The Influence of Report Cards on the Validity of Grades Reported to Parents

Schools rely heavily on report cards when communicating with parents about students' performance in school. But how do the various characteristics of report cards contribute to or detract from the validity of the grading information? Samples of reporting forms gathered from elementary, middle, and high schools throughout Wisconsin were content analyzed to determine their influence on validity. The results are presented for the kindergarten, elementary, middle school, and high school samples, and trends across grade levels are also examined. The relationship of the findings to the meaningfulness of the information typically found on report cards is discussed, and suggestions are offered for improving the validity of the inferences parents make from report cards.