Parents - Reporting Student Progress

Every member of the staff is committed to keeping parents informed, and each uses many methods of communication in order to share information. Types of written communication parents can expect to receive include back-and-forth folders in the Lower School, flyers, and a nearly-weekly summary of classroom activities for Pre-School. Middle School teachers (grades 5-8) use PowerSchool as their primary communication tool. All teachers also maintain blogs that are accessible, though password protected, via the Rockwern website.

Parents are also encouraged to attend Grade-level Parent Orientations, Parent/Teacher conferences, Life Cycle programs, Maccabia, Fine Arts evenings, basketball games and other events.

Communication between the home and school helps students, parents, guardians, teachers, and administration work as a team toward a common goal. The following section explains some of the means by which the School attempts to report student progress.

PowerSchool

PowerSchool is a web-based application that resides on a centralized server and is accessed through an Internet or intranet connection. As such, PowerSchool delivers real-time information. As soon as any information is added or changed, it’s available to everyone. This allows administrators, teachers, parents and students to access the most up-to-the-minute information available.

We invested in PowerSchool because it increases communication from school to home with online parent and student access. Parents can access the School’s Daily Bulletin and real-time student performance information, communicate with teachers, and track assignments and daily attendance. We expect teachers from grades 4—8 to post assignments and student grades to PowerSchool weekly. In this way parents and guardians can provide close supervision of their children’s projects and progress. Staff, students, and parents have found the point-and-click technology in PowerSchool simple to use, and we encourage all parents to use this valuable tool. Even parents of Preschool children can log on and read the Daily Bulletin. This is a great source of information about field trips and other school events. Rockwern staff attempts to post field trips one week prior to the trip. Parent orientation and conference dates, as well as dates for concerts, Life Cycle events, and school-wide celebrations are posted for two weeks prior to the events.

Conferences

Our approach to conferences has evolved over the past several years to become highly collaborative events that actively involve parents, teachers, and students. During the first set of conferences teachers will be prepared to “say what they have seen” during the initial weeks of school. They will highlight what they understand to be students’ strengths, interests, social maturity, and challenges. Parents will also share their perceptions of their child’s relationship to school, including specific subjects, friends, joys and challenges.

Together, the teachers and parents will create a plan for moving forward as partners to best serve the needs of the student. They will also agree on the best communication strategy for staying in touch for the remainder of the year.

Students attend the second set of conferences, and, again, the goal is for students, parents, and teachers to work together to better understand how each student’s educational experience can be optimized.

In order to have time to meet with everyone, we ask parents of Pre-school and Lower School children to set times with teachers that fit their schedule.

Parents of Middle School students are asked to sign up for one of the specific time periods embedded in a larger “rotation” schedule. Middle School teachers will have a designated area in Mayerson Activity Room. All parents assigned to a particular time period will enter the Mayerson Activity Room at the same time. Each parent will rotate throughout the room conferring with each teacher for 10 minutes. At the end of the time period, the room will be cleared for the next set of parents. This process will continue throughout all time periods.

Report Cards

It is our firm belief that report cards should never contain surprising information. If a student in grades K—3 is having challenges, either academically or behaviorally, parents will be called. Parents of students in grades 4-8 can easily keep their fingers on their children’s academic pulse beat by logging on to PowerSchool. In fact, report cards are generated directly from PowerSchool and can be viewed at any time. If an older student is having trouble behaviorally, parents may receive phone calls, copies of demerits, or both.

Kindergarten students are given report cards twice a year. Report cards are sent home at the end of the second and third trimesters. First grade students do not receive report cards first trimester. They do, however, receive report cards at the end of trimesters 2 and 3. All other students are given report cards three times a year.

The last day of each trimester is marked on the Rockwern Academy Calendar. In general, parents can expect a report card to be brought home approximately one week later. End-of-year report cards are mailed home, usually with standardized test results.

The grade scale currently in use for grades 3-8 is as follows:

The grade scale currently in use for grade 2 is as follows:

In Kindergarten, teachers report progress using a 3-category grading scale.

• S — Making satisfactory progress in acquiring the skill
• P — In the process of acquiring the skill
• I — Is beginning to acquire the skill