5 Tips for Dealing with a Bad Report Card
Report cards can be stressful and can be confusing.
Now that families everywhere have settled back into their new school year routine this year—it’s time to begin thinking about report cards.
Families too frequently settle into the school routine after the back-to-school frenzy has come to an end. The first report card then shows up, and POW! The not-so-good news: it’s not going as smoothly as it should.
Luckily, parents can use plenty of stay-in-the-loop tricks to prevent a bad report card.
5 Tips for Taking the ‘Oh No!’ Out of Report Cards
Communication
Take five minutes to communicate with the teacher weekly, via phone, email, or in-person, to ask how your child is doing in math, reading, spelling, listening, and overall.
Don’t forget to praise, praise, praise. Reassure your child that despite the grade, they’re not a failure and that you will work together to develop effective solutions. Praise them for doing well and start working together on their struggle areas. Learn how to discuss your child’s report card here.
Go Online
The Internet is a beautiful tool for keeping informed. If your child’s class has a student portal, log on and get involved.
There are usually tons of materials that you can use to help your student. You can usually find materials such as articles, lectures and videos that you can review yourself, making it easier to help your student out at home.
Review Past Report Cards
Chances are that school issues from last year will re-appear, so review previous report cards and keep your eye out for repeat problems.
If you see repeat patterns, you’ll be able to nip it in the bud. Usually, children struggle in one specific subject, so this allows you to go back and see if they’ve always been struggling or if this is something new. It will also give you a better idea of their repeated patterns to help you break them.
Follow Up
When tests and assignments are returned to your child. How did it go? Were the results what you were expecting?
Sit down and do it if you need to help them outline their time. Your child is counting on you to help them out, which is not the same as bailing them out. So make sure you follow up with the teacher and your child. You need to make sure that they’re staying on track before they bring home the report card.
Create a Plan
If there are any issues, seek help as soon as you learn about them. The earlier you address the problems, the easier it becomes to fix them for the entire year.
Parents don’t need a report card to know how their child is doing in school—staying involved every step of the way helps avoid report card stress and gets school problems taken care of before they get out of hand.
After all, the only thing that should surprise you about report cards is how quickly they arrive.
Discover everything you need to know about report cards!
Get Report Card Support with Oxford Learning.
Your kids need your support between now and their next report card (and after that, too). That’s what Oxford Learning is here for!
Contact a location near you to get started today!
Related Report Cards Resources
