1. Writing comments for reports
Languages
What influences what we do?
Firstly there are systems requirements.
What are systems requirements?
Examples include:
For DET - Curriculum planning and programming, assessing and reporting to parents K–12 policy
All systems - School-based programming supervision.
Independent schools – BOS registration requirements for non-govt schools etc.
What about systems requirements for Languages? Some schools offer 2 hours, ½ an hour, culture only…
What are the Federal Govt requirements?
Reporting – tied to funding for schools in all states.
You may be aware of the DET School Bulletins “Reporting to Parents” . The website is:
These bulletins address writing meaningful report comments.
Languages Unit
Curriculum Directorate
NSW Department of Education & Training
NSW Public Schools – Leading the Way

2. Why are report comments important?
Policy requirements
Feedback to students
Feedback to parents
Its important to provide students with feedback on their progress at specific points during or at the end of a stage so that they can plan the next steps in their learning and they know how their performance can be improved.

3. New Federal reporting requirements
parents … formal and informal opportunities to receive information about and discuss their child’s learning
procedures for reporting to parents … time efficient and manageable, and developed in consultation with parents/carers and teachers
written report … at least twice per year
the reports from state-wide testing programs to be disseminated to parents and caregivers
These are FEDERAL reporting requiremenst reflected in DET policy. All education sectors need to adhere to these requirements.

4. Written reports use plain language
provide information on a student’s learning in each of the key learning areas or subjects
compare student’s achievement against state-wide syllabus standards using an A-E scale
include teacher comments identifying areas of student strength and areas for further development
include information on student attendance at school
include student achievement in relation to school programs that extend or are additional to syllabus requirements
provide information on student’s social development and commitment to learning

5. DET Advice
The new policy reinforces the importance of teacher comments in the written report. Parents have indicated consistently how highly they value written comments by their child’s teacher.

6. What is effective feedback?
Effective feedback provides:
information about what happened or was done
an evaluation of how well or otherwise the action or task was performed
guidance as to how performance can be improved.
Evaluation describes for students and parents/caregivers the level of students’ performance.
Guidance explains what students can do to improve their performance.

7. Effective feedback
describes what happened – e.g. The student understood the questions and was able to use her knowledge of Chinese to make simple responses, though made some grammatical errors using the past tense.
provides an evaluation – e.g. The student demonstrated clearly that she understood the questions and was able to answer spontaneously and with reasonable fluency. Responses were often too brief. Grammatical errors when using the past tense often impeded communication.
provides guidance about how performance could be improved in the future – e.g. The student needs to elaborate and expand on responses. Revision of the past tense is also advised.

8. Activity
Create an evaluation and guidance to complete the feedback below:
Describe what the student was able to do – e.g. Student is able to read and understand main ideas in a text, but has difficulty in responding in appropriate detail.
Provide an evaluation
Provide guidance

9. Grades
Grades are designed to define the student's progress and provide information about the skills that they have or have not acquired. Nevertheless, grades are often not detailed enough to give parents or the student a thorough understanding of what the student has actually learned or accomplished.

10. Writing comments
Well written comments can give parents and students guidance on how to make improvements in specific academic or social areas.
The process of writing comments can also be helpful to teachers as it provides the opportunity to reflect on the academic and social progress of their students.
Example for advice on academic and social improvement
For example, the teacher who wrote the earlier feedback on speaking skills may also wish to recommend that ‘extending responses beyond one phrase or sentence and practising questions /answers daily with a friend may help the student to enhance speaking skills’.
Think of advice you would give to parents/caregivers at a Parent-Teacher meeting for enhancing speaking skills when discussing their child’s report.
Learn phrases and vocabulary on a regular basis to extend knowledge
Encourage students to use the target language in the classroom at all times
Have a buddy system, where students ring each other and speak for 5 minutes.
Process of writing comments
Writing comments gives teachers the opportunity to be reflective about the academic and social progress of their students. This time of reflection may result in teachers gaining a deeper understanding of each student's strengths and needs.

11. How should teachers express their comments?
The use of specific comments encourages positive communication between teachers, parents and students. Written in a positive and informative manner, comments can address a variety of issues while remaining positive and encouraging the student. This is especially important if a student has had difficulty with a particular subject area or controlling his/her behaviour over an extended period of time.
The emphasis here is on POSITIVE and INFORMATIVE.
You wish the student to be able to reflect on what they are able to achieve at this point in their learning. Then make suggestions about the best way for the student to improve on their current skills.

12. Word choice Words that promote a positive view of the student thorough
caring
shows commitment
improved considerably
has a good grasp of
Words and phrases to use to convey that a student needs help
should benefit from
requires
finds it challenging at times to
needs reinforcement in

13. Information sources teachers should use when writing report comments
Teachers should have a number of sources from which they can derive information on each student to support the comments that are made on each report.
The most commonly used sources of information are:
examples of student work
test results
student portfolios
formal and informal student observations.
Teachers need a range of sources in order to provide specific information on the different strengths and weaknesses of each student.
As sources of information…teachers will have a diverse range of evidence - grades, marks, comments (both formal and informal) for assessment tasks for the student individually and as a group member, as well as the student’s portfolio, with peer and self-evaluation comments etc.
We need to weigh up all the evidence to make a judgement against standards for the point at which the student is in the Stage of learning.

14. Use plain language use jargon-free language in reports to parents
select language that is easily understood by the school community
avoid professional terminology.

15. Example of plain language
Sara can work out the meaning from the context when listening for main ideas in an Arabic text.
Sara can maintain a simple conversation using a range of vocabulary and expressions within a given topic.
When reading simple texts Sara can identify specific information.
Sara can create and write simple passages using known language structures in Arabic and using Arabic script.
Sara needs to further develop her creative writing of Arabic.

16. Activity
In the participants’ notes refer to the comment starters and choose two student profiles.
With the group at your table or in a pair write a comment on each student using the comment starters as a guide only.
Open the participants folder,
point out the comment starters
Explain that these can also be found at the
These comment starters were developed for the assessment and reporting unit. They were developed from the learn to statements. THEY ARE A GUIDE FOR TEACHERS.
Look at the student profiles on page 9, there are 5 profiles. Ask teachers to choose 2 profiles and write a comment for semester 1 report using the comment starters.

17. Develop a school style guide
Reports are official school documents, bearing the school’s logo and written for the parents. As such, they must be of the highest quality, recognisable and readable by the school’s community.
Self editing is an important part of the reporting process. During self editing procedures, reports should be read aloud, which makes it easier to check on spelling, grammar and punctuation.
A collaborative task for whole –school. Ask what check list processes teachers go through at their schools.

18. Use evidence in comments
Base judgements of student achievement of syllabus outcomes on quality evidence.
Written comments about areas of strengths and areas for further development should be based on the evidence that led to the overall judgment.

19. Focus on key aspects
Identify those aspects of achievement that are the most important.
Select the most important aspects of the student’s achievement and areas for improvement.
Make links between the areas of achievement specific to languages, student strengths and areas for further development.
It is not possible to include comments on all aspects of the learning programs in every report.
Remind teachers here that further discussion should take place at Parent/Caregiver/teacher interviews where teachers have the opportunity to elaborate on what the student can do and when he/she needs to do to improve.

20. Comment structure
Identify areas of strength and areas for further development in the language.
Focus specifically on achievement against syllabus standards.
Avoid comments that only relate to a student’s task completion or other issues unrelated to achievement.
Provide a clear picture of necessary next steps for the student.
Avoid predictions.
Avoid predictions – e.g. If Sara practises her pinyin every night she will improve. If Sara learns 10 words a week she will do better in the next test.

21. General Comment
Report comments should be written in a positive tone. There is always something positive to say about a student.
Use the information from the Other School Activities, Commitment to Learning, and Social Development grids to elaborate on and construct the general comment.

22. Report writing checklist
Report Area
Actions to complete
Completed
Languages Comments
Identifies areas of strength in the language
Identifies areas for further development in the language
Comments focus on the most important aspects
General Comment
Written in a positive tone
Expands on ‘Other School Activities’, ‘Commitment to Learning’ and ‘Social Development’
Other School Activities
Recorded
Commitment to Learning
Social Development
Overall
Report is written in clear, plain language
No repetition of comments
Comment matches overall achievement and effort
Absences
Signed
Self Editing
Spelling
Grammar
Punctuation
This can be found in your participants notes.

23. Where to from here? The DET website BOS ARC website
BOS ARC website
DET new reporting for teachers and parents

24. Activity
Read the French COGS unit on Being Australian for Stage 2. Focus on the planned assessment.
In pairs or threes create an assessment notification using the proforma in the booklet.
Questions to consider:
What outcomes do you want to achieve?
What grade/mark would you allocate to this task?
What will the criteria be and what will the students be required to do?