Progress Report/Reality Check

A progress report that opened my eyes and hopefully will open yours.

My daughter is in 5th grade and has gone to 4 different schools. She has gone to that many schools because, for one, we moved thereby taking her out of her initial school. Secondly, the school she was attending when we moved, did not make AYP (academic yearly progress) thus necessitating a switch. Then the next school she was attending was not the best suited for her. We switched her to the 4^th school, where she has begun to make progress. The progress is largely because we were able to see what skills were needed from the progress report that I am referring to, thereby allowing us to begin working on them.

I don’t know about the rest of you, but, I always have felt that I never have a true understanding of where my daughter is in her educational progress. In the four schools my daughter attended, all of them had different progress reports and report cards. Because she has an IEP they were also different from the general educations’ progress/reports cards. They have always been confusing and generally unclear to me.

I work closely with my daughter’s teachers and on her IEP goals and try to request what is best for her. But, I am not an educator. The goals on her IEP always seem to be what she needs to be working on, but, do not necessarily tell me what she is missing and what skills are needed to progress to the next level.

That was until I came across a wonderful teacher/educator that gave my daughter a progress report that opened my eyes to reality. This progress report was so simple, easy to read and to understand. It told me what level she was at instructionally and independently for reading, writing, and math. It told me what curriculum was being used to teach her. Believe me, knowing your child’s curriculum comes in handy when you switch schools. This progress report has a section for comments, as well as areas that need more focus that can be filled in from the teacher.

This progress report is broken down into the following sections: Reading, Writing, Math, Behavior, Independent Living and Communication. Each section has a set of skills listed under it that can be easily checked off if your child has mastered that skill or is working on it. If your child is not at a skill listed, then it is left blank. This allows the parent/teacher to see what skills are needed.

This progress report opened my eyes to exactly where my daughter is within her education. I was told it is not a new progress report, but, one that is not used much anymore. I say “let’s use it….” I recommend that prior to the next grading period, you print it out and take it to your child’s teacher to fill out. Or, have teachers print it out and provide this to the parents of their students. The PSN team recreated the progress report form and added a few modifications to share with all of you. We are excited that this simple, yet highly effective form will be as helpful to you as it was to me.

Free Printable Download: Progress Report Form

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