"North Westall, a fifth grader, got 27 3s this marking period" I'm glad they're giving a more realistic report and showing specifically what needs improving.

"North Westall, a fifth grader, got 27 3s this marking period" I'm glad they're giving a more realistic report and showing specifically what needs improving. "while the top grade of 4 celebrates 'meeting standards with distinction.'" However, meeting "standards with distinction" to me means you haven't met much. Of the standardized testing I've done (which admittedly was many moons ago), getting a perfect score wasn't saying much. It was truly a lowest-common-denominator type of standard. For our future's sake, I hope this is no longer the case. However, if this comment is representative of what's happening: "What happened was the high-performing students said, 'I don’t have to work that hard' and they all stopped trying" Then I fear there's no hope in such a system. This was happening even among the best of the best in my high school, where we often joked about "points per minute" to see how well you could do on tests or assignments in the shortest amount of time. And I hate to say it, but what Dr. Guskey points out about the traditional way of grading: "'The dilemma with that system is you really don’t know whether anybody has learned anything,; Dr. Guskey said of grading on a curve. 'They could all have done miserably, just some less miserably than others.'" Is even more true of the standards as I've seen them. You only get a chance to show you can excel at mediocrity.