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Whatís happened to primary & secondary school reports?
Julia Gilmore M.Ed.,B.Ed.,Dip.Tch.

  ìI have no idea how my child is going at school or how to help!î This is one of the main concerns that parents have when they approach A1 Learning for assessment and tuition. Parents often need a specialist educator to give support and relevant advice as to their childís academic levels. In ìthe old daysî report formats used to be more simple.

Twice a year we used to hold our collective breath as our teachers handed out the half yearly or yearly reports with strict instructions to give them straight to our parents without peeking! The braver kids would rip and peek on the way home (no doting parents waiting with a nice comfy car at the gate) so they could compare grades with their mates and prepare themselves for the scenes to come.

Our parents reacted (as parents do) with pride, worry or anger. Whether we received a pat on the back, a piggy bank boost, a stern lecture or a proverbial boot in the rear, we knew exactly how our academic performance was rated by our teachers, who were often more fearsome than mum and dad. Our reports were clear, precise and easy to understand.

In the 90ís, generic report forms were being replaced with individual styles written by the teaching staff at individual schools. These styles were generally easy to read, concise and when followed up with a parent-teacher meeting they were quite effective.

Portfolios are the current primary school reporting tool. I have spoken to only one teacher in the past 10 years who said she enjoyed creating portfolios and didnít mind giving up a week or more of her teaching time and goodness knows how much of her own time to piece them together. The last few weeks of term in most schools can turn into a nightmare for teachers and students when portfolios have to be made up.

I have spoken to hundreds of parents in the past year about the portfolio style of reporting and they all agree that they are difficult to read and tell them very little about the actual performance levels of their children.

ï Are difficult to wade through, although the cute digital photos and work samples created by the children are very nice.

ï Are not what parents really want.

ï Are not necessary when a parent interview and viewing of each childís school workbooks and files is far more revealing.

Along with the portfolios come slips of paper representing each of the subject areas and a breakdown of the ìstudent outcomesî for the study areas. It can look very professional and impressive, but it still falls very short of what parents actually want and need.

Parents of high school students are often confused about the impact of levels gained by their children and how these levels may affect the studentís ability to enter particular subjects and career pathways from Year 10 onwards.

Many parents now show me the Years Three, Five and Seven national testing results (WALNA) instead of the portfolios, as these documents provide concise, easy to read data and each childís performance can be rated against standardised performance levels. Unfortunately, even these are being ìseasonally adjustedî, by altering the statistics before publishing the results.

What do parents want? Parents want academic levels. They want to know if their child is ahead, average or struggling academically.

In the past few weeks, I have assessed many students who range from six months to six years behind the required levels for their age groups in mathematics and English. They had not been identified by their schools as ìat riskî students.

Another group of students who attend A1 Learning are those who are ìcruisingî along at school at an average level or below who should be given stimulating accelerated learning programmes as they are capable of working one or more years ahead in English, mathematics and sciences.

For more information about Assessment and/or teaching sessions, please call Julia Gilmore on 9402 5080 or email: julia@q-net.net.au  Website: www.a1learning.q-net.net.au 

What should teachers teach?  
By Victoria Carlton, Director Interna tional Centre for Excellence

A Modern Day Fantasy: Imagine a place where teachers are given no firm guidelines about what to teach. Imagine a place where nobody has a clue what to teach children at various age levels. Imagine a place where teachers are required to spend all their preparation time sifting through fuzzy documents in a vain mission to work out what to teach. Imagine the very small amounts of time left for teacher to plan how to teach and to make their lessons enjoyable and interesting. Imagine the results on the children.

Welcome to the Western Australian education system!

At the International Centre for Excellence we donít have to imagine the results on the children. We see them every single day. We see children who have appalling literacy and numeracy skills ñ sometimes two to five years behind. Often the parents have been told their children are achieving well at a particular level.

Letís for once be honest. At what level is this child really performing? Is there a learning deficit and how big is it? Both teachers and parents need to know if a child is failing so corrective measures can be carried out and a child helped to catch up to the appropriate level.

Children have the right to an appropriate, effective teaching programme that is geared to their needs and interests. Thousands of teachers do not have time to offer these services any more. Their noses are buried so deeply in the Curriculum Frameworks, in a desperate attempt to prove to their various administrations that they know what they are doing.

Hundreds of talented, experienced teachers have told me the system is a shambles and they are ready to leave. Hundreds of concerned, worried parents have told me that it is impossible to decipher and understand their childrenís reports. It is time for the Education Minister to conduct an immediate review and rectify the situation. It is time to institute some clear guidelines for teachers so they can teach effectively and concentrate on the delivery of worthwhile, interesting teaching programmes geared to childrenís academic needs and interests. In the meantime we are offering ongoing consultancy to schools that truly do want to know what to teach at the various levels and we will continue to help children in this State to overcome serious learning difficulties.

It is of paramount importance, however, that curriculum documents provide teachers with adequate material to support struggling learners. We are always available to help teachers, parents and children transform the education process so that all children can reach their true learning potential.