes and misconceptions are a natural part of the learning process and students will not be penalized for those that occur early in the learning process. Grades are based on assessments of learning with assessments for learning providing descriptive feedback, not scores.
• Recognizes that effective learning and teaching processes result in students knowing more and performing better now than they did then. Grades are determined by the most recent evidence rather than the average.
• Improves Equity in grading- no longer are factors such as extra credit, participation, and attendance figured into the most recent score; behaviors and learner characteristics are graded separately.
• Develops students as self-directed learners by involving them in the assessment process, in record-keeping and in communicating about their achievement.

Standards Based Report Cards:

• Show improvement over time - a student is not likely to master many standards in trimester 1, but by trimester 3, the report card will show scores on all standards
• Communicate current learning level to parents.
• Allow students to identify their own learning level and next steps in their learning progression.

• Each MCPS ELA and Math Priority Standard is listed on the new report card. 
• The new report card replaced Habits and Attitudes with Characteristics of a Successful Learner (IC continues to call the class Habits and Attitudes).
• The score on the report card should be based on most recent evidence- not an average over time
• The new report card will not show trimesters- only the most recent score for that reporting period
• The new report card will only show the most recent score for each reporting period; it will not display scores for each trimester.