Ongoing reporting for effective teaching and learning

1. Ongoing reporting for effective teaching and learning

3. Framework for Junior Cycle 2015 Oral and written feedback to parents and students will be essential in supporting the student to build on strengths and address areas where learning can improve Linking classroom assessment and other assessment with new system of reporting – parents have a clear and broad picture of child’s learning journey over 3 years of JC Broader approach to reporting spanning 1st to 3rd year – avoids too early and too great an emphasis on exam preparation and performance

4. Framework for Junior Cycle 2015 Reporting at junior cycle aims to contribute to the personal and educational development of students, to support and underpin ongoing learning and assessment, and to be manageable, accessible and effective for the school, teacher, student and parent/guardian There is strong evidence that when reporting on progress is done effectively students feel involved in their learning, are helped to see how well they are progressing and how they can improve.

5. Two important documents

7. Ongoing Reporting The systems and structures that the school puts in place to report on student progress right across the school year. While it may include them, ongoing reporting is not confined to end of-year reporting or to the awarding of certificates. • Ongoing reporting on student progress can take a variety of forms, for example: • informal oral and written feedback • parent-teacher meetings • discussions with class teacher/tutor, year head/tutor • student learning logs and diaries • end-of-topic/-term/-year reports. Ongoing reporting involving both assessment that is formative (assessment for learning) and summative (assessment of learning).

8. Ongoing Reporting • Ongoing reporting can reflect many aspects of school life, for example: • the school’s calendar and its teaching/learning programmes • the school’s communication and engagement with parents/guardians • students’ learning progress and achievement in subjects and short courses • engagement with the learning behaviours and dispositions of students • the wellbeing of students • student participation and achievements in extra-curricular activities • the results of classroom-based-assessments (CBAs) • areas such as attendance, punctuality, and behaviour.

9. How do we develop our system of ongoing reporting? NCCA sets out some recommended steps What information or data do you already have in relation to reporting practices in the school? Is there any data gathered through SSE that might be relevant? Are there any staff members already developing innovative approaches to ongoing reporting, perhaps through participation in CPD courses or further study? Seek views of parents and students After feedback recommend that to begin with you focus on one or two of the guiding principles of effective reporting

10. Next steps? • Some survey information gathered from teachers, parents and students about ongoing reporting could also be reviewed at introductory meeting and this might help to identify the school’s priority areas for change, which form the basis for planning future sessions • There are sample of surveys in the Ongoing Reporting Guidelines • Each guiding principle has a slide presentation which introduces the guiding principle in question and associated workshop material. • The material for each principle is designed to support two to three hours of staff engagement mainly through an interactive workshop but can be used for shorter units

11. Formal Reporting of student progress Pilot schools who have worked with NCCA have said the new approaches will take time to implement Successful implementation will require discussion, engagement and professional learning as staff develop their expertise in providing effective commentary on student learning In early stages schools should have flexibility in using templates NCCA have provided draft templates. Working with Vsware to make them compatible. Important to engage with parents and students on changes Formal reports will be supplemented by a range of other forms of reporting throughout the school year

12. Formal Reporting – where are we now?3rd Year Student - Christmas Junior Cert

13. 1st year Christmas Reports

17. Criteria for creating effective comments – Leadership Day • Point to areas for improvement • Acknowledge success • Parent information • Small number, clarity and language • The area to work on is_______________ • Look at templates online

18. Effective Reporting in JC Formal reporting arrangements are seen to complement other reporting opportunities (PT meetings, teacher-student dialogue and home-school communications) At heart of broad process is that reporting is about informed discussions (oral or written) between teachers, parents and student on how to improve learning Aim is that student learning and achievement are clear to all Aim that parents are actively involved in learning on ongoing basis Aim to provide clear feedback on a students learning - what are next steps required to support and improve learning It is anticipated that most of the feedback should be given orally (NCCA guidelines – Ongoing reporting for effective teaching and learning)

19. NCCA Reporting Guidelines 2018 • Move towards a situation where teachers professional judgement will have greater prominence in reporting student achievement • Will take TIME and teachers have significant professional learning • Move from traditional model where feedback has been about progress based primarily on marks, grades and percentages. • Processes put in place to gather evidence from ongoing assessment for reporting processes must be manageable and sustainable • Teachers should be asked to identify opportunities for efficiently and effectively noting student achievement and progress where it naturally occurs in a classroom • Broaden the scope of what can be reported on

20. NCCA Reporting Guidelines 2018 Dual approach featuring increased use of ongoing assessment, CBA’s as well as SEC exams. Ensuring that time is not taken away from a focus on ongoing assessment by an over-emphasis on end-of-term tests will be a challenge This challenge must be faced in order to ensure that an excessive, overall assessment burden is not placed on students and teachers