Monitoring the progress of each student is very important to us at Solid Rock. We want to make sure we are challenging the students that need it, keep pushing the students that are growing, and assisting the students when they are struggling. We do not believe in state standardized testing and do not have to perform those tests because we are not a state school. With that being said, we do have a rigorous way of monitoring the progress of each child to make sure our students are up to speed on what they should be learning year after year. 

This process is called standard-based grading. We have taken the Illinois State Standards, reviewed them, took out some that are not appropriate for the grade level, and added a few of our own. Throughout the school year all these standards are taught through our curriculum. At each trimester the teacher evaluates a portion of the grade standards for each student giving them a score. Scores 1-4 are given to each student on each standard. If the student is given a 3, the score is indicating that the student is fully meeting expectations for that standard, while 4 shows they are exceeding grade level expectations. A score of 2 means the student is approaching the objective, but not quite there. If you see a score of 1 on the report card, it means the student is still just beginning to learn the listed skill. 
This way of grading may be intimidating to some, but once you have the report card in your hand you will realize it truly shows exactly what your child knows and understands or where your child still needs growth. As a teacher we can also see what standards we need to repeat as a whole class, what specific students’ needs are, as well as what students need to be challenged.

At parent/teacher conferences in the fall your child’s teacher will sit down with you and go over the report card before the official report card comes out. This way your child’s teacher can answer any questions you may have about this monitoring process.

There are so many positive attributes to this progress monitoring system! We hope you find that you love it too, and that you can truly see specific areas of strength in your child!