How does the rating system compare to letter grades?
Organizing all these individualized standards for every student was my biggest fear when we first implemented these progress reports. As a result of this fear, I developed a system that would allow me to see how each child is doing on each skill. If you ever had a teacher who figured grade percentages by dividing the number correct by the number possible, then grade and ratings are not that different. The greatest benefit of ratings is that 75 percent does not always have to be the grade level expectancy. If I am introducing a skill to students for the very first time, my grade level rating expectation may be 50 percent of the problem correct. On the other hand, if I am assessing a skill we have been working on for months I might have the grade level expectation of 100 percent correct. The ratings allow teachers to use professional judgment to adjust the expectations for their class as the understanding of the skill progresses. The method in which ratings are communicated to students a
