Petrilli: From Report Cards to Parent-Teacher Conferences, Schools Must Do a Better Job of Telling Families How Their Kids Are Doing
Improving education through parental engagement is widely recognized as an appealing idea. Who wouldn’t want parents to be involved in their child’s education? It is clear that increased parental engagement is beneficial for children. However, implementing it successfully is challenging. This is because it requires schools to be honest with parents about their children’s performance, make difficult changes, and allocate resources to support their improvement. Parental engagement is not just a program, but a commitment to being truthful and doing what is best for all students.
To take parental engagement seriously, schools should first assess how they communicate with parents about their children. The most important aspect of communication is student performance. Traditionally, report cards and parent-teacher conferences are used to share news, whether positive or negative, with parents. Therefore, schools should ask themselves if they are making the most of these communication channels. In many communities, the honest answer is likely to be no.
Let’s start with report cards. A recent study conducted by Seth Gershenson, a professor at American University, for the Thomas B. Fordham Institute examined the relationship between high school algebra exam scores and student grades. Although test scores and grades measure different aspects of academic performance, it is concerning if students consistently receive excellent grades while not demonstrating proficiency in external assessments.
As anticipated, Gershenson’s findings confirmed this pattern. Only 3 percent of students with a B grade and 21 percent of students with an A grade in their algebra class achieved the highest level of achievement on the exam. The situation is even more troubling for students with B grades. More than one-third (36 percent) of students with B grades failed to score "proficient" on the exam. Even fewer B students reached the "solid" level on the exam, indicating readiness for college and careers. These findings suggest that grades are inflated, even though a B grade is generally considered good.
Inflated grades may explain why Learning Heroes, a nonprofit parent information and resource provider, has found that over 90 percent of parents believe their children are on track, despite data from various sources showing that only one-third of young Americans graduate from high school adequately prepared for the future.
Schools need to critically examine the truthfulness and candidness of the report cards they send home. Are they genuinely reflecting the student’s performance? Do they honestly communicate when students are not on track for college or career success? And most importantly, do they provide parents with suggestions on what they can do and what the school can do to help the students get back on track?
Naturally, all of this is challenging, which is why genuine parental engagement is difficult. It requires schools to be honest when students are not meeting expectations and take action to address the issues.
Parent-teacher conferences offer another opportunity for engagement. Schools should consider whether their teachers are adequately prepared to conduct effective conferences. They should be knowledgeable about discussing student performance with parents and be equipped with practical ideas to help families support their children’s improvement. Another alternative is to replace one-on-one conferences with academic parent-teacher teams. This innovative model encourages all teachers and parents in a school to collaborate and improve student performance. They analyze schoolwide performance data, explore the implications, and discuss strategies for student improvement.
Like most educational initiatives, these changes are likely to have the greatest impact on younger students. Unfortunately, there are limited options for high school students who are reading and doing math at a fifth-grade level. However, we can do our utmost to ensure that no student leaves fifth grade without being well-prepared for the future. Elementary schools, therefore, have the greatest responsibility to provide accurate information to parents and support students who are falling behind in making rapid progress each year. Fortunately, this is also the stage of education when parents are most willing to be involved, students are eager to please, and families find it easier to work together towards common goals.
The fact that almost every parent has high hopes for their children is one of the most valuable resources available. We owe it to them to inform them immediately when their children are not on track to achieve their dreams and provide assistance to both parents and schools to guide these young individuals back on the right path.
Michael J. Petrilli is the president of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute and an executive editor of Education Next. For more information, visit www.edexcellence.net.
This essay was created in collaboration with Carnegie Corporation of New York, which provides financial support to .
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