Check out our list of tips for documenting student progress and grading.

Carefully document learner progress, and be able to support the findings. Principals, parents/guardians, and learners want to know where the learner stands academically and why the learner has improved or digressed.

A learner’s potential is measured by more than just grades. Consider how well they participate, show initiative, process info, and are engaged in learning. Your observation skills and conversations with the learner will assist you with understanding the potential of the learner. Get this even more concrete by developing rubrics, checklists, or note cards to record learner progress.

Collect daily and weekly assessments as a way to measure, in small increments, whether or not the learners are meeting the required objectives. This will help you troubleshoot difficulties early on, and you can help the learners immediately instead of waiting for poor test results.

Record learner data on graphs to visually show progress. Graphs will reveal trends in individual learner and classroom performance. The info will assist with decision-making for your class’s instruction and needs.

Track learner’s progress by keeping track of daily work, class participation, and assessments. Give recognition to learners that turn in their daily assignments by printing their names on the chalk or whiteboard instead of making a list of those who have not turned in their work.

Some software programs can assist you with records to keep track of grades. Many schools will have district-wide systems that you will need to learn before the school year starts. Record keeping is part of your new educator orientation.

Give parents/guardians time to ask questions about assessments, testing material, and results. Refrain from using educational terms and jargon. Instead, use visual representations like graphs and charts.

Some school systems have honor rolls. At your new educator orientation, ask about the criteria for making the honor roll.

You will be responsible for offering the names for the honor roll to the central office for publication. Get sure you have calculated the grade points accurately.

Prior to distributing the report cards to the parents, take the time to conference with each learner about their past nine weeks of work. Learners are responsible for their own grades and need to be able to be articulate to their parents about their grades.

Don’t publicly post test scores with learner names or with a code that is easy to identify the learner. The posting code name is for you and the learner, not for public knowledge.

Continuous observation of your students outside of the class will assist you with assessing how they are doing in school. Observe how they perform in their extra- curricular activities as well as their social interactions.