River Valley Local Schools are are joining many schools around the country as they move to a new way of grading elementary students. The changes will be showing up on their grade cards.

Beginning with this school year, the district will begin issuing standards-based report cards in the elementary schools, meaning kids will be graded “E” for exemplary work at the standard, “M” for meeting the standard, “P” for progressing toward the standard, and “L” for limited skills with the standard.

The new report cards will outline what the standards are and how the child is doing towards those standards.

Many schools throughout the nation have begun a move towards standards-based teaching, or revolving curriculum around standardized tests such as the Ohio Achievement Tests.