Preparing report cards is a time consuming endeavor for teachers, which yields little useful information to parents and students of Middletown. The existing format has two problems.

The first problem is the 1 to 3 or E grading scale. Parents have no familiarity with such a grading scale so they have no way of interpreting what the number means, beyond knowing that a 1 means a student is in trouble. Teachers often explain that the expectation is a 2 in the early semesters, working towards a 3 at the end of the year. This provides the student no motivation to strive for a higher grade, as the higher grade is only available as the semesters progress. Beyond providing no motivation to students, the 2 is a problem for parents. The range of students receiving 2’s is huge. A 2 may be student who is just getting by or a student who has excelled but it is too early in the year for a 3.

The second problem with the existing report card is the number of line items on the report card. Each subject area, Reading, Math, Science, has at least three, usually more, subcategories, which receive a 1 to 3 grade. There is, however, no overall grade given by subject area. By the time the teacher has taken the time to complete this lengthy form, they almost never put comments, which in some cases may be helpful.

Please the change the existing report to; 1) utilize a standard letter grade (A, B, C..) or percentage grade (100, 99, 98, etc) and 2) reduce the number of line items to enable students and parents to see how students are doing in major subject areas. These changes will make the report card more useful to parents and students of Middletown.