By Winnie Hu, The New York Times, March 24, 2009

PELHAM, N.Y. — There is no more A for effort at Prospect Hill Elementary School.

Parents have complained that since the new grading system is based on year-end expectations, 4s are generally not available until the final marking period.

In fact, there are no more A’s at all. Instead of letter grades in English or math, schoolchildren in this well-to-do Westchester suburb now get report cards filled with numbers indicating how they are faring on dozens of specific skills like “decoding strategies” and “number sense and operations.” The lowest mark, 1, indicates a student is not meeting New York State’s academic standards, while the top grade of 4 celebrates “meeting standards with distinction.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/25/education/25cards.html?_r=1