What Report Card Grades Should and Do Communicate

Abstract

Outcomes research for included students with disabilities indicates that many students are receiving low or failing grades, resulting in increased interest in using grading adaptations for these students. However, successful use of a grading adaptation may hinge on what purpose the student, parent, and teacher perceive the grade to serve or on what information they think it should convey. The purpose of this study was to determine which of 10 potential purposes for report card grades parents of general education and special education students perceive as being most important and to find out how effectively these parents perceive report card grades to be in meeting each of the purposes. Results indicated that the combined sample of parents thought some purposes were more important than others; however, they did not believe that report card grades were very effective in meeting these purposes. Significant differences were also found between the perceptions of the parents of high-achieving students without disabilities and those of students with disabilities.