Don't Wait for Progress Reports! Check in Now! - Merit Educational Consultants
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Don’t Wait for Progress Reports! Check in Now!

Our kids have been in school for just about a month now, and things are just peachy. Right? The teachers haven’t burned out yet, and our kids are happily doing “review” work in all of their classes. Yup.

So if you’re like most parents, you’re ASSUMING that your kid is doing all of his work, turning everything in, and doing well. Right?

WRONG!

This is where parents miss the mark. Most parents wait until their kids’ receive their first progress reports to assess how they’re really doing in school.  Even those lucky parents who have online homework programs like School Loop or  Infinite Campus often don’t check to see how their kids are doing until they get some sort of notification that things aren’t going well. Waiting until you get your 6-week progress report is too late.  Here’s why:

Teachers gather homework, quiz and test scores, projects, and participation points at the end of 6 weeks. Then they take a few days to calculate each student’s grade.  Next, the registrar takes that information and enters it in computer and generates paper progress reports that then need to be mailed to each family. This process adds another week or two, so we’re really looking at 7 or 8 weeks of oblivion or denial on everyone’s part.  If your child has a D or F in a class at 8 weeks, it’s almost impossible to raise that to an A by the end of the semester. The sooner you know your child needs help, the better chance he has to regaining confidence in the subject area and catching up.

When you approach your kid about his grades, you’ll inevitably hear excuses that leave you confused about the grades you see on the progress report. Every child will tell you that the teacher hasn’t entered in the grades for his make-up assignment or test, and that’s why his grades look so terrible. Even if you are checking School Loop online and find missing assignments, you’ll hear the same excuses.

So what’s a parent to do?

Review your child’s status on homework, quizzes and tests, and projects once a week. That’s right. Understand what is going on in each class so you can discuss how your kid is doing on individual assignments and studying for tests. Don’t ask how school is because you’ll get the canned response: “Fine.” Instead, ask questions like these:

English:

  1. What book are you reading for English? 
  2. Tell me about it?
  3. Will you have to write a response paper or summary?
  4. When will that be due?
  5. What vocabulary do you need memorize?
  6. Have you made flashcards yet?
  7. When will the vocab test be?

Math:

  1. What new concepts did your teach introduce today?
  2. What homework is due tomorrow (or the day after)?
  3. When is the test on this chapter?
  4. How do you plan to prepare for this?

History:

  1. What did you learn today?
  2. Did you watch any videos?  Which ones?
  3. What homework is due tomorrow (or the day after)?
  4. When will your next test be and what will it cover?
  5. How are you going to study for it?

Science:

  1. What concepts did you learn today?
  2. Did you do a lab? Tell me about it.
  3. What homework is due tomorrow (or the day after)?
  4. When will your next test be and what will it cover?
  5. How are you going to study for it?

Language:

  1. What concepts did you learn today?
  2. What vocabulary and verb conjugations do you need memorize?
  3. Have you made flashcards yet?
  4. When will the vocab and grammar test be?
  5. What homework is due tomorrow (or the day after)?
  6. When will your next test be and what will it cover?
  7. How are you going to study for it?

By asking these types of questions, you’ll engage with your child and learn more about what they need to do each day. They’ll also be more inclined to get work turned in and study more.  Make your child accountable for doing well in all of their classes by paying attention, NOW!