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B is for babble

Confused by report card lingo? We've done some decoding for you

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Originally published in Today's Parent June 2007

When my eldest son brought home his first report card in grade one, I was bursting. I eagerly ripped open the brown envelope and fished out the white form that would affirm the hours we’d spent reading and counting with our son had made him a child genius.

As it turned out, it would have taken a genius to explain the report card. Case in point: “With a high degree of effectiveness, uses some conventions of written materials to understand reading selections.”

I have a university degree — in communications, no less — so why didn’t this make sense to me? It appears I’m not alone. Even teachers acknowledge that report card comments often leave parents confused or afraid.

“I really think that creating report cards full of educational jargon, in the past five years, has led to parents not knowing what the reports are actually saying. If their child isn’t doing well, they aren’t sure how best to help him,” says teacher Chris Chechin, an elementary school teacher in Scarborough, Ont.

Want to score an A in understanding your child’s next report card? Take our crash course on how to interpret some common educational terms.

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