Grades are Poor Communicators

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/chris-crouch/grades-do-more-harm-than-_b_4190907.html

I agree with this article from a parent's perspective it is hard to see the big picture of how my child is doing and if he or she is making progress. We only look for the score to show the child's academic standing when it comes to what they are learning in class. Teachers too do not communicate this with parents so that it shows a child's difficulty and strengths. If teachers gave students assignments that evaluated their incline or decline understanding of content then I think learning for learning sake would no longer be overlooked. 

As a Kindergarten teacher parents always ask why their child didn't receive the highest score because it is what they are accustomed to receiving as children themselves. I quickly explain that the scores only reflect how their child's progress in learning each standard is going. I believe because I revisit the standard it encourages parents to push their children to learn what is taught for that reason only. Knowing that I am checking for growth often encourages learning because students are retested unlike upper grades where you receive a final score and assignments are not retaught in depth or retested.