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Boston Kindergarten Report Cards Stir Storm

A colorful 'math center' in a Boston kindergarten classroom.
Anne Hawke, NPR
A colorful 'math center' in a Boston kindergarten classroom.
Pat Kelleher is a kindergarten teacher at Boston's Jackson-Manning Elementary School. She says she hopes the new report card policy will help parents and teachers pinpoint students' weaknesses early enough in their education to address them properly.
Anne Hawke, NPR /
Pat Kelleher is a kindergarten teacher at Boston's Jackson-Manning Elementary School. She says she hopes the new report card policy will help parents and teachers pinpoint students' weaknesses early enough in their education to address them properly.

This week, Boston public schools issued report cards to kindergarteners. For the first time, five year olds are being evaluated based on literacy, math and various academic skills -- a new policy that was debated for years. As NPR's Claudio Sanchez reports, some teachers and parents give the report cards very poor marks.

Opponents of the new policy argue that young children are being evaluated too narrowly. They also worry that the detailed report cards will overwhelm parents. But the policy's supporters say the report cards -- which assess kindergarteners' performance in 36 different categories -- will help parents and teachers identify areas where improvement is needed before it's too late.

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