Good morning,
This afternoon all Nichols Middle School students will be heading home with their first trimester report cards, which were issued today, Friday, December 12. They will go home with your child with a receipt saying you received and saw the Report Card, which will need to be signed and returned to your child’s homeroom teacher on Monday, December 15.
I have said this before, that communication is a powerful tool in closing the gap between home and school and ensuring success for all of our students. The marks that you have found on this report card should never be a surprise to either you or your child. If you feel that discussion regarding your child’s progress or lack of it is needed, please call the school to talk to the teacher, to then make an appointment to schedule a time that would offer both you and the teacher enough time to adequately discuss your child's present situation.
Please make sure that you also pay attention to the comments section of the report card. Many of our teachers have begun to pilot standards based reporting, where they will have a comment that says where your child is with the standards. In studying and researching better educational techniques, standards based grading is a much better means to focus on "learning." This is our goal here at NMS; we want our students to learn the material, and not continue with a system that doesn't really explain where your child is with their learning.
Please follow this LINK to an excellent article on the reasons for changing to standards based grading.
Also, check out this VIDEO which explains what standards based grading is.
Please make sure that you also pay attention to the comments section of the report card. Many of our teachers have begun to pilot standards based reporting, where they will have a comment that says where your child is with the standards. In studying and researching better educational techniques, standards based grading is a much better means to focus on "learning." This is our goal here at NMS; we want our students to learn the material, and not continue with a system that doesn't really explain where your child is with their learning.
Please follow this LINK to an excellent article on the reasons for changing to standards based grading.
Also, check out this VIDEO which explains what standards based grading is.
If you have any questions please don’t hesitate to contact us.
Thank you and have a great weekend,
M R Geoghegan
