At the end of every grading period at Futuro Verde, families and teachers sit down together to discuss each student in detail during their individual parent-teacher conference. But, what does it all mean? The numbers and jargon teachers use can sometimes be confusing for families and parents can, at times, not come away understanding fully what all of the information means for their child. Add in the complication of our diverse population of families, all coming from unique educational contexts themselves, and it becomes even more important to practice good communication.
Below I provide you with some key advice to make the most of your child’s conference and to best understand their report card:
Come to your child’s conference with questions in hand. Some good questions for the teachers might be:
What do you observe my child doing well?
Can you explain an area you have concerns about with my child?
How I can help at home?
What does my child’s participation and work ethic is class look like?
What does my child most need to work on?
Celebrate your child’s successes and focus on their needs.
When you look at your child’s grades, wonder about what they still don’t know well. Often we focus on our children having “good grades”, but really we should think about what they still need to work on, regardless of their final grade in each area.
Focus your attention on your child’s social-emotional rubric scores, in addition to their academic grades.
Research shows that how well students do in the social and emotional processes of learning is just as important as what they learn and know.
If we have a ‘growth mindset’, we know that hard work, perseverance and a realistic understanding and acceptance of our current strengths and weaknesses allows us to make continual improvement and growth. Please remember that report cards are only a snapshot in time of your child’s educational journey. Please use opportunities like parent-teacher conferences to engage in collaborative reflection with your child’s teachers and with your child in order to recognize successes and focus energies on current needs.
Working together, with open and honest communication, we will assure that we work as a team (student, family and teachers) so that all children reach their full potential!
Futuro Verde: Inspiration. Dedication. Innovation