An Independent School • Grades 5-12
February at the Middle School: Supporting learning, growth, and well-being

by Reem Abu Rahmeh, assistant head of school and Middle School director

I’m excited to share that beginning in fall 2026, Middle School report cards will abandon traditional cumulative letter grades for 7th and 8th graders!

As a school community, we are continually reflecting on how our practices support not only academic learning but also student well-being, motivation, and long-term growth. Over the past few years, and as part of the Educational Excellence area of our strategic plan, our faculty and leadership have been engaged in deep conversations about grading, feedback, and how students experience school.

Middle school is a critical time for students: a period of rapid academic, social, and emotional development. During these years, students begin to form lasting beliefs about learning, success, and themselves as learners.

A Middle School teacher who teaches both 6th and 7th grade students at Lakeside once told me, “A 6th grader doesn’t know when to stop” when it comes to learning, “But most 7th graders stop at the A.” What a pedagogical miss! We want our practices as a school to encourage students’ internal motivation. In that teacher’s comment, we see that the exact system that is supposed to provide students with helpful feedback is also unintentionally capping the learning process that should be going on. In traditional grading systems, grades can unintentionally shift students’ focus away from learning and toward performance. Rather than asking, “What am I learning?” students may begin to ask, “What do I need to do to get the grade?” Research and experience tell us that when grades become the primary driver of motivation, students may be less willing to take academic risks, more fearful of mistakes, and less likely to see feedback as a tool for growth. 

Additionally, we are seeing increasing levels of stress and anxiety among students nationwide, which is often related to high anxiety about grades and performance evaluation. Are certain levels of stress and anxiety healthy? Absolutely! We are not trying to have students avoid dealing with anxiety and stress. Still, middle schoolers need to learn to engage fully with the learning process, which will inevitably be messy, challenging, and filled with mistakes. How will they do that when stress and anxiety are setting the bar at “perfection” and accepting nothing less than an A?

These challenges are not new, and they are not unique to our school. However, we have learned that simply adjusting grading scales or adding more support systems does not address the root of the issue. Real change requires thoughtful redesign. Healthy learning cultures emerge when assessment, feedback, and reporting all work together. When they do not, even well-intentioned practices can fall short of their goals. Our guiding question has been simple but important: How can we create a system that supports learning, growth, and well-being while still providing clarity and meaningful information to students and families?

Report cards will still give students a snapshot of where they are in their learning journey four times throughout the year through an assessment of course skills, general student skills, and a narrative comment. We’ll assess skills — to the extent that they have been taught at the end of each quarter — using three indicators: Beginning (B), Developing (D), and Proficient (P). All these skills can be traced back to student work throughout the quarter.

Beginning indicates that the student still needs additional (significant) guidance and attention from their teachers. They are not yet able to do this skill independently.

Developing indicates that the student has internalized their understanding of that skill; however, they still require reminders and the occasional additional guidance from their teachers. They are doing the work and can see the next steps in their growth journey within that skill, but are not yet performing at a fully independent level. (For example, "developing" might mean that the student is able to show proficiency in the skill after revising an assignment based on their teacher's feedback.)

Proficient indicates that, at that point in time, the student has shown well-practiced skills and competencies for that specific skill requirement. They are consistently able to perform this skill independently without support or substantial revision.

Teachers will also include a narrative comment, specifically sharing the students’ strengths and goals for the quarter, in addition to providing further information for any of the skills identified as “Beginning” in the skills section.

Beginning in the 2026-2027 school year, all courses and all report cards will forgo cumulative traditional letter grades. All other aspects of the report cards shared above will remain the same. This spring, no changes will be made to the current format. Report cards for 7th and 8th graders this year will still have a cumulative letter grade for each of their graded courses.

Students will continue to be assessed regularly throughout the school year. While traditional letter grades and/or points may still appear on individual assignments or assessments, these grades reflect performance on a specific piece of work and are not intended to represent overall achievement or define a full quarter.

We believe these changes will help students focus more deeply on learning rather than point accumulation, take healthy academic risks, spend more time understanding and using feedback, and ultimately, experience school with less unnecessary stress while maintaining high engagement with learning. Our goal is not to remove accountability, but to ensure that accountability supports learning. 

We recognize that change can raise questions, and we value partnership with families as we continue this work. Our commitment is to clear communication, thoughtful implementation, and ongoing reflection. At its core, this work is about supporting meaningful learning, healthy mindsets, and strong relationships. We look forward to continuing this conversation together.

In addition to this communication, we will dedicate the Feb. 13 coffee morning/hybrid meeting with administrators to clarifying and further answering any questions that parents and guardians might have. Additionally, we will share these changes with students through direct, age-appropriate conversations at school throughout the spring semester, beginning with the 7th grade class on Feb. 3.

Important dates and events for February

Reem Abu Rahmeh is Lakeside’s assistant head of school and Middle School director. You can reach her at info@lakesideschool.site and 206-440-2772.

 

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