Assessments, Report Cards and a FREEBIE!

Today was report card day.  How I loathe report cards.  Our district is in the process of updating our report cards so that they align to the Common Core standards.  The Math section is complete, but, the ELA, Science and Social Science sections are still based on the state frameworks.  Luckily, it is a standards based report card, so there are no letter grades.  Students either Exceed the standard, Meet the standard, Begin to meet the standard, or do Not meet the standard.  Essentially their report cards contain a mix of E's, M's, B's and N's.  My biggest gripe is that some of the standards are lumped together.  For example, in the math section one of the standards lumps together number recognition and counting.  I have some students who can count until they hit 100 but cannot recognize some of the numbers in the teens.  While they are meeting one part of the standard, they are not meeting the other.  It's a tough situation then!

 In order to help me "grade" the students I use this handy little assessment:  Quick Kindergarten Assessment.  Here's the front of the page:

I created this handy little assessment at the beginning of the year this year.  I typically assess my students with this 4 times per year.  I love having this not only for report card time but to use at parent/teacher meetings, IEP meetings and IST meetings.  It gives everyone a overall picture of where the student is and what they may be struggling with.  I also use this to help form groups of students who need some extra help in certain areas.  Enjoy!