Evening star., 1955-11-04

Iile c1ltALG CITY.
| Under the new standards,
half Of the city's elementary
pupils may get Cs, Mrs. Cran1er
predicted. She added that. at
the outset this fall. there prob
ably won't be any As'' If teach
Iers follow official suggestions.
I'VE suggest you look q long
time before giving an A." she
told principals.
Try It Out This Month
Mrs. Cramer disclosed that
teachers will give new letter
marks this month, even though
the marks won't be sent home
on new-style report cards
schools will make summaries OF
the marks so officials can see
how the new system Is working
on a sort Of trial run. she ex-
lplained.
A letter to parents explain
ling the new system in detail
will go out when pupils take the
new cards home on November
2l. Pupils now are scheduled tC
begin seeing the letter marks In
February.
Marks viii be withheld this
month because the system Il
new and because Of extensive
shufiiing Of pupils and teachers
this fall. which disrupted the
Opening Of the term. Mrs. Cra-
| lmer said. Teachers might not
he able to judge many pupils
fairly yet. she said.
Only checkmarks showing
things In which Improvement
lis needed or special aptitudes
will appear on the cards this
month
The new reporting system in
wolves I'VE letter-marks. These
Iare: A--excellent progress for
lgrade; B-yery good progress
for grade: C--good progress for
grade: D. acceptable progress,
but improvements needed: U
unsatisfactory progress. much
improvement needed.
~ "a vrf.t, xar.-A
Mrs. Cramer outlined how
they will be used at q meeting
today and another yesterday
afternoon. Among points she
made were these:
The new card makes 1t man
datory that q child doing aver.
age work rates q c." However
c will represent good progress
Many children who are doing
their best as to effort win have
to be marked d 0r u. becaust
they still don't come up TO stand
ard.
II q child is handling his WORK
with greater facility and power
than average. he win rate q B
III he shows exceptional power
and independence, he ma,
get A.
! It Is not necessary that q child
Ibe ahead Of his grade level e
lget an A or B. however. On til.
1other hand. II he Is doing worl
lahead Of his grade 1t does nol
imean he viii be put into . highel
igrade. either, Teachers win b
advised to keep children at worl
they can handle well. rathel
than pushing them too fast.
| Yesterday principals were told
that an outright ban on any Al
this month was being recon-
lmended. Ofiicials disclosed tf1i;
morning they had changed Their
minds. however. and As win be
permitted.
The change was decided or
latter some principals voiced OBJ
lection to the ban.
Al new six-paee chart spelling
lout marking standards in read
ling has been issued to prin-
cipals. The chart recommend
SPECIFIC marks partly according
/ to the books the pupil is able tc
master.
| For example. q sixth-gradei
able to read in q sixth
grade reader by November 81
would rate q B. Later he might
rate a G, B or A.
/ II by June he could master
only a fifth-grade reader, he
would get 3 p or G II his
reading was In 4 fourth-grade
book. he would get y.
However. teachers are also
being given specific references
lin the schools Reading Cur
lriculum Bulletin to help evalu-
late pupils BY more than merely
the book used.
Similar standards charts may
Ibe developed later In other sub
ljects. an oficial said today
Meanwhile. teachers win be told
Ito apply similar principles In
Iother fields.
City-wide standardized tests
lwiil not be used as marking
guides, partly because they are
mot given in all grades. and
partly because they don't tell
enough.
Mrs. Cramer told the principals
they should not expect all first-
GRADERS To be reading. even
though the new report card