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Early Childhood Network
Reporting

Reporting provides regular communication, both formal and informal, about a child’s progress. This communication is made to the child, the child’s parents, and appropriate school personnel, depending on need and purpose.

In the primary program, reporting involves the teacher providing information for parents and parents providing the teacher with observations and insights about their child. Both teacher and parents use the shared information to support the child’s learning. The child needs to understand and contribute to the process by helping identify his or her efforts, accomplishments, and learning needs.

Communication between school and home encompasses a range and variety of reporting strategies, both formal and informal. These strategies include anecdotal reports, conversations, conferences, telephone calls, notes, and visits. One aspect of communicating a child’s progress to parents is the written report of a child’s profile. This type of reporting consisting of anecdotal comments describes the child’s learning in the context of the goals of the primary program. The reports may also include specific recommendations and suggestions that invite parents to take an active role in their child’s education.

Anecdotal reports describe what children can do. Comments and descriptions of observable behaviors demonstrate how and what children are learning and provide information which facilitates continuous learning. Checklists, while useful for gathering information, are inappropriate for reporting purposes. Comparison with other children, or the assigning of letter grade symbols and pseudo-letter grades, are also inappropriate.

*Inappropriate reporting procedures includes:
  • A, B, C
  • G, S, N
  • S, N, U
  • VG, G, S, U
  • excellent, very good, satisfactory, unsatisfactory
  • above average, below average
  • I=improvement needed or improving, etc.
  • Checkmark
 
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