Student Learning

Student Reports - For Teachers

Student report cards were introduced to provide parents with clearer and more consistent information about their student’s progress against state-wide standards.

This resource is designed to help teachers write comments for the report cards that are concise, clear and comprehensive.

Topics in this section include:

  • Report writing tips - focuses on how to write clear, concise and comprehensive comments by avoiding jargon, prioritising the most important information for inclusion in the report, and provides general advice for creating great reports.
  • Writing comments for each section of the report - instructions for writing meaningful comments for each section of the report. Includes examples of how comments can be improved.

Key information for teachers

Student report cards were introduced to provide parents with clearer and more consistent information about their student’s progress against state-wide standards.

The report card is a concise, commonsense report of student progress and achievement that all parents can easily understand. It describes what students have achieved against the Victorian Essential Learning Standards (VELS). It also informs parents of the areas in which their child needs to improve and states what the school will do and provides suggestions for what parents can do at home with their child.

The report is not intended to educate parents in the language of the VELS or any other educational framework. Jargon and specialist educational terms should not be included in the reports. Nor should it contain detailed curriculum statements or descriptions of programs of study. Parents and students should be able to identify areas where they can focus their attention and aim for improvement.

Written comments should be consistent with the judgements made and the corresponding A-E ratings. Recommendations for improvement need to be consistent. Comments about student achievement should also be provided.

The challenge for teachers is to provide all the relevant detail about students’ progress and ensure that the information on the report is clear and concise. It is important the report is coherent and there are logical links between the achievement of the student, areas for improvement and actions the school and parents might take.

It is also essential reports provide assessment information that is accurate and based on evidence from teachers’ assessment records about judgements made against the VELS.

Key information in the report cards

Student reports should provide the following key information:

  • Clear information on what the student has achieved - this section of the report focuses on each student’s progress on the basis of assessment evidence gathered by the teacher over a semester
  • Suggestions for areas of improvement the student should work on next - this section of the report focuses on future learning to be addressed in the following reporting period.
  • Information on how the school will help the student to improve - this section of the report makes recommendations for actions to be taken by the school to help the student’s future learning.
  • Suggestions on how parents can help the student to improve - this section of the report suggests specific ways in which parents can support the student, taking account of the areas for improvement or future learning.

Commentary on completed reports

Below are three completed reports for which commentary is provided. The commentary focuses on how to write clearly and succinctly, providing relevant, valid and honest information:

Writing checklist

The following checklist is designed to help teachers review the comments they have written to ensure they are communicating the right type of information in an appropriate way for each section of the report:

Writing guide for student report cards

A copy of this entire resource is available to download as a word or PDF document: