I am all for the alterntive report card. My daughter recently received a 90 in reading on her report card. Since I knew my daughter was at one of the highest reading levels in the class, I was concerned that she had not been doing her work. Her teacher explained (shaking her head) that the grade was based on the child's particular reading level. This would be great except that piece of information is not included on the report card (as suggested in the article). Without that information, a letter grade is useless data.
I also like the concept of the other article, though I think American schools will modify it slightly. Our school district is starting a dual enrollment (HS/college) program. Students in the program will graduate from HS with an associates degree.
