Montgomery County Dropping Traditional Letter Grades from K-3 Report Cards

Say good-bye to the “A for effort” and hello to the “DEM.”

Your kid not doing so hot in math? Don’t count on seeing a C or D. Look for an N instead.

Montgomery County Public Schools are joining other districts across the country in abandoning traditional letter grades and instead matching student evaluations with specific curriculum standards.

Instead of seeing A’s, B’s, C’s or D’s on report cards this November, for the first time parents of Montgomery students in first through third grades will see ES, P, I or N. Teachers also will mark students separately on learning skills such as “effort,” “intellectual risk taking” and “originality” with separate codes of DEM (demonstrating), PRG (progressing) or N (not yet evident).

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