Click here for additional information posted in the Monday Memo on:

  • Key dates for report cards
  • Accessing the reports database on JumpRope
  • Writing progress reports

Three times per year each Middle School family receives a progress report for their child.  These reports consist of both narratives (curriculum statements and comments) and a PDF of the trimester’s scores (Jumprope) from each of the student’s teachers.  These reports are a central component of our communication with families and with those who will teach your students in the future.  In addition, and perhaps most importantly, these reports help students to better understand their areas of success and areas for future growth. The reports describe how the student works in your class, offer an evaluation of this work, recognize areas of achievement, and give clear suggestions for meeting your expectations and achieving growth as a learner.   Families take these reports very seriously.  Your comments on these forms carry significant weight and, thus, are effective tools in aiding student development.  Therefore, these reports, although time consuming, must be completed carefully and are well worth the effort you put into them.

Below are short descriptions of each section.

Learning Habits and Subject-Area Standards:
These scores for subject-area standards are designed to indicate a student’s progress in relation to teachers’ grade level expectations for skills/concepts that have been introduced in the trimester or continue to be addressed if introduced earlier in the year. The learning habits are  indicators of effort, participation and conduct that are shared across all subjects. Descriptions of the criteria for these common skills can be found in the learning habits section. Progress in the above mentioned areas is reported using a 4-point scale:

  • 4 indicates that the student is exceeding grade level expectations. This descriptor will appear less frequently on reports and may not appear at all on a first quarter report as mastery and moving beyond mastery takes time. Teachers ensure that students have a clear picture of what exceeding expectations might look like in each class.
  • 3 indicates that the student is meeting grade level expectations. Grade level expectations are set to be demanding and to require focused and committed work on the part of the student. Teacher comments in the second and fourth quarters provide additional insight into the the depth of the student’s understanding and sophistication with which s/he can communicate this understanding and/or apply a particular skill.
  • 2 indicates that the target skill and/or application of content is still emerging; the student is approaching grade level expectations. This is not a negative assessment, especially early in the year. It is a natural developmental step on the way to meeting expectations.
  • 1 indicates a possible area of concern. This rating is used infrequently and preceded by dialog with both the student and the family. In certain cases, the assessment of a 2 over multiple quarters may also indicate an “area of concern.” This may indicate a student’s need to focus on growth in that particular area, not that this student will always, necessarily, struggle with this skill/concept/habit. This improvement will, in most instances, be accomplished, over time, through work with teachers and families. If there is an area of concern, your child’s teacher will contact you so that a plan for progress can be put into place.
Curriculum statements:

Nathan needs to read all curriculum statements per the dates listed above. You should enter these in the shared divisional google document. Nathan will read and edit them (if necessary). After they have been reviewed, you can copy them into your students’ reports. Please note that curriculum statements are meant to summarize the major areas of learning (skills and content) in your class during the past trimester and, if desired, to name major assignments used for assessment. Your statement may also look ahead to the following trimester. Feel free to check student files for examples of these.

Be sure to spell-check and proofread your curriculum statements.

 

First trimester reports

These should comment on progress from the beginning of the year until the end of the first trimester and should give suggestions for growth for the upcoming trimesters. Comments need to describe students’ work in your class up to this point, point to areas of success/growth, and make suggestions for areas that need increased focus. Report cards are not a time to punish students for poor work or behavior. They are best used to report on students progress, skills, specific assignments, behavior and effort, and to make suggestions for the coming trimesters. Refer to specific goals that you have set with this student/family at the fall conference.

Comments provide insight into progress related to learning targets and work habits and are illustrative of the work in those two areas.

Teachers new to the middle school need to give me rough drafts of comments for a few kids in their classes.

Feel free to address the comments to students.

Be clear, concise, and supportive.

Open with something positive. A completely negative comment will overwhelm a child and make them feel defeated. This will not be as effective as mixing the positive with the areas in which work and focus are needed.

Set realistic goals for students. Give suggestions of how to reach these goals.

Describe, don’t judge.

Be specific. Use anecdotes and examples. Avoid ambiguous words.

Do not label. For example, do not describe students as “lazy.”

Do not compare students or rank them (“Nathan is the best dancer in class.”)

In general, reports must contain comments that illustrate not only behavior and compliance (work in on time, etc.) but also note the student’s learning and skill/concept acquisition. Comments need to do more than report on success on projects.

Comment on understanding; illustrate student learning.

Make suggestions for how to improve performance, while not using the report as a vehicle for assigning extra homework, communicate any (big) new news, or make recommendations about tutoring, as indicated above.  

Many find it helpful to write each comment according to a certain pattern, such as general observation first, anecdote illustrating an area of strength, followed by anecdotes illustrating areas for growth, then summary/goals. Always use specific examples to illustrate your more general comments. Use any sequence that works for you. An outline such as this may be helpful as you work to focus your thoughts on each student and to complete this important and often overwhelming task.

Click here for additional information about language for comments.

Second Trimeter Reports

These include comments from the student. These comments should  focus on goals that the student has for the final trimester. Teachers should communicate the following to their students:

To facilitate student-written comments for second trimester progress reports, teachers should have their students identify goals for the third trimester. Advisors can also help advisees to consolidate or prioritize these subject goals so that they are achievable. Advisors may also want to see if there is a way synthesize the set of subject goals into a single area of focus that is applicable across classes). Advisors should share any overarching  goals with teachers. Where relevant, teachers can also change/influence/assign a particular goal to a particular student. Teachers should have students periodically reflect throughout the third trimester on their progress towards achieving this goal. These reflections can be used inform teachers’  end-of-year report comments.

10 sentences is a reasonable length for a student comment.

The comment should address an area of strength and an area of challenge where progress was made.

The comment should identify an achievable goal for the fourth quarter.

It’s okay if a comment does not directly address goals identified earlier in the year, but good if it can.

Spelling and grammar do matter. At a minimum, students should submit a first draft to you that is revised on the basis of feedback provided by you to the student.

Comments need to be typed and submitted electronically (probably easiest to have the student email them to you so that you have easy access to them)

If a student is having a hard time with a comment, let his/her advisor know and he/she can lend a hand.

Here is an example of a student comment that appeared on the sample report that was given to parents at the start of the year. It may be useful for students to use it as a guide: I think that I have made a lot of progress this year as a writer and as a learner in humanities. One area of strength for me so far this year is my discussion skills. I am always prepared and I believe that I have interesting ideas to share about our readings. I enjoy all of our class discussions and am an active participant in them. However, one thing that I noticed at the end of the quarter was that I have become a much better listener; I did not always feel the need to comment and I enjoyed listening to and thinking about what my classmates had to say. I think that this helped me to sharpen my own thinking. In terms of my writing, I did not put much effort into my revisions at the beginning of the year and I was content to hand in a rough draft as a final draft. As I worked on pieces throughout the year, I am beginning to realize that the revision process helps me to more clearly express my ideas; this led to a tightening of my arguments. Four the fourth quarter, I want to commit fully to the writing/revision process. To do this, I will complete each stage of the work on time. I will also seek out my peers or teacher if something about the process does not seem clear to me.

Third Trimester Reports

These include teacher comments for all classes.