by Dennis Harter
The following are written responses to concerns and/or issues that parents raised that were not addressed explicitly during the Principal’s Forum on November 12th.
Tutors
We pride ourselves on and commit to working with students to ensure that they meet the learning standards in all of their classes. At times, students may remain in the approaching or developing stage beyond when we would expect them to be at that point in time. Some parents have raised the concern that some teachers were telling students they needed a tutor or private lessons in order to be successful.
Looking into this concern and having conversations with teachers, our message is clear. We will work with students in and out of class to help them attain the expected learning goals. When teachers identify gaps or need, they will share with the parents the strategies and work they have done with that child in order to support their learning in and out of class time. They will also share where that child is in their learning. If with that additional information, a tutor is warranted, that will be with student and parent understanding of why a tutor might be helpful.
There can be a sense among parents that tutoring is rampant and that teachers are recommending tutoring before helping the child. This has not borne out to be true – however, the communication of how the teacher has helped the child progress can be better. Adding complication to the matter, occasionally, some parents choose tutoring for their child despite no recommendation from the teacher, in order to further raise the level of attainment for their child. These are parental choices, not recommended ones from ISB teachers.
Still, there are certainly known cases of teachers recommending tutors and we are committed to ensuring that we only do that when the identified need is clear, the active support of the teacher is not enough, and it is in the best interest of the child’s learning and well-being.
On another note, regarding tutoring, ISB values safety a great deal and as a result, we are developing specific standards around background checks or past employment at ISB in order for us to “recommend” a tutor by keeping them on our list. Tutor candidates, no matter, how long they have been working with ISB students, who do not pass our criteria will not be listed on our tutor list. They may be tutoring in the community at parental choice, but it is important for our parents to know that we will have no information regarding safeguarding concerns for tutors not on our list.
Home Learning Policy
This year the Middle School has implemented our new Home Learning Policy.
Our Home Learning Policy was developed last year, involving input from students, parents, and teachers, along with significant research around the impact of homework on learning. Overwhelmingly, studies have shown that homework can positively influence achievement, as long as it is purposeful and appropriate. Research also indicates, however, that after a certain amount of time, that positive impact is no longer present. As a general rule, it has been determined that on average, 10 minutes for each year of the grade level per day is the right amount of time to improve learning – 60 minutes for grade 6, 70 minutes for grade 7, etc.
There was some parental concern voiced around whether there was any point in doing homework as students report that it isn’t “checked.” Practice and review assignments, along with reading are necessary parts of a child’s preparedness for the learning of next lessons. We “check” through formative assessments in class, discussion of difficult concepts, and ultimately through the summative assessments at the end of units or chunks of learning.
It is true that the past practice of “getting points” for doing your homework does not happen anymore. Home learning is part of the learning process and penalizing students by “scoring” what they get wrong/right would also be poor practice. We are hoping to surface what students don’t understand, so that we can help them progress. To penalize them for what we expect learning to look like would not be fair representation of what they are capable of. On the flip side, demonstrations of understanding on formative assessments allow teachers to see what students CAN do, which can be helpful during reporting, when that student may not have done as well on a summative assessment, but has demonstrated understanding in the past.
The Home Learning policy helps teachers make deliberate choices about what they do in class and how they assess students’ progress. It also ensures that we are able to really see what a student is capable of doing, rather than wonder how much impact a tutor, sibling or parent may have had on the assignment. Home learning is to practice or review learning from class. Finally, this limitation on time, designed around best practice for learning, also has a positive impact on how much time young people are spending on computers. For parents, knowing that home learning should only be taking this long (and that often much of it is reading for Humanities), parents have more voice in limiting the time their children are on screens.
Our home learning policy has helped us ensure that while we continue to help students reach their academic potential and report accurately on their learning, we also provide them a chance to lead healthy, active, balanced lives.
Next week, we will look at teacher and student use of Haiku, Parent-Teacher Conference concerns, and student laptops.