How To Monitor Your Child’s Education Progress

If you are wondering how you can monitor your kid’s progress at school, this is for you.

There are four main ways that parents monitor their children’s academic performance. They look at the school report, consult a competence assessment test, speak to the teacher, and speak to the child. Alone, each strategy does not solve everything, but they complement each other.

School Reports

The easiest way to see your child’s progress is through the school reports. Most district schools have online records that parents can easily access. If you need further clarification on the report or the teacher’s comments, the teacher is often a call away.

The problem with the grades you see in the school reports is that they only show your kid’s ability to pass a test. How about their strengths? Their weaknesses? School reports don’t show this. If you want to know if your child is actually learning, you also need a competence assessment record.

Competency Assessment Tests

Unlike traditional exams that test every student’s capability with a standard test, online competency tests (like i-Ready) are different for each learner. Many schools use these individualized tests to complement the teacher’s efforts in in-person classes and remote classes.

These tests present a set of questions that change depending on your child’s answers. When your child gets the first question right, the system serves a slightly harder question next. Essentially, the more correct answers, the more complex the questions get. The more wrong answers, the easier the questions get. That is how you and your child’s teacher can get a complete picture of your child’s strengths and weaknesses.

When the teacher looks at the answers, they know which topics to clarify further. When your child’s i-Ready levels keep going up, you know that your child has improved on their weaknesses.

Speak To Your Child

Get your kid talking about their schoolwork, whether they go to school in person or online.

How is school? What did she/he learn? How hard or easy is it getting? What are the struggles? What are the strengths? What’s to love about school work? Does your kid think there’s a better way to learn? What homework did he/she bring home? Does your child need more of your help? Be available whenever your child needs you.

Speak To the Teacher

Teacher-parent meetings are a must-attend! Remember that learning is not only about grades. It is also about interpersonal skills, leadership, ability to communicate, respect, and more. Your teacher can tell you whether your child is brave or timid. Whether a leader or a follower. You want to nurture these skills while they are still young.

Whenever you attend meetings with your teacher, have your questions ready. How does your child behave in class? Does your child do homework and team-building activities? What is the teacher doing to help your child?

Keep an open communication line with the teacher to stay informed of your child’s academic progress. Communicate strongly and regularly.

Things To Keep In Mind When Monitoring Your Child’s Academic Progress.

• Be your child’s advocate. Part of parenting is to speak up for your child to the teachers and the school. Your child should be sure of your unwavering support physically, emotionally,and socially.
• Consult all available resources to help your child. Thanks to the internet, we have more information than we can consume our entire lives! Your child would not know which websites to trust for resources, but you can easily judge that. Ask your child’s teachers on the best websites to consult. Learn how to set up parental control to restrict what your child sees on the internet.
• Keep your child motivated in schoolwork. Keep track of your child’s records, whether in i-Ready scores or school report cards. Set small achievable goals with your child and make sure the reward is something they want. It always works! Whenever a goal is accomplished, reward and upgrade to another goal.
• Study with your child sometimes. Whether it’s doing homework or preparing for a test, studying together exposes you to your child’s understanding, strengths and weaknesses. Take a good, non-judgmental look at your child’s academic skills. Stay supportive, positive, and open-minded.
• Learning is not exclusively about books and grades. You can make every moment a learning opportunity. From shopping for groceries, everyday communication, cooking, to doing the chores, you can always teach your child some skill. And most importantly, be a role model for your child because children learn from their parents more than anyone.

If your child struggles in school, you can help them improve by establishing an effective study habit, adding some fun to school work, getting a tutor, and any other tricks you have up your sleeve. But before any of that, communicate with your child and the teachers to get to the root of the problem.