Last night I read again about the Hawaii Department of Education’s standards and report card. The standards describe what each child should know in each subject area by each quarter of each grade level. The report cards then reflect student accomplishment according to the standards.
There are all kinds of problems with the system.
- The report cards aren’t detailed enough. They don’t show exactly what the standards are. They look like the same old report cards that I got in elementary school 50 (gulp) years ago.
- The report card doesn’t report exactly what a child has missed. Parents still don’t know what their children need help with. They can still only help with homework and homework doesn’t address individual needs.
- The report card doesn’t show the whole picture. Report cards start each year at a new level with new standards. When a child falls behind in a subject the year before, parents and teachers can’t tell exactly what hasn’t been learned.
- Often the standards are written in educationese. I don’t know what many of them mean.
Here’s an example of an overall standard:
Standard 1: Reading: CONVENTIONS AND SKILLS: Use knowledge of the conventions of language and texts to construct meaning for a range of literary and informational texts for a variety of purposes
This is the “progression for the standard” for kindergarten.
| K | LA.K.1.1 | Recognize that spoken words correspond to printed words, how letters and words are oriented on the page, and that words are read from left-to-right across the page |
| K | LA.K.1.2 | Compare sounds in similar and unlike words |
| K | LA.K.1.3 | Produce basic rhymes in orally presented words |
| K | LA.K.1.4 | Orally segment and blend simple syllables |
| K | LA.K.1.5 | Recognize all letters by sight and recall the basic sound attributed to each letter |
| K | LA.K.1.6 | Identify basic high-frequency words |
| K | LA.K.1.7 | Decode one-syllable words |
| K | LA.K.1.8 | Uses words to describe location, size, color, shape, and concepts (e.g., same, different, fast, slow) in speaking situations. |
| K | LA.K.1.9 | Use new grade-appropriate vocabulary learned through stories and instruction |
Kindergarten is not all that difficult,* but interpreting the Standards can be. Imagine if parents and children had checklists with titles like, “I Know My Alphabet Sounds!” “I Can Read Words” and “I Can Follow While We Read.” Then imagine that parents, children, and teachers everywhere can link their tricks and methods for mastering and achieving each award.
Teachers and children would finally get the kind of help that they need.
*For parents anyway. It’s a lot more difficult than my half-day kindergarten with Mrs. Perry 52 years ago. We ate cookies and drank milk, played, put our toys away, and napped on our rugs from our cubbies.
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