Archdiocesan Standards-Based Report Card (SBRC)

Academic Expectations

Grade 5

(Version 2.04)

Date

Name of School

Address

School’s Mission and Philosophy Statements

Name of School

Address

Grade Level Expectations

Overview

The Archdiocesan Standards-Based Report Card (SBRC) is a record of what a student knows, is able to do, and needs to achieve. The SBRC is aligned with the Archdiocesan elementary school curricula which reflect state, national, and international learning standards. The SBRC is one source of important information. Instead of providing one overall letter grade for each academic area (e.g., reading, math, science), the SBRC reports on student achievement on particular grade-level learning standards. This document has been developed to help parents better understand their child’s report card and grade-level learning standards. Parents will have a good idea of the learning being assessed in each portion of the report card when reviewed along with instructional materials sent home. Every child is an individual who grows and develops at his/her own rate. Students in the same grade level may differ widely from others in the class. The learning expectations identified here apply to all students by the end of the year.

You are encouraged to review your child’s report card along with other performance information, which may include: progress reports, standardized test results, quizzes/tests, projects, daily work, teacher notes, etc.

Performance level marks communicate a student’s achievement on a particular learning standard. Special performance criteria is used to evaluate student achievement on a variety of measures (e.g., tests, quizzes, projects, performance, etc.). Such criteria may be communicated via a “rubric” for different measures. Every learning standard indicator may not be assessed or evaluated for every report card period. In such cases, teachers may assign “>” to indicate that the learning expectation was not a focus of classroom instruction during a report card period.

There is an SBRC for each grade level. At first glance, it may appear that learning standards are the same for different grade levels in a particular report card form. The rigor and the evidence needed to meet academic expectations increase as students progress from grade to grade. This document has been developed for each grade level to further describe what students are expected to know, understand, and are able to do.

Academic expectations appearing in this document are by no means an exhaustive or exclusive listing. Teachers often supplement these topics with other activities throughout the year. The “pacing” of the class throughout these topics is also flexible. As teachers assess student performance on a given topic, they may find it necessary to spend more time to ensure solid understandings.

The SBRC and this Grade Level Academic Expectations document provide students and parents with feedback about what students are expected to know, understand, and are able to do. This feedback is important in establishing next steps and immediate learning goals. You are encouraged to speak with your child’s teacher if you have any questions about any code appearing on the report card.

General descriptions of the levels of achievement are provided below to help you better understand how your child is performing on specific standards.

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Archdiocese of ChicagoGrade 5Academic Expectations (v 2.04)

Standards-Based Performance Levels and Descriptions
Performance Level / Descriptor / Characteristics/Examples
4 / Advanced / Student achievement reflects in-depth understanding and application that goes beyond the grade-level expectations
Evaluates, analyzes, and interprets concepts to develop new understanding
Uses concepts and critical-thinking skills to extend learning and understanding
Identifies and uses understanding of key concepts and skills in decision-making and problem-solving, consistently and independently
3 / Proficient / Student achievement reflects understanding and application of the grade-level expectations
Uses understanding of concepts to produce work or solve problems
Asks and answers a variety of complex questions that reflect understanding of key concepts
Identifies and uses understanding of key concepts and skills in decision-making and problem-solving consistently
2 / Progressing / Student achievement reflects emerging understanding of grade-level expectations
Uses understanding of concepts to produce work or solve problems with support and guidance
Asks and answers a variety of questions that reflect emerging understanding of key concepts with support and guidance
Communicates understanding of key concepts, skills, and content knowledge in decision-making and problem-solving inconsistently
1 / Beginning / Student needs development of foundational skills to achieve grade-level expectations
Applies concepts to produce work or solve problems with significant intervention
Asks and answers questions that demonstrate partial understanding with significant intervention
Communicates key concepts, skills, and content knowledge with significant intervention
Evaluated in a different trimester / Student is not assessed on the report card at this time
Learning goal was not a focus during this trimester

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Archdiocese of ChicagoGrade 5Academic Expectations (v 2.04)

Successful Learner Traits

Many attitudes and behaviors mark the progress of successful learners. Successful Learner Traits are based on the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) social-emotional standards.

Successful Learner Traits Scale
Level / Descriptor / Description
4 / Advanced / Student is able to consistently and independently manage his/her behavior to comply with grade-level expectations.
3 / Proficient / Student is able to manage his/her behavior with minimal guidance to comply with grade-level expectations.
2 / Progressing / Student manages his/her behavior through frequent guidance to comply with grade-level expectations
1 / Beginning / Student is not able to manage his/her behavior independently and requires frequent guidance. This behavior hinders student progress.
Successful Learner Traits
Develops self-awareness and self-management skills to achieve school and life success
Manages emotions and behavior
Recognizes personal strengths
Seeks assistance when needed
Strives for personal best
Produces legible work
Demonstrates organizational skills
Uses social awareness and interpersonal skills to establish and maintain positive relationships
Respects the feelings and perspectives of others based on Gospel values
Uses communication and social skills to interact effectively with others
Demonstrates an ability to prevent, manage, and resolve interpersonal conflicts in constructive ways.
Makes relevant contributions to class discussion
Demonstrates decision-making skills and responsible behaviors.
Accepts directions and follows rules
Applies decision-making skills responsibly with daily academic and social situations.
Contributes to the well-being of one’s school and community.

Grading

The 2012-2013 Archdiocesan Standards-Based Report Card (SBRC) provides a summative evaluation on important learning standards rather than just an overall letter grade for each content area. Feedback on specific learning standards provides you and your child with much richer information about his/her specific strengths and areas for growth. Focusing and reporting on specific learning standards makes it clearer to everyone involved what a student knows and is able to do. That focus and research-based grading practices not only improves grading consistency but more importantly supports student learning and achievement.

Learning standards are evaluated in terms of what a student should know or be able to do by the end of the school year. Many learning standards may require the entire year before a student reaches a proficient or advance performance level. Learning standards that are more limited in scope, but nonetheless are important educational markers for all students may require less time for students to reach proficiency.

The SBRC uses different scales to communicate student performance. Below is a brief description of each scale and student performance level on the SBRC learning standards.

Standards-Based Scale

The SBRC Standards-Based Scale is designed to communicate student achievement on learning standards into four qualitatively different performance levels: 1) Beginning, 2) Progressing, 3) Proficient, and 4) Advanced. An additional level “>” is used when a learning goal was not an instructional focus and not measured during a trimester. Further details about the standards-based scale can be found on the front cover of any report card or in any of the Grade Level Academic Expectations documents.

Performance Levels Communicate Better Than Percent Correct. Conventional report cards generally use a single letter grade and are calculated from the percent correct of various student performance measures. A single letter grade for an entire content area (e.g., math) lacks the detail needed to more fully understand student achievement. Individual learning standards communicate more information about what a student knows or his/her academic skills than a single letter grade. Moreover, the qualitative distinctions among the four performance levels in the SBRC also can communicate a student’s depth of learning in ways that are simply not possible using a percent correct or single letter-grade approach.

Performance Levels Will Be Used to Evaluate Student Learning. You and your child will receive regular feedback on schoolwork/performance (e.g., tests, quizzes, projects, or other evidence of learning). Completed work is evaluated on specific learning standards and is reported based on the SBRC performance levels. When applicable, rubrics used to evaluate work, are shared with you and your child. Written feedback or teacher comments also may be provided to acknowledge achievement as well as to offer guidance on how to improve learning and student growth. Performance levels on the SBRC standards, whether on daily schoolwork or in the SBRC report card, will provide a more complete picture of student achievement.

Connecting Daily Schoolwork with the SBRC Report Card. Regular and clear feedback on schoolwork from your child’s teachers will help prevent any surprises on his/her report card.

Feedback on student work will include a performance level (i.e., Advanced to Beginning) on each of the learning standards for that work assignment but also may include other feedback such as written comments. Reviewing feedback is a great opportunity for your child to become more self-reflective about his/her learning and to benefit from your guided support. Seeking clarification concerning any feedback on work assignments (e.g., quizzes, tests, homework, etc.) is also an opportunity for further student learning. Providing feedback in this manner will help you and your child connect the summative assessment feedback on daily schoolwork on the SBRC.

The SBRC provides a summative evaluation of a student’s performance on specific learning standards by the end of the school year. Keeping learning standards focused on what is expected of students at the end of the school year sets universal criteria to evaluate academic performance, resulting in greater consistency in grading among teachers.

Summarizing Student Performance on Learning Standards. Conventional letter-grade report cards typically determine a student’s grade by calculating the “mean average” of all student performance measures (e.g., tests, quizzes, projects, etc.). The simplest illustration of calculating a mean average is to add all measures and divide that sum by the number of measures. However, the mean average may not always be the best method to represent or summarize student achievement. Consider the student who is struggling on a learning standard (e.g., “Beginning” or “Progressing” level) for most of a trimester but is consistently performing much better (e.g., “Proficient” or “Advanced”) before the end of the trimester. Using the mean average would include both earlier (low performance) and later (high performance) and would certainly be less than what the student knows and is able to do at the end of the trimester.

Fortunately, there are several approaches to summarize student performance beyond a simple mean average. Consider the student just described above. Using the ten most recent measures to calculate his/her average is likely to be more educationally sound than a mean average of all measures during a trimester. However, applying this approach may not yield the most representative summary of other students. Consider a student who was consistently performing at the “Proficient” level but also periodically performed uncharacteristically at the “Beginning” level. The mode (i.e., most frequently occurring) may be a better choice to summarize this student’s achievement. A mean averaging of this student’s performance is likely to be an inaccurate summary of his/her achievement. Selecting among the different approaches to summarize student achievement should be based on the fidelity and availability of student data as well as sound professional judgment.

Successful Learner Traits (SLT) Scale

The Successful Learner Traits Scale shares the same performance levels used to evaluate student performance on learning standards (i.e., Beginning, Progressing, Proficient, Advanced). However, the sentence descriptions of the performance levels of the Successful Learner Traits (SLT) slightly differ due to their focus on student behavior. You and your child will receive periodic feedback on the SLT standards through teacher comments or student classroom performance (based on behavioral measures or observational records).

Letter Grade Scale (6th, 7th, and 8th grade levels only)

The sixth, seventh, and eighth grade SBRC report cards include conventional letter grades (i.e., A, B, C, D, F) on each content area to meet the admission requirements of some area high schools. Although letter grades on the SBRC provide some evaluative information, you and your child can benefit much more from reviewing and reflecting on his/her performance on the learning standards.

Catholic Faith

The entries below reflect the progression of how the student understands the Catholic Faith as developed in the Religion Curriculum of the Archdiocese of Chicago. In the curriculum there are ten catechetical goals that create the framework for the curriculum. This report card distills the goals into five categories with basic descriptors for each category. The teacher assesses the progress the student makes based on assessments designed by the teacher and shared with students and parents.

The entries under each of the five categories assist you in understanding what the student is learning about the Catholic Faith and how that is applied in the setting of the Catholic school community. As you read the indicators and talk to your child about his/her faith development, you can actively support a growing understanding of his/her life in God. With the school and church communities, you help your child to grow in faith through your example, family conversations about God, family celebration and prayer, participation in the life of the Church and stewardship of creation.

Archdiocese of Chicago, Office of Catholic Schools

Creed

Identifies nature of the Trinity in the Creeds

  • Demonstrating knowledge of the Nicene Creed in the liturgical context
  • Demonstrates knowledge of the history of the Nicene Creed
  • Identifying Jesus as truly God and truly human
  • Identifying the Holy Spirit as consubstantial with the Father and the Son
  • Stating how God and the human person are mystery
  • Stating meaning of the Paschal Mystery of Jesus Christ

States meaning/sources of God’s revelation

  • Describing how Jesus reveals the Father
  • Describing how the Church is a source of revelation about the mystery of God in society
  • Describing how God reveals through human experience
  • Describing the relevance of belief in God in today’s world

Describes the marks of the Church

  • Defining marks the Church
  • Giving examples of the four marks of the Church in its hierarchical structure
  • Describing how the marks of the Church are signs in society
  • Describing how the Church and its members are called to be holy

Describes how we belong to the kingdom of God

  • Defining Mary’s immaculate conception
  • Describing the Church’s mission of evangelization to the world
  • Describing how baptized Christians work for the kingdom of God by sharing the Good News
  • Giving examples of Christians who choose good over evil
  • Describing the communion of saints as our support system in the kingdom of God
  • Identifying saints in the Early Church whose witness to belief in Christ led to heroism for the faith
  • Researching the life of St. Peter and his role with the first followers of Jesus

Sacred Scripture

Identifies work of the Spirit in Scripture

  • Stating how the Spirit inspired the writers of the Gospels
  • Stating how the Spirit inspires readers of the Gospels to witness for the kingdom of God

Locates books of Old and New Testaments

  • Identifying the first five books of the Old Testament as the story of God’s relationship to Creation and God’s invitation to humans as stewards
  • Identifying the judging and forgiving characteristics of God in the OT
  • Identifying the books of the prophets and their purpose in the Old Testament period
  • Identifying the story of Moses as prophet in the Gospel of Mark
  • Showing proficiency in locating and reading text by book, chapter, verse

Identifies major Old Testament characters

  • Describing prophecy
  • Identifying prophets in the Old Testament and what they did
  • Recounting the story of Moses and its importance in Jewish belief in a saving God
  • Stating the meaning of exodus and its significance in the story of Moses
  • Identifying Moses as a prophet who called people to live justly
  • Stating the importance of the covenantal promises in Jewish belief in God
  • Locating psalms in the OT and their references to God’s covenantal love and faithfulness

Identifies the New Testament related to Jesus’ life and mission

  • Locating the Gospel of Mark in the New Testament
  • Identifying the historical context of the Gospel of Mark
  • Explaining how the Gospel of Mark’s central message is “good news”
  • Identifying the major characters in the Gospel of Mark
  • Naming the prophets used in Mark’s story of Jesus’ mission
  • Identifying Peter and the disciples as the first followers of Jesus
  • Recounting the plot and use of irony in the Gospel of Mark
  • Identifying characteristics of Jesus in the Gospel of Mark
  • Recounting stories of Jesus as teacher and healer in the Gospel of Mark
  • Giving evidence of how Jesus treated women and children
  • Giving evidence of how Jesus loved his own people and how he reached out to Gentiles
  • Identifying how the seed parables are stories of discipleship in the kingdom of God
  • Stating the meaning of the transfiguration of Jesus and his identity with the prophetic message of Judaism
  • Describing the role of Peter in Mark’s story of Jesus
  • Giving evidence how every disciple failed in the Gospel of Mark and how Jesus was still faithful to them
  • Giving evidence of how Jesus images the compassion of God in Mark’s Gospel
  • Identifying how the disciples of Jesus were challenged by his meaning of discipleship in Mark’s Gospel
  • Identifying the earliest ending of the Gospel of Mark and reasons why other endings were added
  • Describing how the story of the empty tomb is a resurrection story
  • Using drama, music and art to appreciate how the story of the Gospel of Mark gives us hope
  • Describing how we encounter Jesus as Christ and Son of God in the Gospel of Mark

Prayer/Sacraments/Liturgy

Describes essential elements of the sacraments