December 21, 2006
30 Kislev/5767

Dear Parents:

We are very proud to present to you the new JCDSRI progress report. It is a culmination of our vision and the implementation of the most updated educational assessment theories. We see the progress of creating and reading the reports as one of the most important moments in school life. The faculty spent two months in thinking, discussing, sharing and learning to help in the creation of these reports. To make it the best and most effective process possible, we ask you to read carefully the explanation of its different sections. We feel that the new creation is an excellent and beautiful new tool, and hope that all of you, after learning about it, will feel the same.

The structure:

First page – Homeroom teacher: This page contains three parts:

1. After carefully learning from all the teachers about the child, the homeroom teacher created a “big picture” assessment and is delivering it to the student in a personal comment.

2. Work habits – an overall description of the student, again, by the homeroom teacher.

3. We put the chart of missing days, tardy arrivals and early dismissals on the first page because we highly value the attendance of the student as very important tools for life and helping to structure the day of our students.

Subject and specialties assessment: Every subject has four components in its assessment:

1. Synopsis of the work that was done during the trimester.

2. Description of the student work, directly relating to the benchmarks that were part of the teaching. We encouraged the teachers to be as accurate as possible in assessing the students. We believe that that’s the best way to encourage our students to fulfill their potential towards excellence.

3. Work habits chart – which is individually constructed by each teacher according to its specific course.

4. Grades – Beginning with 3rd grade, in most of the subjects, we also grade the students. The grade includes all the aspects of the child’s work: tests, quizzes, homework, class discussion and special projects.

5. Differences: we tried to keep the same structure to all lower school reports, but there are some differences between each class, as this is the first time we are using this model. We hope that with the next report, the classes will be almost the same.

Final page: It is very important for us to have the students feel ownership of the reports and of their own work. Reflection of the students about themselves is a powerful tool that we would like to help our students develop as they assess their skills. The student writing was done during a serious discussion with the teachers. We also encourage you to write a personal note to your child after you review the report with your child.

Hebrew: As a Jewish day school, we incorporated Hebrew in a few places in the report: progress report (Gilayon Ha-a-racha גליון הערכה), the Hebrew year, trimester (shlish שליש), work habits (hergelei lemidaהרגלי למידה ) and the Hebrew name of each student.

The process:

Teachers writing the assessment: The entire semester work of each student was assessed by the teacher and carefully incorporated into the report. The trimester ended on December 1st. Typically, it will take a week for all the teachers to hand their assessments to the homeroom teachers (due to the newness of the process, this time it took two weeks). This process is computerized and confidential.

Administrative overview: The educational administrators worked closely with the teachers during the last month and are reading each and every assessment.

Handing the reports to the students: The homeroom teachers (and/or the co-teacher) will have a discussion of 10-15 minutes with each student individually, explaining each grade and the structure of the report. Again, the agenda is to let the students feel ownership on their own work. The students will receive the reports on the last lesson before the weekend in a sealed white envelope and it is their responsibility to bring it home and share it with you!

Child-parent dialogue at home: We encourage you to read the report together with your child. Find an appropriate time with no distractions and share your thoughts about the report while reading it together. Please write in the appropriate box of your reaction to your child’s work. Don’t forget to sign it!

Returning the report to the school: After the weekend/vacation, please ask your child to return the report to the school. We will keep it on file and you will receive it with the next trimester report, which will give you an opportunity to compare. By the end of the year, you will have the full year’s report to keep for your files.

I want to give my huge thanks to all our staff, especially Bill McCarthy, Principal; Eileen Ellis, Executive Assistant, and all the Homeroom Teachers for their extremely hard work during the last month. We encourage you to communicate with us and give us your feedback, as well as address any question you have about the reports – this is a new model and we are all anxious to utilize it to the best advantage. For any specific question about a grade or comment, please contact the homeroom teachers.

Happy Hannukah and a great vacation to all of you

Dani Steiner
Head of School

Back to News Archive