Parent and student perspectives on school report cards

• Main Author: Wagner, Shirley Irene
• Format: Others
• Language: English
• Published: 2009
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/2429/11492

This study examined parent and student perceptions of the mandated Ministry of Education's formal structured written report card, and garnered parent and student opinion regarding reporting practices that better suited individual needs. Parents and students also expressed thoughts, ideas and concerns related to reporting issues. The report card is the main form of communication between parents, students and teachers and its purpose is to convey information from the school to parents about a student's educational progress. Since the report card is a prominent document, this study addressed the questions of: how informative and useful are report cards to parents and students and do they support and encourage student learning? The findings indicated that the report card offered an acceptable way of reporting to parents and students but it did not meet all the needs of parents and students alike because several suggestions for improvement were voiced by participants. In addition, the data in this study suggest that the report card was effective for average to above average parents and students but not for low achieving parents and students. Good letter grades and comments on the report card adequately supported and encouraged good learners, but tended to discourage low achieving students because no matter how hard they tried, they were rewarded with low letter grades. Finally, parental involvement and motivation were viewed as necessary components to a child's success at school. === Education, Faculty of === Curriculum and Pedagogy (EDCP), Department of === Graduate