Grades and report cards
Report cards grades in English here in Zurich are a reflection of a learner's reading, writing, speaking and listening skills. Remember to think about the following:
- How are you measuring each skill - in isolation or in combination with another skill? How can you separate the skills for the report cards?
- How are you testing - grades are not an average of test scores!
- What do vocabulary translation tests actually measure? Should you use them or not?
- Is Lehreroffice conducive to how you should be finding a report card grade?
- Do children need to see a grade score on every little test/quiz/assignment? Wouldn't comment-only feedback also work?
- How are you LINKING what you are doing in class to STANDARDS? Numerous tools (Parlay, EdPuzzle, Go Formative, and MORE help you to do this. Are you using them?)
Below is my Pinterest site for tools teachers can use to collect data on users. Some are really good for a standards-based grading approach. Others, like Lehreroffice, may not be as useful but can still help you get organized!
Standards-Based Grading
Report card grades for English in Zurich elementary school consist of learner performance in:
- Speaking and listening (lower primary)
- Reading, writing, speaking, listening (upper primary)
This system would be generally known as Standards-based grading, but it is not really used ideally because in language, you cannot really separate the skills and the criterion-referencing is not at the heart of grading. The padlet below will give you some ideas that might be useful in the Swiss system.