Informing Students and Parents or Guardians about Evaluation

It is part of the "best practice" of evaluating student learning progress to ensure that students know at the outset what will be assessed, how it will be assessed, why it is to be assessed, when it will be assessed, and how the assessment will contribute to an evaluation of their learning progress. In communicating this information to students, teachers are providing an outline of expectations and what constitutes high quality work, as well as providing a process that enables students to evaluate their own work.

In formulating this information, teachers also have a means of communicating student learning progress to parents or guardians. This will have been prepared in developing the procedures that the teacher will use in making decisions about student learning progress.

Figure 4 on the following page provides a sample of a letter outlining the evaluation of student progress that may be sent to parents or guardians at the beginning of a year, term, unit, or course. This letter is meant to provide guidance and a model for teachers to determine which parts of this letter might be useful and what else might be added.

Figure 5 on page 33 provides a model of a follow-up letter to parents or guardians. There are no hard-and-fast rules as to how often teachers may wish to communicate to parents concerning evaluation. However, once parents are informed of the evaluation plan for Information Processing, they are better prepared to provide support for their child's learning in the course.

Example of an Initial Letter to Parents Discussing Student Evaluation (female student)

Dear Parent:

This letter is meant to provide you with information concerning why, what, when, and how your daughter will be evaluated in order to establish a mark/grade in Information Processing. I hope that after you read this letter, you will be able to ask questions of your child or me to clarify how student progress is determined.

In Information Processing, there is not only a certain amount of content or knowledge that students need to grasp but also there are keyboarding skills required in the efficient use of the computer to be successful with the knowledge. Add to this the processes involved in applying these skills and knowledge, and the attitudes essential to develop business-like perspectives, and we have a curriculum that emphasizes all of these elements in order to prepare students for their place in a rapidly changing society. Content, processes, keyboarding skills, and attitudes are all considered part of the curriculum; therefore, students are assessed and evaluated on each component.

Student progress on each component--content, keyboarding, processes, and attitudes--is assessed using a variety of assessment techniques. Observation of students at work (with the information collected on rating scales or checklists) is supplemented with testing information and performance information from ongoing class activities. Information on the progress of students is obtained and collected in a portfolio. Many sources of student performance are considered in arriving at an evaluation of how well students have done. Your daughter will have demonstrated many times throughout the term how well she is progressing in the components of the curriculum.

If you have questions concerning student evaluation, please ask your daughter to explain to you in more detail how she is being evaluated. An important goal is to encourage students to become accurate assessors of their own progress. Your daughter is a partner in the evaluation of learning progress. Should you still have questions, you may contact me at (school phone number).

I am looking forward to communicating with you about your daughter's learning progress in Information Processing.

Sincerely,

(Teacher's name)

Adapted from Student Evaluation: A Teacher Handbook Follow-up Inservice (Saskatchewan Education, 1993, page 83).

Example of a Follow-up Letter to Parents Discussing Student Evaluation (male student)

Dear Parent:

It is near the time for our (first, second, final) set of marks to go out to inform you of your son's progress. In Information Processing class, we have been working on the following:

• (titles/descriptors/units/activities)

In these areas, certain components of the curriculum have been emphasized more than others. In each unit/theme/activity series, there is content that your son needs to know. There are keyboarding skills and processes that he uses, based on that content. In addition, an important component is formulating attitudes related to our area of study that help students adjust to life situations. How much emphasis each of these components receive in determining student progress depends on the stage the students are at in the curriculum. At the beginning of the year there is a great deal of content to be learned. Keyboarding skills are reinforced while processes and attitudes are being developed. Later on in the term, the emphasis may shift more to the processes and attitudes involved in using the computer and the content learned.

For this reporting period, the emphasis for Information Processing is as follows:

Content Processes Keyboarding Attitude

______% ______% ______% ______%

For each of these components, assessment information has been collected over the term and it is on the basis of this information that a decision will be made concerning the overall progress of your son.

Your son is involved in the assessment process. Should you have questions, I invite you to ask him. I have confidence that he will be able to answer your questions effectively. Should there be further questions that you wish to ask, you may contact me at (school phone number).

I look forward to communicating with you at a later date on your son's learning progress in Information Processing.

Sincerely,

(Teacher's name)

Adapted from Student Evaluation: A Teacher Handbook Follow-up Inservice (Saskatchewan Education, 1993, page 84).