A Different Approach to Report Cards

The end of the first half of the school year means that report card season is here. Some schools have already sent them, while some wait until after the new year begins to grace your inbox. Whether you’ve seen your child’s grades or not, it’s time to re-think how report cards can inform your next move BEFORE we all head back to school in January.

I will tell you at the outset, I am not a fan of letter or number grades for elementary school coursework. I was a teacher for 26 years, and in all that time, I could not for the life of me figure out what a grade even means for a young child. What does a B in history or English truly mean for a 5th grader? I can wrap my brain a little more successfully around middle and high school coursework grades, but I still think they heavily depend on how a teacher weighs different kinds of work and, therefore, don’t tell us much about what’s really going on.

Let’s get real- we all know kids who study and work hard, yet don’t get good grades. It may not be because they don’t know the material. It may be due to anxiety, slow retrieval or processing speed, or any number of other things that can prevent ideas from leaping from their brain onto the page at the exact right moment. What if this kid has done every homework and classwork assignment, but those only count for a small percentage of their final grade? Are we saying that performance in an exam hour matters more than the ability to keep up with their work over long periods? And what if they can’t keep up with their work, but CAN spit out whatever information is needed to do really well on an exam? Is this child really more “prepared” than the other one? Prepared for what? What does that B+ at the end of a term actually tell us? Not enough.

Note- this is not to say that individual assignments shouldn’t be graded or that kids shouldn’t take tests. If a child gets 8 out of 10 math problems right, then that’s useful information about those 10 problems. An end-of-term grade is less informative because it depends on dozens of factors, none of which are clearly communicated in a single letter or number. That’s why a cumulative grade is only useful if we are ready to dig deeper.

When you get your child’s report card, here are some ways to approach it with a different lens:

First, if there are any teacher comments or a narrative, start there. Teachers spend hours and days writing these comments, so spend a minute reading them and looking for the heart of the message. Ideally, the comment notes loads of things your child is doing well, ways they contribute positively to the classroom community, and how they interact well with others. Take note of these things and celebrate them! This is where your child excels at school. Focus on the good, shine a spotlight on what’s going well, and talk to your child about their greatness! Also take note of any places the teacher sees room for growth, but don’t address these with your child right away. Jot a reminder for yourself to come back to it later. (If your child’s report card doesn’t have a space for teacher comments, or if the comments don’t speak to your child’s strengths and challenges as a learner and a social being, ask their teacher for more information when school starts back in January. A five-minute phone call can give you so much information! Use the questions below to help use that meeting time well.)

Now take a look at the letter or number grades for each subject area. If your child’s grades are looking good, yippee! Talk to your child about what went well in each class, what contributed to their success, and what they want to keep doing next term. Focus on what’s working and shine a bright light on that greatness.

While it’s awesome that your student is doing well at school based on their report card, ask yourself what these numbers mean for your child as a learner. If the numbers are high—why? What positive habits or learner attributes contributed to this success? If they got all A’s on tests (which were heavily weighted) but never turned in homework, let’s find that out now so we can address it. If the course required lots of projects which your child somehow pulled off at the very last minute, that’s a recipe for future disaster. Let’s make a plan for addressing that challenge before next time. A high grade alone doesn’t tell us much; we need to dig deeper.

And, if the course grades are lower—why? Were tests weighted heavily, and your child panics or runs out of time? Did they do ok on tests but never turn in classwork? If they never turned in classwork-- why? Perhaps they didn’t understand it and needed help, OR maybe they did it all but forgot to turn it in. These are two VERY different problems to solve, but you won’t know what is really going on if you don’t look beyond the simple letter or number grade.

All of this questioning and digging is in service to two bigger questions: What are my child’s strengths and challenges as a learner and a person? How can we celebrate their successes and strengthen their areas of need? If we go into the second half of the year with these questions in mind, we can create a partnership with our children and their teachers so the REAL learning can begin.