From the Head of School

Report Cards

When I started teaching, I wrote reports by hand on carbon paper. There was no school website and no email.  Computers were only used in specialist classes, and most students had nothing to do with them.  Teachers had limited knowledge of neurodiversity, and even less on how to create inclusive classrooms.

LIke most professions, teaching has changed a lot over the last few decades: not just in use of technology but in fundamental approaches.  I, like most of you, have had to constantly learn, and improve my practice.

The adjustments I have made were not the result of grading on my performance.  When I started emailing for work, I didn’t receive a ‘B’ at the end of the first semester with the comment, ‘Doing fine, but needs to try harder to master the true potential of this tool.’  Despite this, I have actually improved my use of emails, and can even organise them into folders and schedule send times!

Later today, middle and high school parents will receive report cards for their children; at the end of the month, elementary will send out theirs.  Students often focus on the grades. It is easy to feel that grades are a judgement or even that they say something about the essential you: ‘I am not really a mathematician; I am more of an artsy person’, students may be tempted to conclude.

Don’t get me wrong, grades have their place in tracking progress, but we need to make sure that they are kept in their place, and don’t become more than they should be.  As adults, we make progress by being reflective and by asking for specific feedback (such as ‘my inbox is a mess; how can I organise it better?’)  If there is an aspect of what we do that we are not yet so good at, we don’t let it define us.

Report cards are not summaries of students’ set abilities.  They are part of a conversation about how to take the next step.  Teachers’ comments should provide insights that provoke reflection and comments and questions in return.  

Middle and high school parents will receive MAP test reports alongside the report card.   MAP is an external test that shows progress in core skills.  We use as a school to identify possible gaps in our teaching and the curriculum; it is used by individual teachers to gain a greater understanding of each individual student so they can adapt their teaching appropriately.  

We are encouraging students to engage with their own data, to think for themselves what their own best next steps are.

We don’t know what the future holds, but we do know it will be different and our children will have to learn and adapt - just as we have done.  When you talk to your children about their report cards, give them space to make their own reflections as part of their journey in becoming lifelong learners.