Our district uses "standards based" report cards through grade 5. I forget the letters but it's basically behind the goal, progressing toward the goal as expected, or met the goal. The grades are based on periodic assessments throughout the grading period and are not an average of your grades. I like the emphasis on mastering grade-appropriate skills. That said, it was a big shock to switch from that to regular grades in middle school. When my middle son moved into middle school last year, his grades ranged from A's to F's. He had previously easily met all of the goals every year - often by the end of the first term - but had poor work habits. In middle school, with grades based on averages of all work, his scores plummeted due to missing or incomplete assignments, turning things in late, bombing a quiz, etc. He still could ace tests with ease but with day to day work now counting, it was a different world and took some adjustment for him.
When I was a student, we had A through F letter grades all the way through school. My elementary school even posted an honor roll with everyone's average on it, starting in 4th grade. While it was a great ego boost for me and the other kids who were always jostling to be at the top of the list, in retrospect, I can't imagine how crappy it felt to be one of the few kids who never made the list, or to see your average posted if it dropped from a 92.5% to an 85.6%. With 20-24 kids per grade, it was glaringly obvious who wasn't on that list. I can't imagine doing that in this day and age - while it fostered some healthy competition at the top, it did so at the expense of students who weren't top performers or who might have had learning disabilities.
ETA when our district picked the levels for grades K-5 they deliberately left off anything about exceeding expectations because they knew that the obnoxious parents here would all be complaining about why their kids didn't get that grade LOL.
