PDS student reports are not just a list of untethered numbers and letters but rather in-depth narratives that convey detailed and helpful information about emerging strengths, accomplishments, challenges, growth and progress.
They are part of the on-going conversation between school and home with the student as participant, contributor, planner and goal-setter.
Nevertheless – here is some helpful advice for how to react. It’s from Dan Heath – one of the authors of Switch: How to Change when Change is Hard. And it applies to the the business of student learning as well as to business and management: Focus on the strengths and not the problems.
Use the successes in one area – the bright spots – to spread the wealth. Open the conversation about how to explore, clone, replicate and expand what’s working well.
Thank you for this post, Josie. From a father and mother with students in a school (The Riley School, Rockland ME.) which similarly offers narrative assessments, I can say first hand, that it is a privilege to read and digest the 12 to 14 page narrative reports on our boys. Having a full picture of the intellectual, social and physical growth of our sons allow us to support the school program at home and with extra-curriculars as needed. More importantly, we know the school, knows our boys well. This is why we send our children to the school, act in the community.