Fall Transition Reports are now available for students who received one or more. Students can access these reports via the Classes tab in the student Pirate Page under Grades and Transcripts, and parents/guardians can find them on their guardian Pirate Page under the Classes tab, by clicking on their student’s name and scrolling down to the Grade Reports and Transcripts section and the 22-23 RLS year to click on the link to the Fall Transition Comments.
As Dr. Griffiths mentioned in his email to parents/guardians yesterday, the purpose of the transition comments is to highlight academic habits that need to be addressed. There are no grades attached to transition comments, because the focus is on behavior rather than outcomes at this stage. A full set of comments and grades will be issued immediately prior to Family Weekend conferences in mid-October. Below is Dr. Griffiths’ email in full.
We are now into our fourth week of classes and students and teachers are settling into the rhythm of the new school year. At this point, the faculty consider the progress of all their students and have submitted narrative feedback that tonight will go to students whose performance in class is not yet where they would hope or expect. These reports focus on scholarly habits and classroom behavior rather than grades, and do so for good reasons: most classes have had few significant assessments and any grade would not accurately reflect the likely outcome at the end of the semester, and to provide a grade on such limited data could be distracting or induce unnecessary anxiety so early in the term. Not all students will receive a report in every class, and some may not receive any at all. If your child receives a transition comment, it is because their teacher has specific, actionable feedback that, if applied, can lead to better outcomes in the weeks and months to come.
As with our other narrative reports, these comments are addressed directly to the student; you and their advisor are sent copies. Our hope is that these reports stimulate reflection and conversation, bringing attention to unhelpful habits and directing students to take advantage of the full resources available to them. In our daily schedule, for example, we have a dedicated extra help period where all teachers and students are otherwise unscheduled; these blocks are a great opportunity for students to address any gaps in their knowledge or understanding in partnership with their teacher, or to catch up on missed work due to absences.
In early October we will write narrative comments for all students and include an in-progress grade for every class. You will receive these comments prior to Family Weekend, providing the opportunity for us to discuss your child’s academic progress during the parent conferences on October 13-15. It is important to note that any grade issued at the midterm is not used in any GPA calculation and does not appear on a student’s final transcript: only the end of semester grades are used for these purposes.
If you have any questions or concerns about these transition comments, please feel free to reach out to your child’s advisor, who is best placed to share an overview of their progress. We issue narrative reports while teaching and learning is still in progress to give students the opportunity to apply the feedback offered before their semester grade is fixed — any report issued at the end of a grading period only serves to tell students what they should have done, rather than what they can still do to improve!
Sincerely,
Dan Griffiths
Head of Upper Division