To my mind, this shows that the student started out at a certain spot. Then they confused her/him so badly that progress was backwards and the projection is to get the student back to the starting point by the end of the year. WTF
I checked with aunts and uncles.. Teachers from NV to ME, in elementary school they are using the 1 thru 4 scale for grading. As stated by will above, they also do another scale for the amount of effort the student puts in. So if one is exceeding standard on our daughters report they put a grade next to it such as A. They also grade 1 to 4 on how much effort the student puts in, so the parent can know if the child is putting forth their best effort.