Letters replace Barrington school's honor roll

No honor roll. No problem.

Officials at Barrington Middle School found a new way to honor their top achieving students: With personalized letters. 

The achievement recognition letters were mailed to students who received either all A's or all A's and B's in their classes this past scoring period. The letters replaced the school's long-standing tradition of creating an honor roll — a list of names of the top-performing students that was printed in the Barrington Times.

School officials decide to eliminate honor roll.

"The week after the letters were sent home, I did receive a few emails and phone calls from parents thanking me for the letter and stating how proud their child was upon receiving the letter," said Barrington Middle School Principal Dr. Andrew Anderson.

The district received some criticism, however, after officials made the earlier move to eliminate the honor roll. Back in February, people called into talk radio shows and others wrote letters questioning the move away from the honor roll. 

School officials tried to explain the decision, which was years in the making. Dr. Anderson sent a letter to students' parents: "This decision came out of committee work, conversations around grading, and ultimately what is best for all students, not just some students. This decision is also supported by a body of research that emphasizes the learning process. A traditional honor roll is counter-intuitive to that core fundamental belief…"

Just a few weeks later, hundreds of middle school students began receiving the achievement recognition letters in the mail.

"We landed on the idea of the letters being addressed to the students because we wanted to do something that was personalized and meaningful to the student," said Dr. Anderson. "In our communication, we also wanted to reinforce the intangibles of hard work, dedication, grit, and commitment, that are necessary to achieve success in all of their classes. This practice of sending letters is certainly not new, but a practice that is new to Barrington Middle School."

Barrington Superintendent of Schools Michael Messore said he supports the recognition letters.

"It's a personal piece," he said. "I thought it was a great idea. I support recognizing students who work hard in school… It's important we recognize the effort they put in."

Shortly after the letters began arriving in mailboxes, proud parents began posting them to Facebook pages in an effort to share the news. Students showed them to their friends and neighbors.

"I did hear a few students talking about the letters, as well as a few students who approached me also thanking me for the letter," said Dr. Anderson. "Overall, I believe the feedback was positive."

Standards-based grading

The elimination of the honor roll is coordinated with the move toward standards-based grading and away from traditional grades, said school officials.

With the incoming sixth grade class next year, the school will employ a progress report that features academic ratings such as "strong command of the grade-level standard" and a separate section for ratings for specials and approaches to learning, such as "student consistently demonstrates this skill" or "student demonstrates this skill some of the time."

The decision to eliminate the honor roll also considered student stress, noting that middle school students often face a number of "social, academic and emotional changes." 

In an earlier email to parents, school officials explained that a "traditional honor roll does not acknowledge the whole student and is not an effective measure or representation of success." 

The decision to eliminate the honor roll coincided with the school's numerous shifts in grading practices. Over the last few years the middle school has instituted a redo or re-take protocol "that gives students an opportunity to show what he/she has mastered." There is also a new district-wide homework policy and a transition to trimesters. 

Dr. Anderson said the recent round of achievement recognition letters will be expanded in the future.

"This year the letters will be specific to academic achievement. Students will receive letters for achieving all A's and achieving A's and B's. Next year we will also be sending letters for other learning qualities such as citizenship and perseverance. We are currently discussing criteria for our citizenship and perseverance letters," he said.