Every quarter, Project Arrow students receive a progress report prepared by the gifted resource teacher.
These are normally distributed via email but are also available in printed format upon request.
Students receive a ranking from 1 to 4 in four areas:
- Content Evaluation: Understanding and Application of Subject Matter
- Product Evaluation: Learning Outcomes
- Process Evaluation: Critical Thinking/Problem Solving
- Affective Evaluation: Attitudes and Behaviors
The reports use these rank definitions:
- Student needs improvement
- Student occasionally meets expectations
- Student meets expectations
- Student exceeds expectations
Frequently asked questions about progress reports
Why didn’t my student receive all 4s?
As a comprehensive gifted and talented program, Project Arrow’s curriculum has higher-level materials and with that comes higher expectations. Most students will receive a 3 if they do all of the expected work. Very few students will receive a 4 because this requires going significantly above and beyond the expectations of the class. Because PA is for academically talented learners, there needs to be space for exceeding expectations To receive a 4 on a progress report, students must be consistently completely 4-level quality work on a day-to-day basis.
What letter grade did my student get in PA?
The numbers 1-4 do not correspond to letter grades and should not be interpreted that way. Project Arrow progress reports do not count toward a student’s GPA or transcript because they cannot be converted into the traditional grading system used by other classes. Record-keeping requirements mean that Project Arrow progress reports are kept on file by the school throughout your learner’s time in IPSD 204 and, in some cases, beyond that.
How can I decide if my student gets an award for their PA grade?
Again, Project Arrow is not a grade in a traditional sense. We suggest that you do not incentivize students with awards for getting grades or certain rankings on PA progress reports. They should want to earn good grades because of a love of learning — not simply to be rewarded.
How can I figure out my student’s average in PA?
Because PA does not use a traditional grading system, there may not be a direct correlation between scores on assignments your student completes and the final ranking on the progress report. This is because different assignments may have different expectations, goals and learning targets and it is difficult to combine those numerically. Also, some Project Arrow work received more feedback than a numerical score and this type of performance is a big factor for progress report rankings.
Why did my student receive ‘low’ or ‘bad’ rankings?
While 1 is the lowest rank a student can get on a PA progress report, you should use caution in referring to this as a “bad” or “low” score. You’ll notice that rankings do not focus on the negative aspects of the number, but rather what the student should aim for to move up in the rankings. We encourage families to view receiving 1 or 2s as an invitation to improve in Project Arrow as well as other school subjects.
