Tutorial: How to Read a Progress Report
Progress reports come out every November (in Ontario) and with them, parents get their first indication of their child’s development at school each year. By the end of this post, we hope you’ll be able to use the progress report as a tool to help your child celebrate success and tackle any challenges they may be facing at school.
Review on Your Own
When you receive the report, first, go through it without your child. This gives you time to process all of the information and then start a discussion with your child about current strengths and weaknesses.
Start with Strengths, then Opportunities
When you’re going through the report, start by identifying strengths; where is your child doing well? Make a note of these before moving onto weaknesses. These areas of improvement are the most important part of the report, as they showcase the best ways for your child to get to the next level. Consider different plans you can work through with your child to help address these weaknesses, and keep these ideas in your back pocket for when it’s time to discuss with your child.
Find the Trends Throughout the Report
Look for trends if you can. For example, if your child is excelling at independent work and self-regulation but struggling with collaboration and initiative, that may mean that they have difficulty working in groups, and either need to work on focusing in crowds or on communication skills. Finding trends is a great way to figure out the big and small ways your child can improve.
Discuss the Feedback with Your Child
Now it’s time to sit down and go through the report with your child. Before opening the report, ask them how they think they did. This will show how aware they are of their own progress.
Next, take all of the positive and negative feedback in the report and go through it all, one at a time. We recommend bookending the negative comments with positive ones, because it means you’ll start and finish with good news! Starting with good news will engage them and make them confident enough for the bad news, and ending with good news will leave them feeling empowered instead of defeated.
With ideas in your back pocket, chat with your child about ways they can improve and make a plan together.
Armed with these tips, you’ll be better able to digest the information offered through the progress report and have a productive conversation with your child. It’s all about celebrating your child’s success and helping them tackle any challenges!
Care to find out more about how you can help your child improve their school grades? Kumon offers individualized assessments so your child can get the most out of their education. You can schedule a Kumon parent orientation.