Reporting to Parents in a 'Parent-friendly' Manner

Reporting student progress to parents/caregivers is an important aspect of education. If schools are to work in partnership with the home, it is imperative that parents/caregivers are provided with quality information regarding their child's progress. As the DANZ document highlights, "For parents to support their children's learning, they need quality information about where their children are at, what progress they have made, and what the priorities for further learning are" (p. 29). Just as vital, is the need for schools to ensure that the information they make available to parents is clear and that parents actually understand its meaning! The Ministry are also currently pushing for 'parent friendly' reporting against the recently proposed National Standards. I can't say that I'm an advocate for National Standards, but I do agree with the concept of user friendly reporting.

Report formats vary greatly across schools - some schools require a novel to be written for each subject, while others are content with tick boxes and a small number of comments...some are easy for parents to understand, while others simply are not. The other day I read a child's school report and 'parent friendly' is not how I would have described it. Even as a teacher it took me a while to really figure out where the child was at and whether they were achieving at the expected level. At least I'm used to the educational jargon, but the average parent at a first glance of the report would have come away none the wiser of where their child was at, let alone what they needed to work on. I know that if I was a parent I would want a clear picture of where my child was at, what progress they had made and how I could further support them in their learning. If parents/caregivers cannot understand the report, then what is the point? It becomes a waste of everyone's time. I know that student-led conferences and learning logs are being used by some schools to support the reporting process. I would like to hear your thoughts on this topic...

Thanks,
Angela