In this open letter to teachers, mom and literacy coach Ilana Spiegel says she doesn’t find report cards all that useful when it comes to truly understanding whether her child is learning and thriving in school.
I don’t open report card envelopes. I know what the contents will say. A “3,”or check mark or plus or minus or CD (consistently demonstrates) or NS (needs support) is really the same as “fine” or “good” or “great” or “bad” or “all the time” or “never.” A MAP score of 227, a DRA of 40 and a TCAP “proficient” give me snapshots of moments in time, unearthing competitive comparisons of percentiles and levels. The marks on “standards-based report cards” and “standardized assessments” are predetermined definitions rather than reflections and opportunities for growth.
I bet you dread the work it takes to fill out those report cards that I don’t read, proctor MAP testing and administer all those DRAs. When asked why you chose teaching as a profession, can you imagine saying, “I became a teacher so I could compile, analyze and track quantitative statistics.” No, you entered the education profession because you love reading or writing or math or history or science or… kids. You teach children. You teach my child.
Don’t get me wrong. I love data. It’s amazing how all those numbers can come together to show assets and areas for improvement across large groups of students. But when the data set is 1, and when that 1 is my child, I want to know what you, the teacher, know. The “data” may tell you that he needs to think about “main ideas and details.”
So, tell me how he pulled one idea through a book, holding on to it for dear life, and in his life it is important, but the author, publisher and even test maker may have other ideas. Tell me how he needs to think not just about what was important, but why it is important and how he needs to carry that new understanding into the world to perhaps change that very same world. Share with me that the data suggests that he needs to make inferences, AND how when he does infer, he begins to build a theory about characters that in turn leads to theories about the person in the chair next to him and maybe even for whole groups of people he never thought about. Because the data isn’t just about what he knows and doesn’t know, it is about possibilities of what he can know and do.
You, too, may love what all that data tells you, seeing a space for growth that wasn’t there before, or a cause for celebration. You may even love higher math like statistics, but you teach students how to use that math. As a parent, I will hold on to that data, those numbers, because numbers are concrete. But do those numbers match what you know about my child? Are they measuring what you value and have been teaching?
Because I have lived with this child for many years, I have heard and seen data that says he is a “3” or “proficient” or “average.” And I know that seeing those results is technically growth because the standards that are being measured are harder. But, if the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result, please let’s work collaboratively in our conference to focus on what needs to change to get a different result when you read his next piece or writing, grade his next math quiz, or assign the next social studies project.
Our 15 minutes together isn’t an accountability meeting, but a conference. We go to conferences to learn new ideas or challenge and stretch what we thought we knew into new spaces. The powers that be need you to fit your understanding of my child into a neat box called “proficient” or “advanced” or, heaven forbid, “partially proficient,” but I know that you are teaching not just with your mind, but with your heart. So, tell me what you know by heart about my child…
About Ilana Spiegel
Ilana Dubin Spiegel has been a literacy staff developer for the Denver-based Public Education and Business Coalition for more than 15 years. The former teacher coaches educators and parents nationwide on research-based literacy instruction. She enjoys reading and writing with her four children, ages 5 to 13.
I am a parent of an 8th grader that is testing low in math on the standardized tests but is extremely high in the reading & writing. In the three years of middle school I haven’t seen an improvement. I rarely see homework assigned and if it is assigned my daughter finishes it at school. I might also add she receives a “B” in math class for her grade each quarter. Sadly I am going to have to enroll my daughter into the Huntington Learning Center this summer so she may improve her score on her future PSAT in high school.
Thank you so much for your input. When I go to East High School for conference for my 16 year old son, I often shock teachers who are holding the “grade” report by asking them to tell me more about “How does my son engage?” “Does he talk in class?” “How could he improve as a student?” Ten minutes with each isn’t much time, but if parents ask effective questions so much can be gained.
I think Laura is spot on when she asks her son’s teachers to focus on questions that deal with the learning as opposed to the grade. Specific questions as to what standards or skills the student might be struggling with and what you as the parent can do to suppport your student are important. Ask teachers to show you specific evidence that supports their evaluation of the student as it is much better feedback than parsing through the gradebook.
Thank you for this insightful writing about conferences. My husband and I walk away from most conferences scratching our heads. We wonder going in how our kids are doing and we wonder the same thing when we leave. What questions can we ask to really understand how they are doing? I like Laura’s response and her questions such as “how could he improve as a student?”. Does anyone else have questions that have been effective?
A recent post from a teacher about what we’d really like to say to parents. The best point being that teachers are professionals and should be approached as such, AND teachers should act as such.
http://www.cnn.com/2011/09/06/living/teachers-want-to-tell-parents
As a principal and a parent, I have enjoyed reading and re-reading this article and the comments that have followed. Putting my principal hat on, I believe that schools have the best intentions of communicating students’ academic progress, but we too often neglect to share our observations of the social health of our children. I want our parent conferences to be a conversation so that are truly partners in the holistic growth of our kids.
Now for my parent hat. I have never found the 1-2-3-4 standards-based evaluation system to give me an accurate picture of my kids. The A-B-C-D-F system is ever so slightly more informative, but the most important information I get as parent is a narrative about how that grading period is going. My middle school son had a B in math, accompanied with a short comment saying “great effort in class”. Those four words spoke more to me than any one-character mark on the entire report.
This speaks to both the conversation that needs to take place as well as the authentic feedback that is critical for that partnership to be fostered. If, as research indicates, feedback is at the top of the list of effective instructional practices, I want my teachers’ time and energy spent in giving that feedback rather than standards-based marks.