Report Cards and Grades
Today we sent home report cards. It is always a joyous time for some students and a stressful time for others. We live in a society that puts a lot of weight on grades. Educators often debate their importance and their value. I even attended a seminar last fall that addressed if grades were Biblical and I realized that God himself operates on His own rubric throughout the Bible. He is the one that stated at His own creation, "It is Good" and since he stated that, You have to wonder if there could have been anything less? – After all, He is God!
I have noticed though, that as parents, we sometimes put too much weight into the grades our kids have. If they have A's we assume they are doing great and they have learned everything necessary at their grade level. If they have poor grades, we panic and think they have not learned the necessary information. At CCA, we work hard to have grades reflect the child's ability. However, you have to realize there is no perfect grading system. I have even known schools in the past to make sure students always pass and get good grades just so the parents are happy with them. Our curriculum at CCA is a tough one and some of our students work very hard just to earn C's. Sometimes they even fall lower. We also have not moved to a 10 point grading scale so to earn a C, B, or A at our school is more difficult than schools that operate on the 10 system.
While we are all tempted to celebrate report cards, I think it is more important to celebrate the work your child does. That is why we host the literacy events and post their work on facebook and our school walls. We think the work they do is a better demonstrate of what they are learning then a letter grade that spans a nine week period.
As principal, I looked at each of our student's report card on Monday afternoon. I can honestly say that even though I saw grades from As to Fs … I was proud of all our CCA students. I know the growth that has taken place in each of them these past nine weeks. I see the effort they put forth each day and remain very proud to call each of them a CCA student.
