Providing feedback to students and families is one of the most important functions of progress reports. Children and their families need to know areas of strength and deficiencies, and what it will take to close the gap between what the child knows and what the child needs to know. Learning progressions are one tool that can be used for this purpose. Learning progressions are a carefully sequenced set of building blocks that students master en route to a distinct curricular aim. Three years ago, Dalton Public Schools implemented standards based grading. During 2010-2011, standards based grading will extend to the third grade.