Teacher Assessment Comments

Generic teacher report card comments to assist novice and experienced teachers in writing report cards.

Writing report cards for students is an overwhelming experience for novice and experienced teachers. Reports cards are usually done three times a year in elementary schools and 3-4 times for high school students. Teachers must evaluate and record student’s marks and then decide on honest comments in regards to the student’s weaknesses and strengths. Teachers are often given limited space for comments and their comments are evaluated by principals, and they decide to reject or accept the comments.

As teachers are busy creating lessons, evaluating and assessing students work, as well assessing their behavior and social skills, they also need to do report cards. Instead of reinventing the wheel I have located a website in Ontario that has exemplary report card comments. Many times report cards are not personal; they use generic comments to identify the student's strengths and weaknesses. Usually a teacher is able to write 3 or 4 comments about the students overall performance and this is where the teacher can truly personalize the comments to each individual student.

Report card comments for kindergarten to high school students main purpose is to illustrate what the student has excelled in and how they can improve their grades for next term. It is important teachers highlight the student’s strengths before writing about how they can improve. All students have strengths academically and socially. A student, who struggles with reading but tries everyday, demonstrates great effort and determination in learning a new skill. A student who is disruptive may be more than willing to hold doors for other students. Teachers need to document all of the student’s achievements. Student’s who are told one great thing about himself is more willing to stray from their negative achievements.

As teachers, we are subjective when writing report cards, if we like it or not. The student who is always disruptive usually will not be given as many breaks as the students who sit quietly and try hard each day. It is important as teachers to be as objective as possible when writing report cards. All students need to be graded based on the same criteria. Rubrics are ideal to try and keep teachers objective when evaluating students work.