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Leanne Fasulo
The second to last chapter of Wormeli’s book, //Fair Isn’t Always Equal//, follows the formatting idea towards report cards. This chapter was also sort of a filler chapter to me seeing as a teacher I probably will not be the one in charge of making my own report cards. Digital grade books these days have their own formatting for report cards that the school purchases. This means that as a teacher I will not be making my own report cards unless a parent wants an update on their child. Report card formatting I believe should be left up the school to decide so that they are all uniformed and easy to understand. Students do not really even need to have report cards sent home, because most schools show a day to day report card online. At my high school we used something called PowerSchool where the parents and students have a login account to check their personal grades every single day if they wanted to. It came to the point where the school even asked the parents if they really wanted a paper report card sent home at all. While this chapter is probably still relevant now, by the time I graduate I am sure the majority of grades will all be digital and it will be up to the software to determine this.

Christina L Quach
In Chapter 14 of //Fair Isn’t Always Equal//, Wormeli discusses report cards. He believes that it is very important to include differentiation in recording on report cards. At the beginning of the chapter Wormeli brought up reasons why report cards change. He said, “Among reasons to reexamine report card formats include teachers and administrators are looking for a greater range of narrative comments that help them express unique situations with students while also seeking consistency teacher to teacher and among grade levels. In addition, they want report card formats that reflect their district’s changing curriculum, new grade definitions, and new grade-level configurations (173).” One thing that I really liked in this chapter was having space on report cards to further explain grades with an asterisk. Wormeli said, “In order to prevent any misreading of a report card yet also be accurate and helpful to students, families, and educators, many school districts allow teachers to place an asterisk next to the grade indicating that the viewer of the report card should access a narrative comment recorded about the grade located in the student’s cumulative folder (174).” According to Wormeli this is important because without properly labeling a report card, including whether it has been adjusted can really affect someone’s life and even ruin it. My report cards in school were very simple. In middle school there was a small column for comments, and in high school it was just a print out with the course name and the grade. In high school it did not matter as much if there was a comment for me because I felt that the grades explained enough, but in middle school it was helpful for my parents to look at to make sure I was doing well.

**Cyril Lunt**
In this chapter, Wormeli discussed how report cards are necessary, but should differentiated.

Wormeli states that when you are giving out report cards, you should put asterisks next to the work and explain why they got a bad grade. I liked this idea lot, and have seen it been used in person, and I know that it's a lot better to have a grade explained to you, rather than being an abstract number.

However, with the advent of powerschool and other similar programs that schools are moving off to, it seems that personalizing report cards is becoming a thing of the past. However, that shouldn't stop teachers from giving out in-class report cards. Like, even though my high school used powerschool, teachers still passed back their own report cards just from their class, with a multitude of notes and explanations of how to do better next time.

Richie Johnson
Continuing on with grades and whatnot, Wormeli discussing reporting them. He stresses the importance of differentiation in report cards, as well as the need to explain grades when necessary. To me, it is obvious that a teacher (if they insist on giving grades!) ought to elucidate on the reason as to why they gave such a grade to each student. However, as past experiences demonstrate, this is not typical. I have received countless grades without any explanation as to why I had gotten whatever it may have been. I believe that even “good” grades ought to come with some sort of explanation/feedback. A grade by itself is useless! The whole asterisk idea that Wormeli described would suffice well for this. Comments are good. I, for one, will be sure to include a ton of useful and effective feedback with the silly number that I stamp on each students report card! Change!
 * //Fair Isn’t Always Equal//: Chapter 13**

Brittany Blackman
Chapter 14 is about different report card formats. I understand how some may get the wrong impression from the title “adjusted curriculum”, but I do believe that their ramifications are a bit over the top. Though, it is a good idea regardless of the possibilities, to include a note on the report card and fully explain yourself and what you mean so there aren’t any misunderstandings.

I do not agree with the numbers attached to letters idea. I think it is important to comment on student’s growth, but it isn’t fair to give a smart student an “A1”, because they didn’t grow any. If they didn’t grow any, that is the teachers’ fault not the students. The teacher didn’t push the student further and give differentiated instruction. If you add another component to the grade, it gives students more things to worry about. A student that gets an “A1” may have strict parents that will scold her for not “growing”. “That should be an A3! You should have grown, and learned new things!” We don’t want that.

Tyler Oren
In chapter 14 of //Fair isn’t Always Equal// Wormeli reports on…report cards and their role in a differentiated classroom. Wormeli asks that teachers when designing a reporting system for grades they reflect and individual rather than some strict format that never really covers a single student effectively. Throughout the book up to this point Wormeli has stressed the importance for differentiated instruction and its merits in the classroom. So if the curriculum has been altered for every student does it even make sense to grade them the same way? No, of course not. Wormeli suggests grading for achievement, growth, and understanding. A student who grew a great deal in the class regardless of their level upon entry is in most cases deserving of a grade that represents this growth.

Kalib Moore
Chapter 14 of //Fair Isn't Always Equal// was essentially about different approaches teachers can take to filling out report cards or progress reports and how often they should do so. One suggestion Womeli suggest on page 176 is that teachers should use "multiple categories within one subject" It gives teachers a chance to give students extra feedback and a chance for them to see specifically what they need to improve on. Wormeli also states that, "Educators should keep their report cards' emphasis on the standards and personal achievemnet but, when doing so, communicate their rationale for such a focus to parents, and also place a comment on the report card that indicates whether the student is developing the way he or she should be." (Wormeli, 179) I agree with the point Wormeli is making that students should not only be assessed on completed work, but also whether or not they meet the standards for that level of work. I hope that I can make all of my future students aware of the importance of standards being the line they want to try to meet or go beyond in their education.

Kelsea Trefethen
Chapter 14 of FIAE was brief and too the point. The chapter gave several ways to format report cards and progress reports. I had yet to consider the different ways I could report my assessments. It is very important for the students, parents, and administration to be aware of progress. The reports need to be presented in a friendly and constructive way. I liked the dual report card format the most. In a differentiated learning class, it is important to assess both the personal achievement and the mastery of the content of each student. The dual report card format captures both of these at the same time. I think the dual report card format would be good for me as a Math teacher. Since many students are at different levels of math capability and understanding, it would give me an opportunity to grade them on their own personal success. The chapter stressed the importance of being specific when grading. I think this is very important. Broad report cards do not provide much feedback. It is crucial for students, parents, and teachers to see the breakdown of the grade. The continuous progress report was not what I thought it was going to be when I read the header. I thought it was going to be an ongoing report card throughout the course, but it is an overlap from year to year. I’m not sure how beneficial that truly is. If past grades are really that important I think a teacher could look them up somewhere.

Evgeni Bouzakine
In chapter fourteen Wormeli collaborates on report cards and their placement with a teachers differentiated instruction. It is difficult to show differentiated instruction on a report card. Students gets stressed enough with their report cards. Unfortunately they are necessary for parents to see the progress and understanding their child has in the classroom. Traditional report cards only have a comment or two and the grade letter. It does not go into any type of depth what so ever. I feel like I do not have much control over what I have to write on the report card. I think that is something I would take up with the principle or administration. If we change our grading system, it would be easier to use a kind of rubric. This would clear up a lot of question parents might have. I will try my hardest to include as much detail as possible in my report cards and progress reports. But if I cannot, I will keep my student informed with feedback throughout the year. This can keep the parents aware of what their students have done as well.

Johnny Buys
Chapter 14: Responsive Format Card Formats The dreaded report card lingers on. As a successful student the report card was usually an encouraging and automatic head pat from the folks. However, as the pressure increased in how pertinent the report card becomes to my future, they became more and more stressful. Add the personal pressures from high parental perfection expectations from earlier cards and personal perfection issues and that first A- and B+ become marks of failure, and the report card and online grade book continues to be an exasperating factor in the already complex life of a student. As grad scales and grade books change so too should the dreaded report card. However much it can change though, as Wormeli points out, “teachers and administrators are still looking for a greater range of narrative comments that help them express unique situations with students while also seeking consistency teacher to teacher and among grade levels” (173). One process that stays true to both progressions in learning and authentic grades uses the overall grade but a numerical progression to demonstrate how much the student has grown as a learner (176). If teachers are authentically gauging student growth and understanding this method effectively demonstrates the two important factors of education simply and effortlessly. Similarly progress reports in differentiated classrooms need to focus more on individual standards versus the “all-inclusive subjects” particularly as Mass Customized Learning becomes more and more the future of education (177). These standards can be listed out similar to their presentation in a grade book. Parents then have better understanding of where their own child’s understanding is. ===

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Kyle Kuvaja
Chapter fourteen of //Fair Isn’t Always Equal// is about responsive report card formats. Since most classrooms are moving to showing a student accomplishing mastery there is an issue when it comes to parents understanding student progress. One approach, adjusted curriculum, looks at the progression from each progress period to the next. The grades are not simply a grade for overall achievement that period. To prevent misinterpretation of the report card, teachers must be informative on their reports. When in doubt, record the higher grade during the year. Another approach is the “dual approach”. Students are graded not only on progress, but also their achievement against the standards. The grades use both letters and numbers. The letters show personal achievement while the number shows the achievement against the standards.

This chapter was a nice change up to the previous three. While it was still about grading, but it seemed more pertinent then the gradebook chapter. Progress reports and reporting grades to parents is a scary part of being an educator. I would probably like to grade students on both personal progress and the achievement against the standards.