Make A Film For Your Parents

Given the imprecise nature of the language we use to communicate with parents regarding their student's performance, I suggested five steps that schools or teachers can take to improve communication. However, I keep playing this issue over in my head and constantly wonder if there is a better way.

What if we were delivering the results as if we were telling a story or making a movie? Twice a week I work with elementary school students in a film club. We work with these students to transform their ideas in to a story (see the district film festival website here). In film, we use a method called storyboarding to visualize what we want to happen. In a sense teachers or schools could think through this very same process with each student for each step: (1) What is the test, when did your son/daughter take the test, and why the results are important? (2) How your student scored some comparison data (e.g. how did the rest of the state, district, or school score)? (3) How you can support your student to improve or maintain high performance? (4) When the student will test next? (5) What is the best way to contact their teacher to get more information?

Above was my picture for the first scene in the storyboard. Here is my storyboard for the first two images. The metaphor of a storyboard is great because it makes you think through the emotion and imagery that you want to create, just like a great director does with a movie. The storyboard version of talking to parents about students could result in better metaphors and descriptions of the student's actual performance. It is a deliberate method for creating a vision for the parents.

Mime the Results

The way you present data should slef-explanatory enough that a mime could walk most people through the reports.

At a keynote address I attended last Thursday Tom Guskey said, "If parents don't understand what we are trying to tell them it is our problem, not their problem." Tom Guskey went on to demonstrate that even when we think we are sending a straight-forward message to parents (e.g. end of term grades) there is hidden meaning and unintended messages. Guskey pointed out that grades frequently are inconsistent and include multiple dimensions (e.g. homework, attendance, participation, test perfromance). So a student who knows and understands the content could easily earn a C if they refuse to do home work. A couple of years ago we compared ACT and CSAP performance with student grades within relevant subjects. Guskey said this relationship was weak, but we found no relationship at all (for you stat nerds I believe the correlation was around 0.04). This study led to a re-examination of grading procedures and relationship to the standards.

No matter what assessment or performance related material we are sending home to parents we should be sure that we are clear about the following things: (1) What is the test, when did your son/daughter take the test, and why the results are important. (2) How your student scored some comparison data (e.g. how did the rest of the state, district, or school score). (3) How you can support your student to improve or maintain high performance. (4) When the student will test next. (5) What is the best way to contact their teacher to get more information.

How often are we successful at all of these steps?

Digital Divide

The United States ranks 21st in Digital Opportunity Index according to the International Telecommunications Union. The index is a gross measure of the digital divide. Korea ranks number one and Japan, which ranks number two accounts for 80% of the current development of fiber (high-speed lines) to home installation. Yhe United States ranks behind Luxembourg and one spot ahead of Slovenia. According to the ICT the DOI is based on 11 core ICT indicators agreed on by the Partnership on Measuring ICT for development, grouped in 3 clusters: opportunity, infrastructure and utilization. The ICT notes that this measure might be valuable for predicting future potential to exploit emerging technology niches. The

The DOI is a more thorough measure of broadband penetration and better indicator of the divide. As FCC member Michael Copps wrote in a November Op-Ed the reason for our lagging status is because the ridiculous rates that high-speed providers are able to charge in a non-competitie market. Unfortunately, there is a divide even within the United States between those that have and those that cannot afford the rates. I just looked up the cost of cable internet in my neighborhood and found that it was $59/month and $49 for installation. Nearly $800 per year for high-speed internet service! So, in those areas of America where $800 a year is a stress on the pocketbook there is going to be even less boradband penetration. Those areas tend to be rural and urban poor.

It is alarming that the richest country in the world is only 21st on the DOI, but what is more staggering is the complete absence of outrage over the expanding digital divide within America. If access to obtain and create new information is going to be the difference maker in the future for the students of today, we have a moral obligation to help our less fortunate students cross the divide.