Beyond grades: Helping families support students academically

Key points:

• In the post-COVID era, millions of U.S. students remain academically behind
• Beyond digital literacy: Why K-12 educators must prioritize data literacy
• Rethinking student assessment: Tools and strategies for meaningful evaluation
• For more news on student success, visit eSN’s Innovative Teaching hub

Five years ago, the COVID-19 virus was declared a pandemic, and we quickly retreated into our homes, shuttered schools, and socially isolated. The lasting effects of this isolation continue to shape our society, nowhere more visibly than in America’s schools.

Our education community across the country is still working to overcome setbacks in student achievement and learning progress, all while facing ongoing challenges such as chronic absenteeism, teacher shortages and burnout, and a noticeable increase in student mental health and behavioral concerns. Compounding these issues is a shift in how families engage with schools and understand their children’s academic progress.

One factor impacting families’ engagement with schools and teachers is the issue of grade inflation. The traditional letter grades used in education for more than 120 years may no longer hold the same significance for families. During the pandemic, hints of changing grading standards and possible grade inflation raised concerns for parents and caregivers about their accuracy and fairness given the disruption of school closures and a shift to remote learning. These concerns are not isolated to the pandemic. In 2023, ACT cited that grade inflation has been on the rise for more than a decade. They added that grade-point averages rose several percentage points from 2010 to 2022 and yet there was no significant increase in ACT scores.

Grades are no longer enough to convey how students are doing in the classroom. Today’s families are asking for something different. A recent national survey by SchoolStatus revealed that families are seeking more frequent and meaningful updates about their child’s academic progress, beyond just receiving report cards each quarter. According to the survey, 69 percent of families prefer daily (48 percent) or weekly (21 percent) communication, yet only 52 percent are currently receiving updates at that frequency. 

We have an opportunity to evaluate and re-think “what we’ve always done” and consider how to effectively and frequently engage families about student progress. This post-pandemic era is a chance to evolve an outdated, less meaningful marker of student achievement into something that is more relevant, understandable, and actionable for families. Here’s how:

1. Audit your district’s approach to measuring student progress. Begin by reviewing how student achievement and growth are currently assessed. What data contributes to a student’s academic profile? What is being measured–and why? Consider whether this information provides a comprehensive picture of student learning or if additional evidence is needed and how it will be communicated to students and families. 

2. Decouple behavior from academic achievement. Critically examine any behavioral data, such as tardiness, absences, or late or incomplete assignments that may be factored into academic grades or progress reports. While behavior is important and should be tracked, it does not reflect what a student knows, which subjects they’ve mastered, or where they may need further support. Beyond not measuring learning, behavior-based grading exacerbates inequities. Academic achievement and behavior must be evaluated separately and communicated distinctly.

3. Get everyone on the same page when it comes to understanding student progress. Start by building consensus across your school communities, from teachers to principals to instructional aides, on what framework and criteria you will all use. Measuring and reporting academic growth and achievement should be consistent across classrooms, not left to individual interpretation by each teacher. Most importantly, provide your education community with targeted, relevant professional development and support that helps them accurately assess student progress and effectively communicate those insights to families.

4. Leverage technology as part of your communications strategy. Evaluate what platforms and tools your schools currently use. Are they consistent? Do they have built-in communication features that could be leveraged to share information and messages with families? Most do. But before blasting your families with a ton of emails and sending them to all kinds of channels for information, it’s important to have a strategy that everyone in your education community follows. This strategy should consider what primary channel will be used for communications, what frequency and methods of communication, and include opportunities for feedback and two-way engagement. 

5. And don’t forget: involve students. As the primary stakeholders in their own education, students should be engaged early and often in their academic journey. One key strategy is goal setting, which gives structure to conversations about what teachers are tracking for their academic progress and why, how grades are determined, and what students hope to achieve. In addition to goal setting, consider student-led conferences where students present their progress to families. This not only reinforces their understanding but also strengthens their voice and self-advocacy in the learning process.

One thing is clear in the post-COVID era: Millions of U.S. students remain academically behind. Research shows that families play a crucial role in helping students recover academically if they understand how their child is doing and how they can support academic success. Strengthening family-school partnerships by revamping how we engage together on student progress is essential to achieving meaningful outcomes. Families are asking for something different. It’s time to evolve the outdated method of grades alone and give rise to a new, more effective way to evaluate and communicate about student achievement.