1. Presentation for Parents of Primary School Students 2007
Student report cards
Presentation for
Parents of Primary School Students
2007

2. What are the student report cards?
They are report cards that:
will be used in all Government primary and secondary schools to report student achievement in the compulsory years of schooling.
Student report cards
The student report cards are report cards used in all Government schools to report student achievement in Years P-10.
The only exception to this is where schools offer programs for students with disabilities. Schools may choose whether to use some, all, or none of the components of the report cards for PSD students following a program linked to an Individual Learning Plan.

3. Why have the student report cards been introduced?
Consultation with parents highlighted a number of issues:
variation from school to school;
lack of clarity in terms of understanding what their child has achieved and what they can do to support their child’s progress.
State and national consultations on reporting have highlighted the following issues:
lack of consistency – lack of consistency from school to school in format as well as reporting scales eg: some use A – E, some use B, C, E etc. Understanding these – especially when children change schools - was problematic.
lack of clarity of language – the language used by schools was too technical for parents.
understanding what children have achieved – parents were concerned that they sometimes did not gain much understanding of what their child had achieved.
what parents can do to support their child’s progress – parents wanted to know what they could do to assist their children to improve their learning outcomes

4. Why have the student report cards been introduced?- continued
Student report cards follow a common format and be written in plain English.
They have been introduced so that:
there is consistency from school to school;
parents receive a clear picture of their child’s progress against the same state-wide standards.
Reasons for the introduction of the student report cards
The Blueprint for Government Schools highlighted reporting of student achievement as a major area for improvement.

5. What hasn’t changed? Parent-teacher interviews
Two reports to parents per year
Parent-teacher interviews
What will not change
All schools will continue to provide at least two reports to parents per year.
We will continue to issue reports in XXXX and XXXX
All schools will continue to provide parent interviews
We will continue to hold our parent/teacher interviews in XXXXXX
The student report cards are for students following a P-10 curriculum (based on the CSF and now the VELS).
The way student achievement in the Victorian Certificate of Education (VCE) and any other accredited post compulsory curriculum will not change. .

6. Key features of the report card - Part 1:
Achievement at this time of the year
Progress at this time of the year
Work habits
Effort
Class behaviour
A chart with an A-E rating, showing your child’s current progress against the expected state-wide standard for the year level at the time of reporting
Your child’s achievement at that time of year is shown as a solid black dot.
The state-wide standard expected for the year level at the time of reporting is shown by the vertical shaded band. By comparing the position of the solid dot and the shaded band you can see where your child’s achievement lies in relation to the state-wide standard.
The report will also provide an indication of progress made in the preceding 12 months ( a hollow dot)– that is where the child was against the expected standards in the previous reporting period. (Note that the progress information will not be available for 12 months after the first report)
Your child’s work habits (effort and behaviour in class).
Please note that from 2007 A – E ratings will be assigned to Mathematics dimensions as in English and the graphic will be amended to show this as for English in the slide above.

7. Why are there A-E ratings on the student report card?
Parents have said they find the current approaches schools use are hard to understand.
The A-E ratings will have the same meaning from school to school.
They will be used in the same way to report against the same state-wide standards.
Parents have said they find systems like Beginning, Consolidating and Established hard to understand. They are also concerned about variations in meaning and in the systems used from one school to another.
The introduction of the A-E scale across all schools means that all schools are using the same approach to reporting student progress
The student report cards A–E rating scale tells you how your child is progressing against the expected state-wide standard at that time of the year. No matter which Government school a child attends, the A–E ratings they receive will carry the same meaning.
All schools in all States and Territories will be reporting using a five-point scale.

8. What do the A-E ratings mean?
In every school:
The Student Report Card’s A–E scale tells you how your child is progressing against the expected state-wide standard at that time of the year. No matter which Government school a child attends, the A–E ratings they receive carries the same meaning.
There are some key aspects to the A-E ratings that it is essential you are clear about:
if your child receives a ‘C’ it does not mean their achievement is ‘just adequate’.
It indicates that your child has met the state-wide standard expected of children of their age at that time of year and their learning is firmly on track.
If the school currently uses grades, but with a different meaning - The changes in the way achievement is reported may make it seem as if your child’s achievement has changed, when in fact it has not. The teacher's comments on the report card will make your child’s progress and achievement clear.
If the question is raised about the demotivating effect of a ‘D’ or ‘E’ – The student report card is designed to provide a transparent picture of achievement. Not all students will make significant progress or meet all of the standards in all areas all of the time. Some may also be achieving at the standard but have made little progress and vice versa. The report card is premised on the principle that is essential for the stduent and the parent to have as clear as possible a picture of progress and achievement as possible. Where a child has made little progress or is currently not meeting the standard this will be clearly indicated on the report. It will, however be accompanied by teacher comment, including action to be taken to support improvement, as well as student comment. Involving the student in the report process is critical – it means they also have a clear picture of strengths and areas for achievement and most importantly the steps for achieving further progress.

9. Key features of the report card - Parts 2 and 3
What ‘John’ has achieved
Areas for improvement/future learning
The school will do the following to support ‘John’ in his learning
What you can do at home to help ‘John’s’ progress
In this section:
What the student has achieved in their learning
Detailed comments about what the student has achieved in the learning areas taught.
Areas for improvement/future learning
The skills and/or knowledge that need to be attained for further learning. Suggestions that are specific to a learning area or more general comment.
The school will do the following to support the student in their learning
What extra assistance will be given to the student eg one-to-one support.
What you can do at home to help the student’s progress
What actions you could take to assist your child in improving his/her performance e.g.: monitoring completion of tasks, checking a diary regularly, reading and/or discussing specific aspects of school work.

10. Parts 2 and 3 continued Attendance Student comment Parent comment
Days present/absent will be recorded each semester.
Student Comment
All students will write a comment on their progress and achievement.
(Your school can choose whether or not P-2 students provide comment.)
Parent Comment
This has been included to enhance the partnership between home and school. Parents are strongly encouraged to comment on their child’s report.

11. Key features incorporating our portfolios
JOHN SURNAME Year 4 Semester 2
Key features incorporating our portfolios
Achievement
Improvement
School support
Parent support
Comments
What John has achieved
John completed several written pieces of work this semester in English. These all show an understanding of writing for different purposes and audiences. His spelling, grammar and punctuation meet the expected level at this time of the year. John’s oral report on ‘families’ was informative, with several humorous anecdotes he had collected from elderly neighbours. He spoke clearly and engaged the audience by asking questions throughout. John has shown great improvement in his mental maths and counting abilities. John is working well above expected standard in ICT. He is able to choose appropriate search engines on the internet and can do advanced searches very quickly to locate specific information. He helps other students by sharing his knowledge about computers.
Areas for improvement/future learning
In producing artworks this semester, John has displayed limited use of available materials and techniques. He usually finished his work very quickly without planning out what he was going to do and how he could use materials creatively. John did not hand in his assignment on responding to famous artworks. During feedback time he has not commented on other children’s artwork. In Physical Education, John has had difficulty in mastering some of the movement patterns and skills covered this semester, particularly balancing, hopping and rolling. He has been a reluctant participant in sessions on a regular basis.
The school will do the following to support John in his learning
This information can be found in John’s portfolio
What you can do at home to help John’s progress
Student comment
Attendance
John has been absent 1 day this semester.
This slide is for schools that use portfolios. Any information that is formally recorded, monitored and reported on in the portfolio does not need to be repeated on the report card. Schools that use portfolios must, however, complete the ‘What John has achieved’ and ‘areas for improvement further learning sections.’
In our school we use portfolios to formally record XXXXXXXXXX so our report cards will have a reference to this on them as shown in this slide.

12. This slide can be modified to suit your individual school community
What about…
Students who are on Individual Learning Plans?
Students who are studying ESL?
Reporting on achievement in our LOTE program in the Early Years?
This slide can be modified to suit your individual school community
Students who are on Individual Learning Plans
For students with disabilities who are following an Individual Learning Plan, schools can choose to use the report card in its entirety, or components of it, or to use another way of reporting student achievement.
Our approach is designed to meet each student’s needs. We will….
My child’s first language is not English and he/she is following an English as a Second Language program. Will their progress still be reported against the state-wide standards?
State-wide standards have been developed for students learning English as a Second Language, and your child’s progress will be reported using these standards in a separate written section of the report.
Our LOTE program in the Early Years
Achievement can only be included in the report card chart and given an A-E rating if there is a standard for that year level. (In Science for example, the standards begin at Year 3, so achievement in Science in Year 2 cannot be given an A–E rating.)
For Languages other than English, there are no standards but there are progression measures to describe student progress in the early years of schooling.
Teachers will provide comment in relation to these in the written section of the report. (This could also be done for science or any other learning area taught at a year level for which there is not a standard.)

13. Additional information
Additional information that we will provide in the report include:
extra curricular activities
Schools can provide additional information by adding extra text boxes to the report.
This slide is for school who choose to do this.
Additional information that we will provide in the report includes:
extra curricular activities
subject specialist reports

14. More information
We will keep you informed through our school newsletter and our website
You can also visit the Student Reports website
You can also the Department of Education at
We are planning to provide…(what the school is going to do)
On the student reports website you can find samples of reports, frequently asked questions and more details about the background to the development of the report card etc.
The Department welcomes comments and questions.