THOMASVILLE- The Thomasville City Schools Board of Education unanimously approved a new Kindergarten report card format on Tuesday evening, following a presentation from Dr. Sharonda Wilson, K-5 Director of Curriculum and Instruction.

According to Wilson, Brittany Gainous a Kindergarten teacher at Scott Elementary School, approached her during the summer on behalf of other teachers to talk about the need for revision of the Kindergarten report card.

Some of the primary concerns about the current report card are the fact that “It does not reflect data or the progress and growth in the areas of need and does not highlight the big ideas of GKIDS 2.0. The main thing the teachers pointed out is that it’s not parent-friendly.”

Hearing Gainous’ concerns, Wilson elected to have her, Kameon Hadley, a Kindergarten teacher at Harper Elementary School and Margaret Davis, a Kindergarten teacher at Jerger Elementary School, work with their principals to create a revised report card that would be easily understandable, while still showcasing all of the necessary information and growth.

The new report card would align with the promotion, placement and retention rubric, align with the new math standards, include more information about student growth/progress, highlight the big ideas, provide parents with a better understanding of students’ strengths and areas of need and integrate concepts and skill from K standards that are most important for success in the first grade.

In order to better showcase the new report card, Wilson presented the Board with a mockup of the new, revised report card.

The revised report card was more condensed but did add a section that breaks down each skill level.

“It shows where they (students) are with phonetic awareness and different categories that parents can take a quick look at,” Wilson said.

Wilson provided an example of parents glancing at the report card during the first nine weeks and seeing that their child may only be recognizing 15 of the 26 required letter sounds. However, they can track the progression in the second nine weeks and easily see if the child is stuck on the 15 sounds or has moved up to now understanding 20, 25, or all 26.

Board members thought the new addition to the report card was great, but were worried parents still may not understand.

Wilson assured the Board that teachers regularly engage with parents beyond just the realm of the report card.

“The teachers meet with the parents frequently, especially these Kindergarten babies,” Wilson said. “If they can’t meet with them face to face, they’ll meet virtually or over a phone call. But, with this new report card, it will be much easier to understand what they are saying.”

Wilson explained that parents will be able to clearly see their child is only reading 10 out of 30 high-frequency words when the goal for the first nine weeks is to master 30. The hope is that showing this in the report card will help parents understand why teachers are sending home packets of words for the child to practice.

The recording of progress on the report cards also allows teachers to see how many kids need review on that topic, so they can revisit the subject if need be.

With no additional concerns, Interim Superintendent Dr. Fred Rayfield thanked Wilson and the team for taking on such a demanding task for the betterment of the students, before receiving a motion to approve the new report card.