Kindergartners To Receive Report Cards

[matcom]

<snip>

As John Zammito III hopscotched down the hallway after school yesterday, the kindergartner chatted excitedly to his parents about what he learned in science: how to make ''wood" out of sawdust. To the 5-year-old and his classmates at Richard J. Murphy K-8 School in Dorchester, school is about fun, not grades.

But come December, the Boston Public Schools will issue report cards on kindergartners for the first time, evaluating pupils on how well they write, count, and follow directions.

The children will be scored on a scale of 1 to 4 in three dozen categories, from whether they can recognize the rhyme and rhythms in poems, chants, songs, and nursery rhymes to how well they combine two-dimensional shapes to make other two-dimensional shapes.

The report cards, to be issued three times a year, will help ensure that kindergartners are on pace with academic standards and update parents on their child's progress, Superintendent Thomas W. Payzant said yesterday. As academic standards become more rigorous and schools are held accountable for achievement, evaluating kindergartners makes sense, he said.

''We have not always done a good job in communication with parents on what the expectations are in school," Payzant said. ''Kindergarten should be preparing them to be 5-year-olds in the real world. We want children to be able to listen to stories that are read to them, to be able to talk about the stories they heard. They need to know their numbers, their letters, their shapes. It's recognizing that readiness in what you do in early-childhood education can make a huge difference with respect to children learning to read successfully."

But few school systems nationwide are using such detailed report cards, education specialists say.

Boston's leap is not being embraced by some teachers and parents. Some call it overreaction to stricter state standards.

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2004/11/10/boston_kindergartners_to_receive_report_cards/

[City of Mills]

1. What?

I went to school in Mass and I got a report card in Kindergarten? This is just for Boston public schools? I'm confused...

[LiberalEsto]

2. My school gave report cards to kindergarteners

back in 1957, in Paterson NJ.

[salvorhardin]

6. Same here

Cooperstown, NY and I was in kindergarten in 1971. I think they still give out the report cards for the kinder crowd.

This sounds much more of an exhaustive review of a kid's failings though. If I remember right, ours were basically concerned with how well we adhered to group think, obeyed authority, colored inside the lines and whether we didn't permanently harm the other kids (or teacher).

[Bobbie47]

3. S. Illinois

give out report cards for Kg, since I could remember.

[jimbo fett]

4. I thought under NCLB that ALL kindergartens had report cards.

In TN they have to show they have mastered specified exit skills.

[sui generis]

5. had a kindergarten report card in Germany - U.S. military school

nt