Reporting to parents
Click on the catagory of question below to view commonly asked questions regarding assessing and reporting
BACKGROUND
Why do we need new reports?
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Parents want reports that are easier to understand and clearly state their child’s achievements |
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Professor Eltis recommended more consistent reports |
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New Australian Government Legislation tied reporting requirements to school funding |
Do NSW reports meet the Federal Government’s requirements for reporting to parents?
Yes, reports from NSW schools meet requirements for:
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using plain language |
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reporting twice yearly |
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reporting against national standards if available |
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reporting achievement against the child’s peer group |
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including academic and non academic learning and |
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reporting against a 5 point achievement scale ( A-E) |
Is there any real educational benefit to this change?
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Clear and informative individual reporting gives parents the information to establish a genuine educational partnership. |
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Reporting which charts a student’s progress over time, and in comparison with other students, helps parents understand how they can work with teachers to help their child improve. |
How do you know that parents will like these new reports?
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Parents want reports written in plain language, which indicate what their child can do well and how they may improve. |
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Parents want reports which give information about both academic and social achievement. |
What consultation has occurred on these new approaches to reporting?
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Consultation on reporting requirements and sample reports occurred with primary schools during Term 4, 2004 and Term 1, 2005, although the sample reports provided for this consultation were significantly different from the version being used for the release. |
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A steering committee that included representatives from the Federation of P&Cs, the Teachers Federation, the Primary Principals Association and the Secondary Principals Council has meet regularly to consider work developed in response to the Eltis report. The version of the report that is being release has not been considered by the Reference Group, although they have seen versions with similar features. |
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Discussion with the Federation of P&Cs, the Primary Principals Association and the Teachers Federation has occurred during the week of 8 August and representatives of these organisations have had the opportunity to comment on the report formats. |
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KEY FEATURES OF THE NEW REPORTING REQUIREMENTS
What can parents expect as a result of the new reporting requirements?
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Clear, accurate advice about the performance of their child at school |
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Comparison of the child’s achievements against statewide syllabus standards |
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Comparison of the child’s achievements against the student’s year group (on request) |
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Teacher comments using plain language |
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iInformation on what the student can do well and where they need to develop further |
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Information about the student’s social skills and commitment to learning |
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COMPARISON What is the A- E achievement scale?
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Students are awarded achievement levels which are reported using the A-E scale. The scale is described on the front of report models and in the Explanatory notes. |
What is comparison by percentage distribution?
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The percentage of the total number of students awarded each achievement level is calculated for each KLA. This allows comparison of each student’s achievement with the other students in their year group. |
How will schools compare the students in each year group? For example if there are three Year 5 classes at one school how will decisions be made?
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Many teachers currently work together across class groups to develop consistency in their professional judgements about student achievement. They will work together to assign grades of A-E across the Year 5 classes. |
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These grades will enable students to be grouped from those with outstanding achievement to limited achievement. Teachers will count all students in the group awarded each achievement level and calculate the percentage of the students in the year that are in each group. |
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The Department will provide advice on how to award grades from the common scale while still applying good assessment practices as well as how to compare students in each year group. |
Will all schools report on comparison of students in the same year?
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All schools will provide information on how a child’s performance compares with the performance of others in their peer group on request from the child’s parent or carer. The information provided will show the percentage of the child’s peer group achieving each of the levels “A” to “E” on the performance scale. |
Won’t the use of comparisons lead to some students being labelled as failures? Always at the bottom?
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Parents have told us that they want to know how their child is going compared to the other students in their school. Reporting the percentage distribution of A – E grades is a way of making this comparison. |
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The grades students achieve will indicate how students are performing against statewide syllabus standards. The grades describe student achievement as A Outstanding, B High, C Sound, D Basic or E limited. |
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If teachers and schools can identify students who are having serious difficulties with learning and communicate this clearly to parents, then it will be easier to get their support for teachers’ efforts to improve their child’s achievement |
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GENERAL
My child comes from a non-English speaking background. How will this be taken into account?
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Parents from non-English speaking background have said that they prefer schools to give them an accurate picture of their child’s achievement in jargon free language. |
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Teachers currently adjust the learning program to meet the needs of individual students. |
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Syllabus standards to be used for reporting are the same for all students in NSW |
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Over 13 years of schooling students’ achievement levels will vary. The new system of reporting will allow progress and improvements to be more accurately charted |
My child has a disability – how can these reports demonstrate ’personal best’?
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Reports for students with diagnosed disabilities will reflect the individual learning programs that are planned by teachers. |
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These reports are currently being developed. |
This looks like a one size fits all model and doesn’t give us as much information as our previous report.
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All reports will have common features but schools may decide to include additional information about curriculum areas or report additional learning areas such as languages. |
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WORKLOAD
Will there be an increase in teacher workload?
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Teachers’ judgements about student achievement using the A-E scale will be an extension of current practice in many schools. |
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Provision of teacher comments is not a new requirement. Schools commonly provide parents with extensive comments on student progress. |
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The reporting of social development and attitudes to learning against a scale is current practice in many schools. |
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Software to record grading information and produce a written report will reduce workload |
How will teachers go about completing the report?
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Teachers will continue their good practice in collecting assessment information that enables them to make judgements about syllabus standards. Teachers will then aggregate the information to an overall judgement for the key learning area based on the A – E descriptions. |
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Provision of teacher comments is not a new requirement. Schools commonly provide parents with extensive comments on student progress. |
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The reporting of social development and attitudes to learning against a scale is current practice in many schools. |
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Software to record grading information and produce a written report will reduce workload |
Will these new requirements lead to more testing and less teaching?
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More testing is not needed. Teachers do not need to change their assessment practice because they are already assessing against syllabus standards. The new requirements reinforce this. |
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SUPPORT FOR SCHOOLS AND TEACHERS
What professional development support will the Department provide?
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The Department has provided a three phase support program to assist schools and teachers with implementation. This was included in professional development workshops and support materials throughout 2005 -2008. |
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In phase 1 the focus will be on understanding the new requirements and was support is available through presentations, discussion groups and self evaluation activities
Phases 2 and 3 have seen the development of support material and capacity building in Regions and Schools. |
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The reporting of social development and attitudes to learning against a scale is current practice in many schools. |
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Software to record grading information and produce a written report has been developed. |
Will software be developed?
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Software to record achievement information and produce a written report has been provided to schools as of Semester 2 2006. |
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IMPLEMENTATION TIMEFRAME
When will the new reports be seen by parents?
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Parents will have seen the new reports in 2006. |
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