Communication between the school and the parent is often the responsibility of your child. While depending on your child may work for some parents, it definitely will not work for all.
Children sometimes conveniently lose that report card or forget to give you that school newsletter. Just today, one of my students admitted to purposely not telling her parents about parent/teacher interview night last year because of a less than stellar mark in one of her courses.
To help improve the communication triangle between parent, teacher, and student, it would be wise to update parents on what communication to expect from their teacher and school. Here are some of the forms of communication that exist today:
1. Interim Reports – It is a new simple report after one month of school that provides a snapshot of your child’s progress.
2. Formal Parent Teacher Interviews – a formal interview time between a parent/guardian, teacher, and optionally your child. During this night, teachers are stressed to give efficient 5 minute interviews to fit in all the appointments. Parents can prepare questions ahead of time to make the most of their given time.
3. Telephone – especially when your child is in high school, the “no news is good news” rule is often a rule of thumb used by parents. But is the definition of “good” different for the student, teacher, and parent?
4. Email – emailing home marks to the parents after each test solves the telephone issue. If approved, email vastly improves communication between parent and teacher .
5. Informal Parent/Teacher Meetings – sometimes a telephone discussion or email is not enough. With the aid of previous discussions, a focused meeting without the constraints of the formal “parent/teacher interview day”
6. Mid-Term Report Cards – a report at the halfway point of the semester. Everyone should be optimistic, with exams/final summatives + half the year still to go. That means your child can often turn things around as over 65% of the course’s marks are still yet to be determined.
7. Final Report Cards – final marks that include the final exam/summative.
Although some of these can vary depending on school and teacher, these are the general methods of communication you can expect.
Question: Are you satisfied with the communication level between you and your school? How often would you like to be updated on your child’s progress? You can leave a comment below.
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