LEARN NC

4.1 If he's in danger of failing, at least three people need to know it

Originally posted March 23, 2006

By Kristi Johnson Smith

It was June. I thought the school year was over. But a parent had contacted the administration to officially challenge her child’s final grade.

What a nightmare. Meeting after meeting. Tons and tons of paperwork. And a solid position I didn’t really want to defend. I had worked extremely hard to help this student learn the material and earn a passing grade on his coursework. I wanted him to be successful! Yet, here I was arguing that the failing mark he had received needed to stand.

As I prepared for the meetings, I did a quick mental overview of his experience in my classroom. I had reviewed his IEP before the school year ever started. I had followed it to the letter, granting him extended test time, copies of my notes and a seat in the front row of class. When it became obvious that he needed more individual attention, I had offered him one-on-one tutoring during after school sessions. Some days we had used that time to work together, but often he had failed to attend. I had given him progress reports every month, in addition to the official report cards generated twice a semester.

Moreover, I had documented all of my efforts. I had used my journal to record everything I did; I required his signature on all the modifications that were recorded in my IEP notebook, and documented every attempt I made to call his home in my multipurpose log. (You can find templates for these documents in “Templates to help you with paperwork.”

I thought I had done everything I could to reach this student. That wasn’t the question my administrators were asking, though. They wanted to know if I had done everything possible to reach his parent or guardian. I had worked with the student, but had I communicated enough with an adult in his home?

I had tried. I had left numerous messages on the home voice mail. I had required parent or guardian signatures on every progress report. But it turned out that the student had deleted some of those voice mails before his mother had ever heard them. Some of the parent signatures on the progress reports had been forged.

It is not a happy story. The grade stood. The student failed. And the mother left angry at her child for interrupting our communication and angry at me for not doing more to make sure she had been personally informed. Her last words were both wistful and bitter. “I could have done something. I could have made him do something. If you could have reached me…If I had only known…”

Preventing failure, not just documenting it

An unhappy story. An unhappy ending. Still, I feel compelled to share it, because it reveals a few important reminders. And I have listed four of those reminders below:

  1. Remember that you’re approaching the end of the school year. Now is the time to take inventory of where everyone stands. During the next few weeks, spend time figuring out which students are in danger of failing and deliver the message about those grades while there is still time for students to improve them. Make sure they know that if they want to pass, they have to decide now that they want to turn things around.
  2. Let those students know that you will be contacting their parents or guardians, then figure out some way to speak to an adult in their house. If your messages go unreturned, try e-mail or get a work number or address from the office. If there is an older sibling in the school, let them know that you are trying to get in touch with a parent or guardian. If none of that proves effective, let an administrator know that there is a student in danger of failing and you have been unable to reach his or her parents. Or you can talk to school counselors, other teachers, extracurricular coaches or anyone else working with that student who might have valuable advice for tracking his or her family down.
  3. Remember that the point of the conversation is not simply to notify the parent or guardian that the student is failing. You want to make the risk clear, but also need to express confidence in the student’s ability to catch up if he or she begins improving right now. Make the contacts early enough that success is still a real possibility. Let the parents or guardians know what their child must do to pass the class and how they, as supportive adults, can help.
  4. Document all of your efforts. In addition to helping you keep track of what you have (or have not) accomplished, you may need those records if the grade is challenged after report cards go out.

Some teachers will tell you that it is too much work and that tracking down parents is not your responsibility. They may be right on both counts. However, given all of the time we put into our students, isn’t it worth taking the time to make sure we are enlisting their families’ assistance? That mother insisted that she could have done something to help if she had understood the situation. Even after administrators assured her that I had lived up my responsibilities, I felt like I had let her down.

So today, I encourage you to take a look at your students. Who is struggling? To be successful in June, who needs additional help now? As teachers, we can provide extra aid, but we should remember that we are not alone in the effort. Parents and guardians care, and they are an incredible resource. Let them know if their children are faltering, and enlist their assistance. When notified, most are willing — and eager — to help.