The first four to six weeks of school have passed and now is a good time to evaluate how your child is doing. Many school districts are sending home interim reports indicating half of the first marking period has passed. If your student received his or her interim, did you read? More importantly, did you understand it? Some of the markings or comments may seem cryptic. Parents may not know how to interpret a comment such as progressing, or the check symbol. Anything parents do not understand or have concerns regarding their child’s progress or lack thereof is an indicator they need clarification. The most expeditious way for a parent to gain clarity is to email their child’s teacher. In the email ask for clarification of comments or marks used on the interim report. It is also appropriate to ask for a meeting a phone conference.
FOR STUDENTS WHO RECEIVE SPECIAL SEVICES (IEP or 504)
If a students’ academic progress this early in the year is poor, parents need to contact their child’s special education teacher(s) and develop an understanding what their child is struggling with. Questions a parent may ask are: Are my child’s modifications in place and active? Are my child’s IEP Goals being worked on? Is my child being given his test and assessments in a separate location, as indicated on his IEP?
Should parents feel they need to monitor their child’s day to day behavior/related services/ assignments/etc. now would be a good time to start a home/school communication sheet. (Email me, I can help you create one.)
 At home parents should make sure they are offering their child the academic support they need to succeed in school. Are you checking your child’s homework? Does your child have too many extra-curricular activities that leaves him or her with little time or energy to do homework or study? Is your child getting enough sleep or are they up late gaming or on their phones? Being overbooked and sleep deprived has a huge impact on a student, especially their memory and processing.
 The interim of the first marking period is the time to make adjustments accordingly. In four to six weeks, when report cards are distributed, parents and teachers can assess if the changes made are beneficial or do they need to call for a Program Review with the Committee of Special Education (CSE).
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FOR STUDENTS WHO DO NOT RECEIVE SPECIAL SERVICES
(Does not have an IEP or 504)
If a student is struggling at this point in the first marking period, now is the time to put the wheels in motion. Parents should request a meeting with their child’s teacher. (While at the meeting keep notes.) Parents should discuss their academic and social/emotional concerns for their child with the teacher. While meeting with your child’s teacher do the following:
1)Â Â Set two to three measureable short term goals both the parent and teacher will support the student in achieving to reflect in the first report card.
2)Â Â Agree upon a daily method of home/school communication.
3)Â Â Parents should assist their child in maintaining an organized backpack/folders/notebooks.
 Parents should ask if the school has a “Students at Risk” team who follows and monitors students who academically struggle or are failing. If such a team exists, request to have your child put on their list. If a parent is told their child does not need to be on the Student at Risk team ask why not? And record the response in the notes you keep.
 Parents should assess how they are supporting their child at home? Is the students’ homework checked? Are you checking the parent portal to keep an eye on if your child is completing all assignments? How much sleep is the child getting? How is the parent supporting the student with homework and studying? Is the student overbooked with extracurricular activities? A parent should be aware their support comes in many different forms.
WHY SHOULD PARENTS DO THIS NOW?
It may seems early in the school year to start requesting meetings, revisiting IEP Goals and modifications, creating short term goals for your student, and keeping notes on every conversation you have with teachers, but it is not. In doing this, parents are creating a paper trail that will support them should they need to take their academic concerns for their child to the next level.
 Let’s project into the future: should a student continue to do poorly and a parent wants their child evaluated for special education services, that parent will most likely be told by the school before the school moves to a full evaluation they must try some academic interventions. At that point, a parent can recount meetings and concerns they have shared with the teacher; the request to have their child on the Student at Risk team; short term goals the teacher and parent created for the student and the outcome of said goals; and give an overall summary of how that impacted the student. A lot of what the school will want to do will have been done and the parent has record of everything.
 A school does not immediately move to evaluating a student. There is a lot of time that passes when scheduling a meeting is taken into an account (it can take a few weeks to get a meeting). At the meeting it may be agreed upon by everyone some academic interventions should be implemented and re-evaluated in six weeks. Then another meeting has to be scheduled. Should it be agreed upon that a student should be evaluated for special education services, schools have 40-60 workdays to give the evaluation and meet again. Parents could very well be looking at late spring before a program is put in place for their child. Unfortunately, during that time the student is academically loosing ground.
 If you are unsure of what your next steps are, or if you should start the process of contacting teachers, please contact me – let me support you. Please contact me with any questions or concerns you may have or if you need guidance with steps you should take. I love helping parents who help their children because the children are our future. You can contact me at: annec@advocate4students.com. I will get back to you immediately!
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Wishing everyone peace, love & courage,
Anne Cunningham, Educational Advocate
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