November is, among other important occasions, time for parent-teacher conferences and progress report cards.  Conferences will be held this year between November 20 and 26. This is an important opportunity for you to talk with your child's teacher about his/her progress and review the progress report card.  The standards based report card is designed to provide you with information about your child's progress towards achieving the learning standards within our curriculum.  A standard is a common learning goal that all students are expected to know or be able to do.  Working to assist all children to meet or exceed the standards is the focus of our school's work.

I recall from my own teaching experiences the professional challenge of reporting progress to students and parents.  Making sure that I was honest and accurate was important, but I also tried to remind the report card's recipients of the importance of putting elementary school grades in perspective. It is crucial to remember that the progress report is reflective of just one moment in time.  All children can and will continue to grow; their future will not be jeopardized if they are not yet at or above standard in all areas.

Our progress report is completely online and will be available through your Skyward account after 5:00pm on November 19. If you cannot recall your secure password, please email Mary Newcomer in the district office (mary.newcomer@mercerislandschools.org).  The link will be sent via email on November 19; but if you have trouble, you can use this link as well.  https://www2.nwrdc.wak12.net/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=wmercers71/fwemnu01.w

Please keep in mind a couple of fundamental beliefs about elementary progress reporting:

1. The purpose is to provide you and your child with an update on how he/she is doing relative to the standards at this point in the year.  We call these "Progress Reports" because they are shared in a moment in time along a very long continuum.
2. We still have over two-thirds of the year to go, which leaves time for growth and improvement.  All parents would like for their children to be on or above standard in all areas.  However, if they are still working toward standard, it will best serve your son or daughter to choose a couple of goal areas, focus on them, and celebrate areas where they are doing well.

For additional reflections and tips on conferences, please see my November column on the Island Park website.   

Please feel free to contact me or your child's teacher with any questions.

Sincerely,

David Hoffman

Principal

Island Park Elementary School