Analysis Lens 1: Reporting principles

Reporting is strongest when it is:

  • Needs-focussed, which means the needs of parents (primarily) and students, but also teachers
  • Evidence-informed, which means informed by evidence of learning, generated through the learning, teaching and assessment cycle
  • Dialogical, where deep knowledge and understanding of the student does not reside in an individual (i.e. the teacher) but is continually formed and reformed by conversations and learning with and from each other (students, parents, teachers)
  • Strategically timed, so that parents, students and teachers are given an opportunity to learn from reports and reporting, informing future learning (this may preclude, for example, issuing a student report close to or on the last day of an academic year)
  • Authentic for all participants, which means focussed on the things that matter, and with a genuine role for all participants
  • Worthwhile, where the value for parents, students and teachers exceeds the time, money, or effort spent producing it.

    Suggested Dialogue Question:

    To what extent do our findings and aspirations align with these reporting principles? Which of them do we think could further strengthen what we have come up with from our investigations?

    Reporting is also strongest when its design reflects or provides for:

    • Clarity of purpose, which shows that the school is clear about what it is seeking to achieve in reporting the way that it does, aligned with its aspirations (rather than reflecting, for example, what has always been done)
    • Ease of access, which requires thinking through how best to engage all parents in reports and reporting, including parents with a disability (e.g. vision impairment), EAL/D parents, parents who may not have access to information and communications technologies or have confidence to use them, parents, who infrequently engage with the school
    • Active participation, which means the respectful and active positioning of all participants in reporting
    • Equity of voice, which means that all voices are valued and heard
    • That quality time is given, so that parents, students and teachers are given an opportunity to learn from reports and reporting, informing future learning (this may preclude, for example, a school offering parent-teacher interview of up to 10 minutes as the only face-to-face reporting opportunity within an academic year).