for Students Again.

By Joe Kingsley Eyiah, OCT, Brookview Middle School, Toronto

This November, parents of elementary students in the Toronto District School Board (TDSB) would meet with their children’s teachers to discuss the details on the student’s first report card for the current school year known as the Elementary Progress Report Card. This is the second year of the introduction of the Progress Report Card in schools within the Board. The Elementary Progress Report Card is designed to show the student’s development of the learning skills and work habits developed in the Fall, and to bring to the fore the student’s general progress in working towards achievement of the curriculum expectations in all subjects. Comments on selected subjects on this Progress Report Card may be simple and in some cases personalized (teachers using their own professional judgments); they reflect the overall progress of the student during the first 8 weeks of school.

Learning Skills and Work Habits: This section of the Report Card is more specific to the student’s learning skills as well as work habits and must be read carefully by all parents. This column is where the homeroom teacher or the staff advisor finds enough room to comment on the behavior of the student at school. It is divided into small columns under the following areas: Responsibility, Organization, Independent Work, Collaboration, Initiative and Self-Regulation. These areas are described with the letters E for Excellent, G for Good, S for Satisfactory, and N for Need Improvement depending on the student’s learning skills and work habits exhibited.

Subjects, Strengths/Weaknesses/Next Steps: The next most importation section on the Progress Report Card is the area designated for the various subjects where teachers check designated boxes as Progressing With Difficulty, Progressing Well and Progressing Very Well. There are no scores or marks given in this Report Card. There is a space for each subject/strand where the teacher comments on the student’s progress in that subject. Such comments should identify the strengths and weaknesses of the student in that area of study. Since the expectation comments are mostly general it is incumbent upon the teacher to indicate a NEXT STEP for the student. Parents must ensure that the student goes or is taken through that “prescribed” (next) step by the teacher to achieve success.

Note: According to the TDSB, “The first Provincial Report Card (with scores and marks) will report on student’s achievement from September to February and the second Provincial Report Card will report on student’s achievement from February until June. It must be noted that though the Elementary Progress Report Card has no marks on it, it is a fair assessment of the student’s progress at school in the early part of the school year. It therefore affords parents the opportunity to conference with their children’s teachers on how best the students could be encouraged to work hard towards achieving the curriculum expectations during the academic year. Parents must take the Elementary Progress Report Card seriously as they have always done with the Provincial Report Card in the years past. It is hoped that, ‘Report Cards will be used to encourage students to set goals for learning, help teachers establish plans for teaching and assist parents to support learning at home. The next report card (Term 1) will have scores (marks) on it and would clearly demonstrate what has been the outcome of the combined efforts of teachers and parents in assisting the students to succeed or to achieve their goal set during their progress report conference!