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What Your Child’s Report Card Actually Means
312 Plays1 day ago
Episode 88: In this episode, Beth breaks down one of the most anxiety inducing moments for parents: getting a report card or teacher feedback that says your child is struggling with reading, but not really explaining why. She walks through what vague report card language actually means, the five questions every parent should ask their child's teacher, and simple at-home checks you can do right now to figure out exactly where your child is and how to help.
- What "declining" really means on a report card (hint: it's not what most parents think)
- Why report cards in K–2 are broad skill buckets, and how to get more specific information
- What to do if your child's teacher says they should "get tested"
- The five questions to ask your child's teacher for real clarity
- How to do a simple at-home reading and writing check in under 10 minutes
- Why writing reveals what reading can hide
- What phonemic awareness and blending actually look like and how to spot gaps
Topics science of reading · phonemic awareness · phonics · early literacy · report cards · reading struggles · parent advocacy · blending · structured literacy · kindergarten · first grade
Links Mentioned
Kinder & First Grade Beginning Middle & End of Year Guide
About the Host Beth Gaskill (Miss Beth) is a reading specialist, early childhood educator, and founder of Big City Readers. She helps parents support their children's literacy development through research-backed, science of reading strategies.
Follow Miss Beth on Instagram @BigCityReaders
Browse Big City Readers resources at BigCityReaders.com
Recommended
Transcript
Navigating Teacher Testing Suggestions
00:00:00
Speaker
maybe you heard you should get them tested. This is a moment that a lot of parents spiral. A teacher might say, i think you should get them tested. And then nothing, no explanation, no next steps. You're just kind of on your own.
00:00:12
Speaker
What specific skills are they struggling with? Is it phonics? Their sounds? Fluency? Comprehension? That alone is going to give you a lot of information. Onwards!
Podcast Introduction & Parental Guidance
00:00:24
Speaker
This is Play Onwards from Big City Readers.
00:00:28
Speaker
Is this Beth? hello hello welcome back to the play on words podcast from big city readers today we are talking all about your child's report card and if you're like okay my child's report card that's been there done that there are still going to be a lot of tips in this for you on how to prepare to help your child over the summer to avoid the summer slide This is not the Summer Slide Workshop or podcast episode talking about how you can prevent that 20% learning loss that we see so many kids go through in the summer after all of those school year gains, but we will be talking about that soon. No, right now we're talking about what you can do right now at this point in the school year.
00:01:14
Speaker
we You might have four weeks left. You might have eight weeks left. You might have... Well, probably that's, it depends on when you're listening to this, but here we are. Spring break just ended. The last few months of the school year matter, and what you are doing at home matters.
Chicago Food Scene Insights
00:01:31
Speaker
So let's dive in Okay, first of all, I do want to give shout out to everyone in my DMs that has been asking for more Chicago recs because, you know, I love to talk about Chicago more than anything. I'm from here. I've always lived here and I feel very protective of Chicago. I think everybody should come visit. I think if you've never been here and you hear bad things about it, don't believe everything you hear.
00:01:58
Speaker
I love Chicago. I think it is the best food scene in the world. and We just had a friend in from the Bay Area and he is in tech and always is going out with clients to the best restaurants in the Bay Area. And I said, you you got to go to Chef Special, my favorite restaurant.
00:02:16
Speaker
A special cocktail bar. This is not sponsored. I just need people to know this because as a lifelong Chicagoan, I don't think, and and I also don't like superlatives. So when somebody asks me my favorite, I kind of panic in any situation. But I've never been able to name a favorite Chicago restaurant.
00:02:32
Speaker
And instantly i was like, i think that's the best restaurant in Chicago. Chef's Special Cocktail Bar. And he went, we went, and he was like, I think you're right. That's like one of the best restaurants, including all the restaurants I've been going to.
00:02:46
Speaker
when people are trying to schmooze me in the Bay Area, um San Francisco area. So you heard it here first. I think it's my favorite restaurant in Chicago. I'm absolutely obsessed with it. So you got to go. Whether you live in Chicago or are visiting Chicago, check it out. And also, while we're on the topic, do not come here for deep dish pizza. We do not eat deep dish pizza. I mean, maybe some people do that like live in the suburbs as a special treat but it is very much a tourist thing like actual people in Chicago don't usually eat deep dish pizza when we have pizza so goil get some tavern style we have so many places Pizza Michi Pizza Lobo
00:03:24
Speaker
Really, i mean, you can go wrong with pizza, but you can't go as wrong as going to Giordano's. I'm sorry. i said it. I know so many people are like, we got to go to like Pizza Uno or Pizzeria Uno or Giordano's. And I don't think I've ever been to Uno, whatever it is.
00:03:41
Speaker
But it's not. It's not Chicago. That is not Chicago. You need to get a good donut, a good hot dog. And how we eat those hot dogs is very serious. We do not eat ketchup on the hot dog and we do not eat deep dish pizza.
00:03:56
Speaker
But you're going to go, go to a Wrigley Field Cubs game, get a grilled hot dog with grilled onions. and pickles, relish, mustard on that hot dog.
00:04:09
Speaker
And that's that's how we do it. So anyway, there's your unsolicited Chicago foodie advice. I have so much more. So if you are coming to Chicago or if you need restaurant recs, please let me know. I love to eat my way through Chicago.
00:04:24
Speaker
Okay, just needed to get that off my chest before we could dive into report cards.
Understanding Report Card Feedback
00:04:30
Speaker
So let's talk about it. Your child's report card says they're declining in a certain area. Now what?
00:04:36
Speaker
Or maybe had a parent-teacher conference that said things aren't going that well, and it feels pretty vague. I know we've talked about this a little bit before, but what does it mean? What should you ask? Well,
00:04:48
Speaker
If you got, especially in kindergarten or first grade, got this information and feel like you don't really know what it actually means, you're really not alone.
00:04:59
Speaker
This is the number one thing I get questions about in my DMs, that people just don't know what their child's report card means or what their feedback actually means.
00:05:10
Speaker
They say, okay, my child's teacher said they're declining, but I don't know why. Or their report card says they're not meeting expectations. What does that mean? Or they told me to get my child tested, but didn't explain anything else. Or it says need support, but not really support with what?
00:05:26
Speaker
If your child's report card said needs support with reading and writing, those are huge, huge topics. You want more information. You want to know if it's their spelling. Is it their phonemic awareness? Is it their phonics patterns that they're not understanding? Is it their penmanship? Are they writing letters incorrectly? Are they writing letters from the bottom to the top? Are they writing words out of order? Are they just not able to stay in the lines? Are they having trouble with spacing and punctuation? Or are they just having trouble with spelling? Are they spelling phonetically or are they adding letters that don't actually make sense?
00:06:03
Speaker
There's so much that could be under just that one bubble of writing. And then reading, is it their fluency? Is it their comprehension? Is it their ability to decode? Are they guessing at words? Are they just looking at pictures? Are they not seeing the words clearly? There's just so much under each of these things. And you want to know how to help. So i'm going to tell you how.
00:06:24
Speaker
You're not missing something. Port cards in general are just genuinely unclear. Let's dive in a little deeper, right?
00:06:35
Speaker
In kindergarten, first and second grade specifically, report cards reflect skill-based things. So they're skill buckets. They're not really tied to specific reading behaviors. They're pretty broad.
00:06:47
Speaker
And you'll typically see three things. Approaching, Level meets where they need to be or need support, but not specifically which skills. So that's when you can honestly talk to your child's teacher and be like, I need more information on which skills they are not meeting expectations on or what it looks like. So you don't need to be an expert. You don't need to be a reading specialist to be able to decode going what this means, you just need to ask your teacher, what does this mean and why is this happening?
Assessing Early Education Skills
00:07:16
Speaker
um A lot of schools are not set up to give highly specific diagnosed information this early. um and might not even have all the resources. So it doesn't mean that your child's teacher doesn't care. It doesn't mean your school doesn't care. it just means that they either don't have the right tools or they don't have the time or they weren't trained to break reading down in that way.
00:07:38
Speaker
But as a parent, you deserve more clarity. So we're going to ask some more questions. And let's talk about what declining might mean. It seems kind of scary, but most of the time, declining doesn't mean that your child is losing skills.
00:07:54
Speaker
It means that the gap between your child and the expectations is getting bigger. So sometimes you're like, it seems like they're improving. But if we look at things on a scale...
00:08:05
Speaker
If they are continuing to improve, the baseline of where they need to be is also continuing to increase. So even if they're improving, that goalpost is moving as well. So it's very hard to catch up. So I like to say, let's look at our own baseline of improvement. We want to see continuous improvement.
00:08:27
Speaker
So it might look like they were where they needed to be in the fall, but they're declining in the spring. That doesn't necessarily mean that your child is losing skills. It just means that the gap got bigger. and especially in first and second grade and kindergarten, honestly, those years move fast. So if they were where they needed to be in the fall and didn't make tons of growth, but did make growth,
00:08:53
Speaker
In the spring, it might look like they're declining because that gap grew. and an early early reading, it usually points to one of a few things.
00:09:04
Speaker
Most likely, they're having trouble hearing and working with sounds. So you can kind of check in with your child on this by asking them to say certain words like, say cat, but don't say the k sound.
00:09:20
Speaker
And they should be able to say at Or can you say pit but change the i to an ah? Now, they should be able to do this with their ears before they even can write.
00:09:33
Speaker
And this is demonstrating their phonemic awareness, their ability to hear and work with sounds together. um One of the other things that could be happening is they can't easily blend sounds together. So maybe they're able to say each of the sounds individually.
00:09:48
Speaker
But when it comes to reading the word, they go... F-R-O-G-D-O-G. They just say the ending. That could be one of a few things. That could be their working memory.
00:10:03
Speaker
ah They're struggling to hold that first sound. That could be their blending, which, by the way, blending workshop, if you're in this stage, my blending workshop is the very best thing for you. we only offer it a few times a year. So make sure you message me asking about it so you get on the wait list for the next time it opens.
00:10:25
Speaker
But there's so much I can teach you about blending that that's why it had to be 75-minute workshop and not just podcast episode. But, okay, one of the other things could be that they are guessing at words instead of decoding. You know, I love to talk about this. So many of those sight word memorizing kids.
00:10:43
Speaker
We'll just guess at words, and that is a big thing that we want to avoid teaching, and we want to discourage kids from doing. Reading is not guessing. We have to teach kids how to read properly and explicitly.
00:10:57
Speaker
Another thing that could be happening is they don't have strong letter sound automaticity, so that doesn't mean that they don't know their ABCs, but there are so many elements to actually having the alphabetic principle that So we might need to go back to just like building letter sound automaticity. That looks like drilling, holding up cards like that say CH and they're saying CH, SH, they say SH, TH, they say TH.
00:11:20
Speaker
We want to have really strong, quick letter sound automaticity. Or it might mean that reading feels slow and effortful, so they avoid it. But here's the important part.
00:11:32
Speaker
All of these are fixable skills. if we actually know what's going on and if we actually target them the right way. That's why I built my courses because I was like, this doesn't need to be like a whole big tutoring project, one-on-one, get them to a center, work for months and months. Like it's really, really properly targeting the skill that they're missing. So this is all the stuff I'm talking about is in my first grade bootcamp, which I'll link in the show notes. But It's fit. I give you 15 minute lessons. There's 20 15 minute lessons and I promise you they will teach your child what they need. So we want to make sure that we have an actual plan. We actually know what's going on and we're actually targeting these specific areas that they're struggling with. in a proper way to build their reading skills. So we're not just like reading more with them and we're not just reading aloud to them or we're not just having them read a decodable book or a passage and having them read it four times so they get better at fluency. If we're skipping to fluency before they have this solid ground, we're doing a huge disservice to these kids.
00:12:42
Speaker
Okay, let's move on to maybe you heard you should get them tested. This is a moment that a lot of parents spiral. a teacher might say, i think you should get them tested. And then nothing, no explanation, no next steps. You're just kind of on your own.
00:12:56
Speaker
So let's clarify what that could mean.
Seeking Feedback and Addressing Gaps
00:12:59
Speaker
It might be based on one of the universal screeners like Dibbles or iReady. It might be based on classroom observation, or it might just be a general concern about reading development.
00:13:13
Speaker
But what that does not mean is that your child has a diagnosis or that there is something wrong. I'm using air quotes here. It just means that your child's teacher is seeing something that they don't fully understand yet.
00:13:26
Speaker
And a teacher is not a diagnostician. They actually cannot say, I see that they might be dyslexic or I'm seeing ADHD. They don't have that ability. They're not a psychologist or a diagnostician. It needs to be someone else that can say that. They can just say the patterns that they're observing So if they're saying that, they just mean this is like kind of like beyond their scope of and sequence of what they can support. So maybe they're looking for someone else to say this is the exact kind of support they need, and then they can follow those guidelines.
00:14:01
Speaker
So you are absolutely allowed to ask, can you tell me what specifically you are seeing? And then you're allowed to ask for more specific information. Like, can you tell me the times of day? Can you just keep a few notes? Because if we are going to get them tested, i want to make sure we have all the data. So ask for notes. It doesn't have to be formal notes. Just ask for like, okay,
00:14:22
Speaker
Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday at 1230, he was rolling around on the carpet. Or he shut down when he had to read um a passage out loud. You know, like, ask for just some more specific data points if you are going the testing route.
00:14:37
Speaker
Okay, so let's talk about what else you can ask your teacher. If nothing else from this episode, take this part. Just this question. What specific skills are they struggling with?
00:14:49
Speaker
Is it phonics? Their sounds, fluency, comprehension. That alone is going to give you a lot of information. And I'll always say, come back to me in email or in my DMs, and I will help you break it down once you get that answer.
00:15:02
Speaker
You can ask, what does it look like when they read? Are they guessing? Are they skipping words? Are they just sounding things out slowly? Does it sound robotic? You want to get the full picture, not just that they're struggling or declining or not where they should be.
00:15:17
Speaker
I would also ask, what data are you using? You might hear running records, screeners, dibbles, iReady. You don't need to analyze it. You just need to know it exists.
00:15:29
Speaker
What support are they getting at school right now? they getting small group? How often? What kind? Is it pull out or push in? Is the small group just where they read aloud together? Or is it specific word study based on their writing analysis of where they're at? And that would be my dream. When I was in the classroom, I would group kids, not by their reading level, because they're Don't get me started. It's so vague. But based on their spelling, based on their writing, and we would do word study to focus on that. So there might be a kid who's reading Harry Potter and a kid who's just reading decodables, but they're both spelling at the same level. They would be in the same small group for me. So yeah, what kind, how often, a small group look like? Okay, question five, what would progress look like in the next six to eight weeks? What do you want to see? So this is key because if there's no clear answer, that gives you a lot of information. If a teacher or school is just saying they're behind,
00:16:24
Speaker
and not a lot of information, that's a little bit of a red flag. You want to hear them say this is our plan to support them for the next six to eight weeks. And you want them to give you some information on how you can also support them over the next six to eight weeks at home.
00:16:38
Speaker
So, okay, let's let's review those questions before I give you a couple more. What specific skills are they struggling with? What does it look like when they read? What data are you using? What support are they getting at school right now? And what would progress look like in the next six to eight weeks? Those are the five questions that you want to ask for more clarity.
00:16:58
Speaker
Remember, clear is kind. You are never being a burden to your child's school or teacher for asking for more information. Okay, so what can you do at home? Because you don't need to wait for this system to give you clarity because honestly, unfortunately, you might be waiting a long time. But you can do a lot in 5 to 10 minutes at home.
00:17:21
Speaker
Okay, first of all, linked in the show notes is my free beginning, middle, and end of year guide for both kindergarten and first grade. It tells you exactly what your child should know at these points and what to do if they don't.
00:17:34
Speaker
Okay, first go grab that. Two, let's do a sound awareness check. Ask them to say cat without the k or what sounds they hear in shoo, shoo. They should say sh and oo, not s-h-o-e.
00:17:50
Speaker
If it's hard, there's a foundational gap in their phonemic awareness. Again, there's a ton of phonemic awareness check-ins on my guide, but start there. two, then we're going to do a blending check. Say, going to say it slow, you say it fast.
00:18:06
Speaker
S-A-T. Can they say sat? Try it with words that have four letters, like F-R-O-G. Try separating the sounds a bit more and see if they can do it smoothly or if they're kind of just guessing.
00:18:24
Speaker
um Three, simple word reading. can You write words like map, sit, dog, frog, and watch. Are they sounding out the word or are they guessing quickly?
00:18:35
Speaker
Try it with words that are not real as well, like a CVC word, like P-I-K or Z-I-N. um That pattern, they should still be able to sound it out and know the short vowel sounds, whether or not it's a real word.
00:18:52
Speaker
um And last, do a writing check. And this is honestly the most revealing. I always tell people, send me a picture of your child's independent writing if you don't know where they're at, and I can tell you a lot of information. And that stands, send me a DM with a picture of your child's writing if you need some help on figuring out where they're at, and i can I can give you some answers there. But Say, write the sentence, I can sit on the map.
00:19:18
Speaker
Look at how they spell. Look at if they're using uppercase letters. Look at how their spacing is. Look at what sounds they represent. Look at what they leave out. So again, in my blending workshop, I teach you the progression of what it should look like. So you know a five-year-old would probably write I-C-N for can, sit. They would probably get S-I-T. They would probably get mat, and they might get the spelled correctly. But You can do a couple of trickier sentences too, like...
00:19:48
Speaker
Quick, get on the truck and see if they're understanding those CK endings, that QU beginning. You could also try some sentences with long vowels. They start to learn about magic E and long vowels in the end of
Improving Literacy Skills at Home
00:20:02
Speaker
kindergarten. So kindergarten, first and second grade should be able to do some words like sweet or cake.
00:20:08
Speaker
So you can try decodable sentences with some of those words too. And this will give you a lot of information too. Writing will show you what reading can hide. Okay, so if you want some more structure, this is exactly why I created these guides for kindergarten and first grade, your check-in. It walks you through what your child should know, how to check it, and what to do next. But if you want even more, this is exactly why I've created my courses. So grab those in the show notes. I literally walk your child through how to do all of these things.
00:20:39
Speaker
But you do have what it takes. It only takes five to 10 minutes a day. And I promise you, you can help your child at home, even if they're not getting everything they need at school. Okay, so i want to leave you with this. If something feels unclear or off, you're not behind. You're actually early. You are catching this at the exact moment where support actually works best. Clarity changes everything.
00:21:02
Speaker
Once you know what's going on you can help your child in a way that actually makes reading click. And I have got your back in that. I promise you are not alone. If this episode helped you, please send it to a friend, like, rate, and review our show. Make sure you're following. It helps us get all this information to more people. It is my goal to make parents feel seen and supported and advocated for and know how to advocate for their child and for all children. So hopefully we can change the literacy game across the world. That's my small goal. Literacy and justice for all, right?
00:21:41
Speaker
Okay, that is our episode for today. Let me know if you have any questions and I will see you next time.