Report Cards – Pre-Writing

1. Report Cards – Pre-Writing • Gather the data you have collected on the child including: • Your teacher’s notebook. • All samples or collections of work the child has done – • portfolios • writing folders • math journals • reading logs, etc. All samples should be dated. • Observations and anecdotal notes. • Checklists you may have used. (From: Gayle Karen Robertson A Process for Writing Anecdotal Reports & School District #62 (Sooke) Report Guidelines; BCTF Website)

2. Report Cards – Pre-Writing • Classroom based assessments you have used. • Self-evaluations or logs the child may have kept or completed • Any supplemental material • resource teachers • teaching assistants • others involved with the child • You may need to schedule meetings with support people who work with particular children to gather information they may have collected. • Check to see that you have information on all areas of development that are on the report card. (From: Gayle Karen Robertson A Process for Writing Anecdotal Reports & School District #62 (Sooke) Report Guidelines; BCTF Website)

3. Report Cards – Pre-Writing • Some teachers like to develop a master checklist to record if they have information in all necessary areas. • Talk with the child about his/her learning. • Use a sheet like the “Child-Teacher Conference Sheet” from the BC Primary Program. You can often find out useful information that will inform your report-writing. • Report cards should not contain surprises for children or parents. Any learning challenges (a strategies to deal with them) should have previously been communicated and discussed. • Information on a report card should reflect the individual child’s development and the progress he/she is making. However, in order to provide parents with realistic information it is often necessary to frame the child’s progress within a bigger picture. (From: Gayle Karen Robertson A Process for Writing Anecdotal Reports & School District #62 (Sooke) Report Guidelines; BCTF Website)

4. Report CardsWriting the Report • Begin with student successes • Write about • something the child has done that has gone well this term. • a student’s special achievements • student’s areas of improvement • the whole child • Include as many areas of development as possible. • Include information about student behaviours as well as skills in curriculum areas. • Use specific examples whenever possible to highlight what a child is able to do. • Use your observational data to provide examples. (From: Gayle Karen Robertson A Process for Writing Anecdotal Reports & School District #62 (Sooke) Report Guidelines; BCTF Website)

5. Report CardsWriting the Report • Name the books the child is reading, refer to specific pieces of writing or art work, or actions the child has taken, provide anecdotes of behaviour, etc. • Be careful about the language you use. • Avoid vague and generalized comments – such as generally doing good work, doing very well, having difficulty. Support comments with examples. Remember that evidence should be something you can see or hear. • Avoid negative judgmental comments – such as lazy, rude, dishonest, as they will create negative reactions in the reader. Phrase things in ways that describe what the child has done. D has done her Home Reading only three times this term. When E does not complete his Math assignments at school he has been asked to do it for homework. This has not been done. • When learning needs are indicated, state what you plan to do to help the child and suggest possibilities for the parent and the child. (From: Gayle Karen Robertson A Process for Writing Anecdotal Reports & School District #62 (Sooke) Report Guidelines; BCTF Website)

6. Report CardsWriting the Report • When learning needs are indicated, state what you plan to do to help the child and suggest possibilities for the parent and the child. • Make sure you don’t state the problem and then leave the parent (and child) hanging – trying to figure out what should be done. The teacher should provide suggestions or possibilities. If you plan to discuss it at the conference have some suggestions ready. Talk to the support staff in the school if necessary. • Don’t forget to provide suggestions for children who are performing above grade expectations. That is a learning need too. (From: Gayle Karen Robertson A Process for Writing Anecdotal Reports & School District #62 (Sooke) Report Guidelines; BCTF Website)

7. Report CardsWriting the Report • Include learning goals for the next term. • Write comments that you would feel were informative and respectful if this were your child. • Think about how you would feel upon receiving this report – does it provide you with all the information you need? • Tips for efficient writing: • If you are using the computer to write the reports it can be helpful to write program summaries or outlines of areas to be included. The outline can be used as a guide for writing and then personalized for each child. BE VERY CAREFUL to proofread all reports written using this strategy to ensure that names and pronouns are correct. Cookie-cutter reports are not helpful. • Keep copies of all reports written. It can be helpful to see how you phrased a particular difficulty on a previous report. You want to avoid using exactly the same phrases repeatedly. (From: Gayle Karen Robertson A Process for Writing Anecdotal Reports & School District #62 (Sooke) Report Guidelines; BCTF Website)

8. Report CardsReflecting on the Report • Read the report over and ask yourself the following questions: • Is the overall tone positive? • Does this report show the uniqueness of this child – does it show the parent that you really know this child. Or is it so generalized that it could be a report of two or three others in the class? • Will the parents find the report helpful? • Check the language • Have you provided specific description? • Have you avoided “loaded’ words that a reader may feel indicate bias or negativity (or sometimes are overly positive). • Does the report give information about: • What the child can do; • The child’s learning needs; • Future plans to support the child’s learning – either assistance or challenge? (From: Gayle Karen Robertson A Process for Writing Anecdotal Reports & School District #62 (Sooke) Report Guidelines; BCTF Website)

9. Resources • Davies, Anne & Caren Cameron, Together is Better: Collaborative Assessment, Colleen Politano, Kathleen Gregory, Evaluation And Reporting, 1992, Peguis Publishers, (Now Portage and Main Press)Winnipeg, ISBN 1-895411-54-8 • Practical information about 3-way reporting and 3-way conferences and writing reports • Brualdi, Amy (1998). Teacher comments on report cards: Practical Assessment, Research & Evaluation, 6(5). Retrieved from http://pareonline.net/getvn.asp?v=6&n=5 • Power, Brenda Miller, Well-Chosen Words: Narrative Assessments and Kelly Chandler, Report Card Comments, 1998, Stenhouse Publishers, Maine, ISBN 1-57110-080-6 • BCTF Website: FAQ on Report Cards • Teacher’s Network: http://www.teachersnetwork.org/ntol/howto/align/reportsam/

10. Working Session #2

11. Guidelines for writing narrative assessments • Schafer, Susan Quick Tips: Writing Effective Report Card Comments (Grades 1 – 6) • Strategies, tips, and lists of useful phrases that encourage children and lists words to avoid, concise advice on how to prompt parents to support learning at home. • BC Ministry of Education Primary Program: Foundation Document, Primary Program: Resource Document • Good process for writing reports is described. It was used as a reference for the process described in this handout.

12. Report Cards • Provincial regulations for reporting student progress require that parents or guardians be provided with a minimum of: • three formal written report cards • on a form approved by the Minister or school board and must follow the requirements for the specific grade and program as stated in legislation and policy. • one formal report shall be made at the end of the school year. Formal reports identify student progress and are placed in the Permanent Student Record file. • two informal reports each school year • At least two informal reports must be provided to parents each school year. Schools determine how they will communicate informally with parents. • BC ED Ministry Reporting Student Progress: Policy and Practice, March 2009

13. Report Cards • Formal Reports • Formal reports communicate to parents and students significant aspects of the students’ progress in the areas of: • intellectual development • social development • human and career development • . • Performance Scale • The performance scale for Primary students indicates, in words or as a graph, the student’s level of performance in relation to the expected learning outcomes set out in the provincial curriculum for each subject and grade. • BC ED Ministry Reporting Student Progress: Policy and Practice, March 2009

14. Report Cards • For Kindergarten, performance is described as one of the following: • Approaching Expectations • Meeting Expectations • Exceeding Expectations • For Grades 1 to 3, (and 4, 5 ungraded) performance is described as one of the following: • Not Yet Meeting Expectations • Approaching Expectations • Meeting Expectations • Exceeding Expectations • BC ED Ministry Reporting Student Progress: Policy and Practice, March 2009

15. Report Cards • Mandatory use of the performance scale to show progress: • language arts (including reading, writing, and speaking/listening), mathematics • social studies • science • Optional performance scale may also be used to report : • fine arts • personal planning • physical education • social responsibility • work habits • BC ED Ministry Reporting Student Progress: Policy and Practice, March 2009

16. Report Cards • Reporting on Daily Physical Activity-Kindergarten to Grade 9 • When students are meeting the Prescribed Learning Outcomes of Daily Physical Activity, a comment of “Meeting requirement” will be made on term and final reports. A comment of “Not meeting requirement” will be made at any time when students are not meeting the Prescribed Learning Outcomes of Daily Physical Activity. Where a “Not meeting requirement” comment is made, it is recommended that a further comment is added to outline a plan for the student to meet the requirement. • BC ED Ministry Reporting Student Progress: Policy and Practice, March 2009

17. Informal Reports • Informal Reports • Each school year, teachers must provide parents with a minimum of two informal reports. In relation to curriculum, informal reports may describe: • what the student is able to do • the areas of learning that require further attention or development • ways the teacher is supporting the student’s learning needs (and, where appropriate, ways the student or the parents might support the learning) • Informal reports are an important link between home and school and can take a variety of forms, such as: • telephone calls • interim reports (written or oral) • conferences (parent-teacher, three-way, student-led, etc.) • Parents should have the opportunity to meet with teachers for a conference at least once each school year. A record of each informal report should be kept, noting the date, and type and topic(s) of discussion.

18. For Wednesday: • Review: BC Ministry Policy and Practice-Reporting Student Progress pp 31 – 38 • Read either A or B: be prepared to discuss in class: • Grades That Show What Students Know. Marzano, Robert J.; Heflebower, Tammy. Educational Leadership. Nov2011, Vol. 69 Issue 3, p34-39. 6pOR • Group Grades Miss the Mark. Spencer Kagan Educational Leadership v52 n8 p68-71 May 1995 • Journal Reflection:“Halfway through this course, I am feeling…”