USING  STUDENT REPORTS 

On Thursday, Feruary 14  our Discovery School students (grades 1 through 10) took their  Midterm reports for the third quarter, as well as the mid year MAP reports home. As a parent, what should you do with these reports? Here are some tips on how to use the information that was provided for you.

When looking at the Midterm Progress Report:

1. Praise your child for the areas that are marked Meets Expectations and Approacing Standards. Children need to hear what they are doing well, and that their hard work is paying off.
2. Focus on the areas that are marked Needs Strenghtening. These are the areas that each teacher will be targeting with your child, and will need your support. If you have questions as to what you can do as a parent to support what is being done at school, please take the time to contact your child’s teacher.
3. Read carfeully the comments each teacher has made on your child’s report.
4. Discuss the Midterm report with your child. It is important that as parents you encourage your child to take ownership of his or her achievement at school. While doing this, come up with specific behaviors that can help him or her improve in the areas.

When looking at the MAP Report:

1. Look at RIT scores of the F12 and W13 testing sessions for Math, Reading and Language Usage. These scores show the growth your child has had in each academic area.
2. Read the Goal Performances-Winter 13 located at the bottom of each academic area. The different goals indicate your child’s performace in each strand (your child’s stregths and areas of opportunity).
3. With your child’s teacher, discuss any area that shows a Low performance. Teachers are able to give you specific reccomendations on how you can help your child improve in these areas of opportunity.
4. There are two excellent resources that you can use for at-home practice.
5. For Reading, look at your child’s RIT range by goal strand for Winter 2013. Use these numbers to select appropriate activities under each goal area. This website is aligned to Minnesota standards, so there are some discrepancies in the categorizing. Our suggestion for finding comprehension activities is to use the overall RIT score for reading.

            Website Wording                                              MAP Wording

            Word Recognition, Analysis, and Vocabulary    Word Analysis and Vocabulary

Comprehension: Narrative                                                      Literal, Interpretive, and Evaluative Comprehension

Comprehension: Informational                                                  Literal, Interpretive, and Evaluative Comprehension

            Literature                                                            Literature Response/Analysis

Here is the reading website:

http://www.sowashco.k12.mn.us/ro/pages/studentlinks/map/reading.htm

6. For Math, look at your child’s RIT range by goal strand for Winter 2013. Use these numbers to select appropriate activities under each goal area. For example, if your child’s RIT range for Geometry is 175-190, you would go to the click on the 171-180 and 181-190 links under Geometry and Measurement in order for find activities at your child’s level. Since Geometry and Measurement are grouped together, you would be looking for geometry skills, such as shapes.

            Website Wording                                            MAP Wording

            Number and Operation                                   Computation and Number Sense

            Geometry and Measurement                          Geometry and Measurement 

Data Analysis                                                  Statistics and Probability

            Algebra                                                            Algebraic Concepts

Here is the math website:

http://www.sowashco.k12.mn.us/ro/pages/studentlinks/map/  

Discovery School teachers appreciate and thank you for taking an active interest in your child’s education. Please do not hesitate to contact your child’s teacher if you want to discuss the Midterm and/or MAP reports further.