SCHOOL'S GRADE SYSTEM OVERHAULED FOCUS ON SPECIFIC CRITERIA.

Byline: Naush Boghossian Staff Writer

SANTA CLARITA - The Newhall School District is replacing the long- standing traditional report card and its A-B-C grading system.

This fall, students will be graded by a numbered system that will score students on fundamental skills from narrative reading to prime numbers needed to move on to a higher level of learning.

``It was time to take a good look at report cards, and to change it to very explicitly show the standards kids have mastered,'' said Paul Cordeiro, assistant superintendent of instruction at the district. ``Too often, a grade rating was too summary in nature.''

The old report card required teachers to give a summary grade for different areas of study without specifying the skills they really need to know and master that year.

District officials, with the help of teachers, created a list of the most important skills students need to conquer at each grade level and listed them in the new two-page report card.

``It keeps teachers on target and tells parents here are the things your child should know,'' Cordeiro said.

For example, the new fifth grade report card shows that students will be scored between 1 and 4 on how well they are able to explain the causes and consequences of the American Revolution and describe the events of the Westward Movement and its political influence, among other specific skills listed under the history/social studies section.

``When we're being held publicly accountable for student achievement, we have to move our system to demonstrate that it is in alignment with our standards,'' Cordeiro said.

The reading, language arts and mathematics sections have the most detail, with a longer list of skills, because the district administrators and teaching staff consider those foundational skills that, if mastered, will lead to a student performing well in science and history.

A score of 3 shows that a student meets the grade level standards, but the number system also recognizes performance at a high level with a score of 4, which shows that a student consistently exceeds grade level standards.

A performance level below 3 means that a student has partial mastery of standards or is significantly below grade level and not prepared to move on to higher-level skills.

To create a new report card that puts the emphasis on mastering statewide standards, the district curriculum council reviewed the content standards for English, math, history/social studies and science the state board of education approved in 1997 and 1998, and incorporated features from report cards from other districts.