Reporting Skills Assessment (Certificates)

[tjdickinson]

At the end of the year, I give certificates to the students who have succeeded the course. The certificate indicates the student's level (using the CEFR scale), the student's overall results (as a percent), and then the assessment of the student's skills (grammar, reading, writing, listening, and speaking).

In reporting the student's skill levels, I use words across seven bands, based on the percent score received on each section of the exam (where 60% is required to pass):

• 95-100% Outstanding

• 88-94% Excellent

• 75-87% Very Good

• 60-74% Good

• 40-59% Needs Improvement

• 20-39% Poor

• 0-19% Very Poor

To me, 'needs improvement' feels clunky, lacks finesse, and doesn't say much about the level relative to the other words. (I mean, 'needs improvement' could refer to any of the bottom three points.)

Does anyone out there have any suggestions for improving the scale? What do you use with your students?

(P.S. To give a little bit of context: students only get a certificate if they achieve 60% or better overall and have at least 60% or better on each skill. The exception is for the first two levels; they can still pass if no more than one skill is below 60%, provided that the overall score is still above 60%. So, in reality, it's not very often that I need the bottom three categories, and even rarer that I need the bottom two categories.)

[odyssey]

Looks good to me...