It doesn’t feel like June outside, but inside Toronto schools students are gearing up for their summer break—and with that comes report cards.
For many parents, report cards are a measure of their child’s success, but one expert suggests that parents are going about the marking system all wrong.
"My problem is how fixated parents are on the report card and how that tool does not keep kids motivated or take ownership for the learning process,” says parenting expert Alyson Schafer.
Schafer believes report cards do not tell the whole story about how a child is doing in school. Instead, she said it should be considered a summary.
"We have narrowly defined that the only way to succeed in childhood is to be an academic, to get straight A's -- somehow if you're not achieving, you're not going to have a place in life," she said.
Toronto-resident Girish Gulraja has a six-year-old child and says he has “mixed” feelings about report cards.
“I'm not sure if it makes sense anymore to have a report card,” he tells CTV News Toronto.
But other parents disagree.
"If there are no grades at all what is the motivation,” says Marina Nazarova.
Elementary school teacher Jillian Klein tells CTV News Toronto that the report card assessment is just a “snap shot” of a child’s progress.
Klein suggests that parents speak to their child's teacher before their report card comes home so they are not surprised by the grades.
"Definitely should not be the first time the parents are hearing about how well their child is doing. There should be communication particularly if there is some struggle."
Klein also says that reviewing the comments is just as important as the actual grades assigned to each subject.
Schafer suggests that parents read through the report card with their children—and then put it away and regroup after a much needed break this summer.
