Academic reports
Academic reporting to parents (part 1): 8 data points successful schools communicate with parents.
Welcome to the Curriculum Thinkers newsletter where we share research and resources from the We Are In Beta community to help you get the best outcomes for your students.
This is a guest post by Curriculum Leader, English teacher (and parent), Louise Ferrier. If you’d like to write for us, head to the bottom of this post.
From data to dialogue, how we report student progress to parents matters. Meaningful data that parents can action is a powerful tool to build that all-important collaboration between home and school.
Even the EEF recognises that parental participation is harder to pin down in secondary schools. So how do we use reporting to empower parents to support their child?
The research team at We Are In Beta have once again worked their magic and curated a research study to explore the reporting strategies of a selection of successful schools so you can learn from all they do.
These were chosen from schools with the strongest continuous improvement (2019-2024) or with the highest outcomes for disadvantaged students. Having explored the research and Jessica Dobrowolski‘s excellent insights, it is fascinating how schools approach the challenge of sharing meaningful data to mobilise parents.
As vital stakeholders in their child’s education, parents and carers vary wildly. Take me for instance. I am a formidable parent when it comes to engaging with my children’s schools. I am that parent who wears my school’s lanyard to parents’ evening - no glossing over the details please: I want the full picture - warts and all - because I WILL intervene!
Not every parent is equipped or confident enough to engage in this way. According to the ParentKind National Survey (2024) parents say that more than half of schools don’t give them enough information to support their child’s learning at home.
As school leaders, how can we get this right?
Reporting is strategic, not just informative or a mechanism for accountability. We strive to report in a way that has clarity, covering all aspects of school life in an informative, accessible and actionable way for all parents.
This week I unpack the research to explore the ‘what’ - data and information - successful schools choose to report to parents.
Next week I’ll get into the ‘how’ in terms of language, format and guidance they are using to foster the strongest relationships and help parents engage and act on each report.
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So, what are these 8 academic data points successful schools report?
Before we share the eight data points, a quick announcement:
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8 Data Sets to Keep Parents Fully Informed
Society has placed increased pressures on schools; we are no longer just educators but also hold responsibility for lifeskills, pastoral support, and social development. The Parent Kind National Survey found that parents do find school reports useful 90% of the time, with parents’ evenings receiving usefulness rates of 87% and homework just 70%. Reports keep parents informed but also help trigger parents to take action at their end when needed.
The data shared by school in the research reflects the broad remit of schools with one or two additions of note.
Read on for examples of how schools are sharing:
Academic data
Behaviour data
Quality of home-learning
Quality of classwork
Effort
Quality of independent learning
Reading ages
Attendance
1. Academic Data
Academic data does more than inform parents of progress, it is also a guide as to what parents can do to support at home. Several of the schools in the research deliberately place the parent-teacher consultation following a report home to parents to facilitate those discussions.
This example exemplifies the progress-over-time model. The RAG visual makes attainment against target clear for parents.
2. Behaviour data
Behaviour data has the potential to feel like a child is being labeled as ‘good’ or ‘bad’.
Whilst we as professionals know that this is not the case, to a vulnerable or stressed parent it can feel that way. Counter to this is an example below, where behaviour is graded in different contexts by a pastoral coach, suggesting that all behaviours are work in progress and that we all have areas to improve (most people avoid talking to me before I’ve had my morning coffee).
Communicating behaviours in this way presents interesting opportunities to work positively with parents on one of the most challenging areas of data communication.
3. Quality of home learning
Quality of home learning was included in reporting in a little under 50% of the schools included in the research. This raises many questions and we know that for some parents, home learning is an area of contention. The fact remains that to become a truly independent learner, and for fostering life-long learning, independent study is an unavoidable feature.
The approach to presenting this data varies greatly, from keys denoting submission punctuality and quality to flat percentage completion rates such as the examples in order below.
Would someone else find this helpful?
4. Quality of classwork
Quality of classwork is almost like a window for parents into the day to day efforts of their child. Its inclusion empowers parents to intervene, particularly when they spot inconsistencies across subjects.
This example shows the descriptors used to communicate the student’s current standing but also, by extension, the expectation.
Curious to see how others communicate effort, independent thinking, reading ages and attendance?
What’s next for your school’s academic reporting to parents?
Here are some questions to think about:
What academic indicators do you report? How do you communicate them? Why?
When was the last time you sat down to discuss what you do with your team?
Are your current processes achieving their aims? If so, why? If not, why not?
How can you strike the right balance between giving parents what they need and workload placed on your staff?
Curious to see exactly how these 29 schools put these principles into practice?
Explore the full academic (pastoral) reporting directory here to access policies, examples, and practical strategies from top-performing schools.
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To help you find schools like yours and strategies you can apply, we’ve created a sortable and filterable directory* of reporting resources.
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To save you the 8 days it took us to research, curate and analyse the work happening at these schools we’ve pooled resources into single drive below.
Reports, rubrics, templates, models
Further listening, watching and reading about reporting and parental engagement
Strengthening Parent Engagement in UK Secondary Schools: Strategies for Success
Home-school agreements: strategies from examples at secondary schools
E.T (easy to) phone home: building inclusion and belonging at Logic Studio School
Rewards & recognition strategies: insights from 28 successful secondary schools
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