Published midway through the marking period, interim report cards serve as a barometer of your student’s academic progress, while still providing enough time for positive changes to be made that can impact that term’s grades.
What should you do if you see an unexpected comment or grade on your child’s interim report card? Maybe the average grade in a given subject is 79, when you really expected an 84. Perhaps a skill is marked “Basic” instead of “Proficient.”
If your child gets receives a less than desirable mark, the first line of action is to talk to your student. Do not scold or express disappointment. Instead, use open-ended questions, that ask your student to identify what may be challenging in a given class or subject. Questions such as: “Do you know what happened in this class?”, “What makes this subject hard for you?”, and “Why do you think that is?” may prove invaluable and provide insight that you may not have considered.
In addition, this approach will encourage your student to open-up, trust and confide in you. Do they know how to take notes? Is your student actively reading? Do they self-advocate in class? Do they use their planner to make sure assignments are handed in on time? Perhaps there are multiple areas from which your student would benefit from study skills – after all starting in the 6th grade, with an emphasize on a content-based curriculum, study skills are not taught! If you think your student might benefit from this extra support, talk to their guidance counselor, or look for an outside resource for workshops or tutoring.
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Another sports analogy. Some members of a team, students in a class, pick up the plays more quickly than others and some players are more skilled than others. Additional conditioning and training, think TUTORING, can in many cases help bring the player or in this case the student up to speed. I remember my daughter struggling in a high school math class while her friend thought the same class was a breeze. We needed a tutor for our daughter to pass the class. Aside from all the grandiose rhetoric about 'trying to meet the needs of every student at their own pace' in the classroom, the reality is a classroom is a GROUP instruction and learning situation.
If we want to lengthen the school day this means the majority of residents have to be willing to pay more in taxes. Agreement for MORE taxes is not a likely scenario in Brookfield. For required classes, as is the case for almost all classes below high school, this somtimes does come back to a students innate ability to comprehend and understand the concepts in certain subject areas. There is also the idea that by mixing stronger and weaker students in the same subject area the stronger kids help bring along the weaker students. I believe there is research to support this I did not just make this up. If you give top students exam waivers, who is left in the class? As far as parents helping students with today's academic rigor, parents are not a likely source of help. If my kids asked me for help with Chemistry or high school math I would have told them I can help them get a LOWER grade. Told them Google was the best bet for finding Chem. and math help. Education, transmittal of knowledge and the learning process are definately complex issues. The innate learning differences among students can also create a paradox when it comes to education delivered as standardized learning units.
In terms of parental responsibility, it goes far beyond the biology of procreation. Parents have a responsibility to teach their kids as well. Telling kids to go to a library, on the internet or ask a friend is not parenting.
Here's the link for the National reading, writing, and math Common Core standards, adopted by CT for the current school year. New science and history standards are being developed nationally, but CT current standards can be found on the state's education website. There is a skills section for every area of curriculum, K-12. FACT: skills are being taught. Notetaking is not one of them because it is not a skill. 'Doing' teaches. 'Listening' and 'copying' helps memorize, but that is different than learning. Compare, interpret, analyze, conclude. These are educational skills. If you want your child to learn to be organized, use a planner more effectively, or take notes, you are welcome to teach these at home. But the above skills are required by the state and that will be the teacher's focus because he/she has no choice. If you're going to complain about the state of education, you'll make a better argument if you are, in fact, educated about current standards and regulations.