SAUGUS — Belmonte STEAM Academy Principal Christopher Blair spoke to the School Committee Thursday night about creating standards-based report cards, which the school has been exploring for some time.
“I understand that we had some teachers who did some work and some professional development on changing the ways we report back to parents on how students are doing and how much they’re learning,” Blair said.
Third-grade teacher Nicole Ferris was also there to talk about the new report cards in greater depth.
Blair stated that the teachers have put in a lot of effort to get to this point.
“I learned this when I got here in July. Our students at Belmonte, which is grades two, three, four, and five, receive letter grades… When we think about what’s developmentally appropriate for our students, especially in grades two and three, that may not be the best way to measure and assess how they’re doing in terms of their academics,” he said.
Blair explained that from kindergarten to third, you’re learning to read, and toward the end of three and on to four and five, you’re reading to learn, using the skills from early grades.
“Slamming a second grader with a D or an F, it’s not developmentally appropriate,” he said.
Ferris noted that a standards-based report card highlights specifically how a child is performing and indicates what areas need additional attention.
“Standards-based grading emphasizes growth and development over time by focusing on skill progression rather than a fixed average. It supports a growth mindset and encourages students to continue improving as they build their abilities,” she said.
To prepare for next year and the new grading system, time will be spent to align assessments to standards and come up with exemplars for grade-level expectations. The school will practice this for term three by using some students from each class to implement the standards-based grading.
These will not be shared with parents, but will help teachers get an idea of the best way for it to work next year.
Though the School Committee does not need to vote on this, the school wanted the Committee to be aware of the shift.
