Assessment: Reporting to families

After teaching for twenty years, it has become very real to me how important it is to tell it like it is, whether it is personally or professionally.  Of course, in certain situations, it is vital to show a little restraint or at the very least control when sharing information.  And this is very true about reporting to families.

To conclude my month-long blog entries for NAEA Monthly Mentor, I would like to briefly discuss reporting to families.  Most of us are familiar with the typical ways we communicate student progress…mid-term evaluations, quarter-end report cards, parent/teacher conferences, as well as, phone calls and emails.  No matter the style of communicating about student progress, one must have the evidence collected, which is based on standards and objectives.  It is imperative that when we share with families (and you will notice I said families as many of our students are being raised by adults other than parents), that what we’ve collected supports the comments and/or grades that are shared.  For examples, when my district rewrote its elementary report card several years ago, the entire report card was based on national and state standards.  Using a 4 (exceeds the standard), 3 (meets the standard), 2 (approaching but not meeting the standard), 1 (does not meet the standard) system, I am required to share four times a year, student progress in 5 areas in art and 4 areas in technology.  In art, I must assess the creative process, connecting with art, communicating with art, expressing through art, talking about art, and work habits.  In technology, I must assess using the computer to produce, using technology to research, keyboarding skills in grades 4 & 5, and finally, work habits.  I must collect the necessary evidence every 9 weeks to confidently share with families the current status of their child based on the standards.  I often find myself collecting the final pieces of evidence the last couple weeks of each quarter by basing my objectives on what I must collect.  Then, at the end of the quarter, using a web-based system, I diligently enter all my 4, 3, 2, and 1s to each child’s report card.  I give comments to about 40% of my students.  Students who receive a 1 or 2 automatically receive a comment.  Any child who receives 3 or more 4s also receives a comment.  If a child receives 3s and 4s, there is no comment made as a 3 means the child has met the standard.  As I share comments, I am concise and precise with the comment focusing on the standards and objectives.  I do have families question me at times about grades and/or comments, and I confident using my data that I can defend a grade or comment given.

In the end, sugarcoating grades or comments is not fair to the child and does all who are involved no good.  You must be confident in your grades and comments, and they must have strong connection to standards and objectives.

I am honored to have been the NAEA Monthly Mentor for March.  It has been a pleasure thinking about, reflecting on, and writing about assessment. Everyone should be part of a process like this.  Special thanks to Linda Scott for her direction and support all month long.  I am happy to continue to be a resource for you.  Please contact me at breeker@lps.org or call me 402.560.2735. May your assessment and evaluation continue to be descriptive and informative for children and families yet manageable for you.

-Bob Reeker