With it being all things relocation and renovation during these last weeks before Passover Break, let’s take this opportunity to offer a brief update on something scheduled to go home next week that you may not have been expecting…
…Progress Reports.
Almost a year ago, we shared with parents our scheduled change from being a school based on trimesters to a school based on semesters. As part of that change, we committed to the following set of parent engagement opportunities:
- PTA Back to School BBQ
- Back to School Night (September)
- Goal-Setting Meeting (October-November)
- First Semester Report Cards & Parent-Teacher Conferences (January-February)
- Second Semester Report Cards (June)
And that is the calendar we have followed thus far.
We heard lots of feedback from families about what went well, and where there was room to grow, by introducing a “Goal-Setting Evening” and we are (already) looking forward to what that evening will look like next year.
In that same post, we said:
We may need to build in an engagement point between late January-early February and June. Whether that comes in the form of (true) “progress reports” or updates from “goal-setting” or something entirely new, it may be true that we cannot reasonably go that long without formal parent engagement.
Well, what we had anticipated as a may need has turned into a need. Part of the feedback we received from parents regarding “Goal-Setting” is that the gap from October to February is too long for parents to go without receiving feedback on academic progress. (Even though, yes, it is reasonable to assume that significant issues don’t wait for official engagement events to be communicated.) This we had somewhat anticipated. The additional catalyst we received this year was the need for graduating students applying to specialized high school programs requiring academic reports before we were scheduled to issue first semester report cards. That invited us to create simple progress reports, which were well-received by both teachers and families.
And so…
…recognizing that parents would like to receive a progress report at the midpoint of a semester, and…
…knowing that we had already prototyped a progress report template…
OJCS Parents can look forward to receiving “Third Quarter Progress Reports” on Monday!
🙂
Now please bear in mind that these are Progress Reports and not Report Cards. There is less information, it is presented more simply and there will be far fewer comments. We are aiming for “short & sweet”. But it is designed to help you understand your child(ren)’s progress at this approximately midpoint to the Spring Semester and it may invite follow up questions or conversations. It is also one of our famous “prototypes” which means that we will solicit feedback from you (and from teachers) knowing we will look to improve upon it in the future.
We hope parents appreciate these snapshots and, if so, we will look to add both Fall & Spring Progress Reports as appropriate mid-semester checkpoints to round out our year of parent engagement opportunities.
Remember – JK-3 Parents: Virtual Town Hall on the Relocation is Monday, April 15th at 6:30 PM. If you are having trouble getting the link, just let us know!