So, you are happy to spend time moaning on a blog site about your child’s reports not being clear but will only take the 1/2 hour or so that it takes to visit the teacher if you ‘need’ to.

My guess is you ‘need’ to, there is no way an A-E or 1-5 on a report could ever give you a complete picture of your child’s progress (or lack of) at his or her school.

I would suggest it is the duty of the school to give simple reports that we can understand so we know whether a child is failing or doing well. Is that too much to ask?

Unlike some here I do not want or expect to have to master the intricacies of many assessment systems in different schools in different subjects. I honestly do not care that much about the education system for the systems sake.

So let’s just keep it simple. Give them A-E or 1-5 for each subject. Not multiple grades for one subject. Take out all the jargon.

And yes I am happy to visit the school to actively engage in my children’s education. I just wish the report would give me a clue whether I need to visit the teacher or not.

It might, there is alway room for improvement, but I doubt there are two schools in New Zealand that are identical, each has there own problems and special issues.

I would hope that any comparison between schools is used by the government to help and support the ‘underperforming’ schools and not just as a big stick. Unfortunately with Tolley as minister I don’t have much confidence.

Pardon? If some schools are doing better with exactly the same funding how come picking up their ideas, methods and standards won’t improve matters without spending any more money?

You don’t have to wait until parent interviews either. Whenever I go to my girls schools to talk to their teachers it has never been a problem. You can also get the teachers email address if you find it difficult to get to school. This also works well with high schools (where students will have many teachers).
You need to actively engage yourself in your children’s education – it is your duty as a parent.

Also A = Achieved, M = Merit and E = Excellence – go here
http://www.nzqa.govt.nz/ncea/for-parents/index.html
to learn more.

All so they can say ‘if xyz school is doing so well why can’t you’?

Until extra funding and resources are provided I can’t see how national standards can improve things.

By ‘targeting’ what you are suggesting is taking resources from schools that are doing well and allocating them to schools that aren’t, hard to see from a National government that thinks it’s OK to give private schools (who already achieve highly) an extra $25 million a year and then shuts Aorangi Primary here in Christchurch (John Key’s former primary school).

Well yes I could. But then what the heck is the point of having a report? Is it too much to ask to have a simple report, with simple standards, that tell me as a parent whether my child is doing well or poorly?

National standards may reassure parents that give a damn but will they just continue to damn those who don’t?

National standards might have a positive outcome if the government also increased the resources available to assist the bottom 20%, I am not aware they have done this. All national standards is going to do is increase the paper work a teacher/school has to do and that leaves less time and resources available to actually teach the children.

stayathomemum – perhaps you could explain how labeling children as ‘well below the standard’ will magically fix the 20% illiteracy problem.

It works at work. They get 3 ‘well below standards’ then a ‘don’t come monday’, most people get ‘above the standard’ after 1 or 2 ‘well belows’, there is something about consequences that seems to motivate them.

You know Scott you could always go and have a chat with your child’s teacher, that’s a great way to cut through the ‘clutter’.

And what will the teacher say?

Little Johnny is grade A at reading, grade B at writing, and C at arithmetic. Why not just put it on a piece of paper for posterity? Then the kid can show gramps and granny rather than send them down to talk to the teacher also.

“the standards system assumes the children are failing if they do not meet the standard for their age, rather than reflecting the progress each child is making. This will lead to repeated labelling of many young children as failures, resulting in them turning off learning and achieving”
“the opportunity to engage children in learning that is meaningful to them and relevant to their local situation may be lost with a national “one size fits all” approach”

What a load of codswallop. All this philosophy leads to is a lowering of standards overall – exactly the problem we have at the moment with 20% illiteracy. Exactly the problem National Standards is aimed at fixing.

Coming on the back of a school sports day where there were no winners or losers at any event, and where trying hard was optional, I am relieved my child is attending a new school next year.