By CNHI News Service

GLOUCESTER, Mass. -- Public elementary schools here are scrapping the traditional letter-grade report card in an effort to end student and parent obsession with As and Bs.

Replacing it in December will be a 1-through-4 point system tied strictly to skill standards set by the state for different subjects.

Superintendent Christopher Farmer called the standards-based report card a "quiet revolution" in education.

The new report card will show how well the student performed the standarized skills and will not take into account classroom attendance, attitude or even homework assignments.

A 4 will indicate that a student has "proficiency beyond grade level," 3 that a student has "met the standards for the grade level," 2 that a student is meeting the standard "partially" and 1 that the student is "not meeting grade level standard."

Shayne Trubisz, assistant superintendent for curriculum and architect of the new system, said intangibles such as effort and behavior matter, but they will be assessed in a commentary section of the report card.

By breaking down each student's work on a given subject by skill, said Trubiosz, the new report card will be more detailed and thus more helpful to parents and students.

School board members said they expect the new system to be less competitive and intimidating by putting the focus on learning instead of letter grades.

"What is really exciting is having students not counting their As, Bs, Cs and Ds, but talking about what skills they know," Trubisz said.
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