Student progress should be monitored on a continual basis and communicated to students and parents or care givers at regular intervals. Evaluation and progress reports should accurately profile language growth and development, and should outline goals for a student's continued learning. Traditionally, letter grades and marks have been used to report students' achievement in the language arts. However, language development and abilities cannot be represented by a single symbol. It is difficult to convey the complexity of oracy and literacy development for young learners using letter grades or numerical marks.
Individuals develop language abilities at varying rates.
At the elementary level, students who develop at slower rates or students who are learning English as an additional language are in danger of being labelled negatively if their progress is reported using single grades or marks. This curriculum advocates the use of descriptive reports to communicate progress to students, parents, administrators and others. Descriptive reports should describe student achievement in all areas of the language arts. Progress in less tangible aspects of the curriculum such as creative thinking, appreciation and enjoyment of the language processes, or personal responses to literature can be reported more accurately through written statements than through the assignment of a letter grade or mark. In addition, detailed reports provide students with information about their strengths and weaknesses.