Big changes could soon be coming to your child's report card.
In Pasco County, parents could soon kiss goodbye the A-F scores they’re used to, in exchange for something totally different. School District leaders are looking into totally revamping the way they evaluate students.
The change stems from Gulf High School in New Port Richey where 9th grade English and critical thinking teacher Shauna Settle started grading her students differently. She made the change after some of her 9th graders made A's in her class but didn't do well on the Florida Standards Assessments. Others fared poorly in class but aced the annual test.
The new report cards would be more detailed and say how a student did or did not meet state standards. The idea is to make grades more about student academic abilities and less about meeting expectations like turning in homework on time.
Not everyone likes the change though. Just south of us in Collier County, parents constantly complain that report cards are too long and confusing. Parents still want letter grades, even though the district made the change 5 years ago.
Pasco County is confident with enough information, parents will find the new grading system more helpful.
Pinellas County schools are already using the new achievement reports for kindergarten, and now district leaders have talked informally about expanding it into other grades. Hillsborough County hasn't looked into the concept. Polk County schools also adopted the model for kindergarten through second grade, but abandoned it in 2013 because it was too "difficult for parents to understand and time-consuming for teachers."
If Pasco County decides to move forward, they will likely start with a pilot program with a few teachers using the new grading system before they make the change district-wide.
Mobile app users, click on these links to see portions of the new report cardReport Card 1Report Card 2Report Card 3
