Many school districts have made the move to all electronic report cards, which include a numerical comment system where teachers are limited in their comments by choosing numbers 1-9 (or some amount of numbers) which coordinate to a key on the parent’s copy of the report card that indicate some meaning behind the given grade.
These comments are often cryptic, may seem poorly constructed (maybe even including grammatical problems…) and often will leave parents scratching their heads, wishing for more information.
For teachers having to deal with this type of system, there may seem to be no good alternative, but settling for these brief often not quite right comments for the individual student is not necessary. While you may not be able to override the automated system and write your own comments, consider sending a note home with the students with a brief letter including the comments that are more appropriate for the individual grades the student receives.
A letter or note home can be simple and no more work than writing the comments themselves. Here is a sample opening for consideration:
Dear Mr/Mrs ___________,
I wanted to take a moment to share some additional incite into the grades that STUDENT received on the latest report card.
For a mostly positive report card, you can write something along the lines of:
Dear Mr/Mrs __________
I wanted to take a moment to share my enthusiasm for STUDENT’s excellent grades over the past report card period.
For a note home regarding poor grades, consider something as simple as:
Dear Mr/Mrs _____________
I waned to take a moment to clarify some of my observations about STUDENT’s work as reflected on the latest report card comments.
The basic information to include, as demonstrated in these examples, include the parent’s name, student’s first name, and some comment referring to the report card. This will help clue the parent into the fact that these comments are pertaining directly to the grades on the report card. This is especially important when sending home what a parent would consider to be bad grades. If the parent sees a note and a bad report card all in one moment, it may feel like a double whammy, overwhelming the parent. Whereas if the note directly references the report card, the parent is more likely to tie the two together, using one to help interpret the other.
