A Parent Guide to
the Alternate
Standards-based
Report Card
Darienne B. Driver, Ed.D.
Superintendent of Schools
Ruth Maegli
Interim Chief Academic Officer
Milwaukee Board of School Directors
Michael Bonds
President, 3rd District
Meagan Holman
Vice President, 8th District
Mark Sain
1st District
Jeff Spence
2nd District
Annie Woodward
4th District
Larry Miller
5th District
Tatiana Joseph
6th District
Claire Zautke
7th District
Terrence Falk
At-Large
Jacqueline Mann, Director of Board Governance/Board Clerk, (414) 475-8284
Bob DelGhingaro, CPA, Chief Accountability and Efficiency Officer
Darienne B. Driver, Ed.D., Superintendent
Senior Team
Erbert Johnson, CPA, Chief of Staff
Karen R. Jackson, Ph.D., Chief Human Capital Officer
Ruth Maegli, Chief Innovation Officer / Interim Chief Academic
Officer
Michelle J. Nate, CPA, Chief Operations Officer
Gerald Pace, Esq., Chief Financial Officer
Keith Posley, Ed.D., Chief School Administration Officer
Sue Saller, Executive Coordinator, Superintendent’s Initiatives
Nondiscrimination Notice It is the policy of the Milwaukee Public Schools, as required by section 118.13, Wisconsin Statutes, that no person will
be denied admission to any public school or be denied the benefits of, or be discriminated against in any curricular, extracurricular, pupil services,
recreational or other program or activity because of the person’s sex, race, color, religion, national origin, ancestry, creed, pregnancy, marital or parental
status, sexual orientation or physical, mental, emotional or learning disability.
This policy also prohibits discrimination under related federal statutes, including Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (race, color, and national origin),
Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 (sex), and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (disability), and the Americans with Disabilities
Act of 1990 (disability).
The following individuals have been designated to handle inquiries regarding the non-discrimination policies:
For section 118.13, Wisconsin Statutes, federal Title IX:
Patricia Gill, Director, Office of Family Services, Room 133, Milwaukee Public Schools,
5225 West Vliet St. P. O. Box 2181, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 53201-2181
For Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (Section 504), federal Title II:
Jeff Molter, 504/ADA Coordinator for Students, MPS Department of Special Services,
5225 West Vliet St., P. O. Box 2181, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 53201-2181. (414) 475-8139 TTD: (414) 475-8139
©2015 This publication is produced by the Department of Curriculum & Instruction, Ruth Maegli, Interim Chief
Academic Officer. This publication is for informational use only and no changes are allowed to the contents. For
more information on any area in this Report Card, please call (414) 475-8252.
Dear Parents/Guardians,
As Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS) continues to improve teaching and learning
for all students, we know that parents and families are our most valuable
partners. This is especially true as the district continues to implement new, more
rigorous standards for what every child should know and be able to do in each
subject area and grade level. Students with significant academic delays are
taught using alternate standards, established by a consortium of educators from
several other states. These standards, which are called the Dynamic Learning
Map- Essential Elements (DLM-EE) set high expectations for grade 1-12 students
with significant academic delays, the staff that teach these students, and their
schools. Achieving these standards requires continuous progress monitoring
and providing targeted support as needed.
Like teachers, parents need accurate and meaningful information about student
strengths, challenges and performance to better understand and support
student learning. To that end, MPS has developed this report card that is directly
connected to the Dynamic Learning Map – Essential Elements.
We hope parents, families and teachers see this as a positive step in better
communicating what students are expected to learn at each grade level —
and in providing information about their child’s work habits, behavior and
effort. Parents may also view videos in English, Spanish and Hmong to better
understand the report cards at mpsmke.com/reportcards.
All schools are now participating in the use of the Standards-based Report Card.
This report card is different than report cards you might have used in the past.
The Standards-based Report Card:
•Clarifies and reinforces consistent high expectations for students and
schools.
•Helps teachers, students and families focus on standards throughout the
year.
•Provides specific feedback on progress to the standards so students, families
and teachers can work together to set meaningful goals for improvement.
Additional support at home and school can reinforce the concepts and
knowledge learned based on the information in the Standards-based Report
Card.
This document is designed to help you better understand your child’s report
card. Please make good use of this document and bring it to parent-teacher
conferences. It will be especially helpful come report card time. Please contact
your child’s school if you have additional questions.
Sincerely,
Darienne B. Driver, Ed.D.
Superintendent of Schools
Ruth Maegli
Interim Chief Academic Officer
1
Components of an Alternate Standards-Based System
There are four essential components of an alternate
standards-based teaching, learning, assessment and
reporting system:
q DLM – EE
w Curriculum
and Instruction
q
Content Standards – The alternate content standards
describe what a student with significant academic
e Assessments
r Alternate
Report Card
delays should know and be able to do at a given grade
level.
w
Curriculum – The curriculum based alternate standards
is a roadmap a teacher uses to ensure that instruction is reflective of the
DLM–Essential Elements.
e
Assessments – The measurements to see if students have met the alternate
content standards at their grade level.
rStandards-based Report Card – This allows teachers to communicate a
student’s progress on alternate content standards at specific points in the
year.
The standards-based Report Card does not
give a traditional letter grade (A, B, C, D, U).
Instead, proficiency levels are given for each
standard taught and assessed during that
marking period.
Academic Proficiency Scale
AD
Advanced
PR
Proficient
BA
Basic
MI
Minimal
Definitions of Proficiency Levels
Advanced
(AD)
The student consistently exceeds alternate grade-level expectations on standards as
demonstrated by a body of evidence that shows depth of understanding and flexible application
of alternate grade-level concepts.
Proficient
(PR)
The student consistently meets alternate grade-level expectations on standards as
demonstrated by a body of evidence that shows independent understanding and application of
alternate grade-level concepts.
Basic
(BA)
Minimal
(MI)
The student performs just below alternate grade-level expectations on standards as
demonstrated by a body of evidence that shows incomplete/inconsistent understanding and
application of alternate grade level concepts.
The student performs far below alternate grade-level expectations on standards as
demonstrated by a body of evidence that shows limited understanding and application of
alternate grade-level concepts.
2
PBIS Statements:
Three statements aligned to the Positive Behavioral Intervention and Support
(PBIS) system, used in MPS schools to reward students for making good choices,
are included on most high school report cards. These statements are scored
with a frequency scale to report on how often students are choosing positive
classroom behaviors.
• Respectful: cooperate, participate, obey school rules, use good language
• Responsible: come prepared, punctual, high work ethic, ready to learn
• Safe: proper use of school property, wise choices with self-control
For students with special needs, the IEP Progress Report informs parents about
their child’s progress toward IEP goals and is included with the mailing of every
report card.
Parents will be notified via the IEP process which standards are appropriate for
individual students, based on the student’s data-based evidence.
The alternate standard courses are marked on a pass/fail basis. Students are
considered to pass a course when they complete the expectations for each
individual course and individual student expectations. These students will
receive a Certificate of Completion when they end the school year in which they
turn 21 years of age.
High school student who are in courses that utilize alternate standards will not
earn credits towards graduation and will not earn a regular high school diploma.
For additional questions, please contact your child’s school.
3
4
F
Effort
Effort – The first line
on each content
area, except Physical
Education, is Effort.
This indicates how
hard a student is
working in this
specific content area.
Grade Level –
Proficiency levels are
based on grade level
expectations for all
students.
Additional content areas and the Personal/Social Development section are on page two of the Report Card along with teacher comments for each of the three marking periods.
1,2,3, F reporting
periods –Students
and parents receive
this report in
December, March
and June. The
fourth column
marked F reflects
Final proficiency
levels.
Grade
The report card lists the standards within each subject/content area. On the Standards-based Report Card, students do not receive
an overall grade in each subject/content area, but instead are graded on each standard.
How To Read Key Parts of the Report Card
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Operation of the College Access Centers is funded by Great Lakes Higher Education Corporation to help the
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