Reporting Time

Okay, the end of Trimester 1 has arrived, and it's time to push out those T1 scores. This seems simple enough; I've been doing this my whole career. However, there's now more behind this task than one might think. Here are some things to consider.

I am reporting the current progress for each student in relation to the following Measurement Topics:

• Reading Informational Text
• Reading Literature
• Writing
• Language
• Speaking and Listening

The key terms in the statement above are "current progress" and "Measurement Topic". First of all, I am reporting the general amount of knowledge/skill that each student has demonstrated so far in relation to the entire Measurement Topic. Most Measurement Topics consist of ten Learning Targets. Therefore, it makes sense that for quite a while, students will have at best demonstrated Partial Proficiency (2). Students can not be declared Proficient (3) in a Measurement Topic until all of the Learning Targets within have been met. This is quite different from the traditional approach which has always been more focused on "how a student is doing so far"without pointing out the knowledge and skills that still have yet to be demonstrated.

This might be a bit startling for some parents because their child can be "doing" just fine while receiving a current score of 2 (Partially Proficient). However, this score is quite logical (and need not be alarming) as the student who is doing just fine may have only met a portion of the Learning Targets that make up the Measurement Topic. For a closer look at exactly how the child is doing, a parent need only look deeper into Infinite Campus (our online score reporting software). Within Infinite Campus, the parent can see exactly how proficient their child is in each Learning Target. This is far more informative than the general Measurement Topic score. For example, the score of 2 for the Writing Measurement Topic reveals that some writing Learning Targets still need to be met. A closer look will reveal exactly which of those Learning Targets have already been met and to what level of proficiency. That's a little more work on the parent end, but the information is worth the dig!

Is that digging too much to ask of parents? Perhaps. The math teachers at our school are reporting by Learning Targets at Trimester's end rather than Measurement Topics. This presents an extensive workload challenge for teachers (that's a ton of reporting!), but presents the information in a much more straightforward fashion. Students obviously meet individual Learning Targets as a means of meeting the requirements of a Measurement Topic. Therefore, the up front data presents a much clearer immediate picture to parents without as much digging required. This may be the way ELA reporting goes in the future, but that's yet to be determined in this pilot year.

For now, it's important to report student data as accurately as possible. It's also important to guide parents through this data. It is an unrealistic expectation to think that the typical parent is going to fully grasp the details of educational data. (Some of us teachers even struggle sometimes!) I'm hopeful that I will have taken some action to help parents, prior to the publishing of my next entry. My thought is to make use of simple online video lessons to help parents grasp the important information that is being provided for them.

Another way that we as educators can help parents is to make extensive use of comments when reporting scores. There is a big difference between the two reports below:

• Writing: 2 (Partially Proficient)

• Writing: 2 (Partially Proficient): Some Learning Targets within this Measurement Topic have been met and/or exceeded.  Student is making better than adequate progress through the Learning Targets.

Certainly, it takes a bit more time and effort to add comments. However, it is worth it if parents are better informed about the progress of their children. It might even save time in the long run as a teacher will less likely have to field a phone call or email from a parent concerned that their strong student of a child is only Partially Proficient.

For public education to work, schools need to inform parents effectively. While still a work in progress that is requiring extra thinking and effort on the part of educators and parents, at least progress is being made in this area. We simply haven't solved all the problems yet.  I'd give us a 2 (Partially Proficient).