Standards are the learning and developmental expectations each student is expected to achieve by the end of the school year. Each state develops a list of standards for each subject and grade level. For example, a second grade standard may include "writes in complete sentences." This is one of many different standards that are included under the Language Arts, or English, category. Students are be graded based on their progress in reaching this standard.
The numbers displayed in standards-based report cards replace the traditional letter grades to provide more accurate feedback to parents and students. The numbers, typically from 1-4, reflect where the student is currently in working towards being proficient in a given standard. A "1" indicates that the student does not meet the standard and needs to work on developing the skill; "2" means the student partially meets the standard but still needs development; "3" expresses that the student is proficient at the desired level and "4" means the student is exceeding the standard.
Students and parents are able to see, at a glance, what the expectations are and in which areas the student needs to develop. These report cards also remove some of the subjectivity of letter grades; a teacher is not making the assessment based on averages of homework and tests but on the development towards the standard, which evens out grading practices between teachers. Standards-based report cards also provide evaluations based on the entire school year instead of just what has been taught the last few weeks; this gives parents a better idea of how the student is progressing throughout the year.
Standards-based report cards can be difficult for parents to understand. Instead of getting one grade for math, science and language arts, the student may be getting eight metrics under math, six for science and nine in language arts. Students also may not be able to achieve 3s and 4s on report cards until the second half of the school year, as the skills are taught and developed over the course of the entire year. This can be very confusing and stressful for parents and students thinking they are underachieving.