Bolstering your report comments with data-backed insights

Having spent many years in the classroom, I remember well how stressful report-writing time can be, particularly with the pressure to ensure that each student receives personalised comments with meaningful reflections on their progress. With that in mind, I wanted to pass on practical tips for teachers to take advantage of the data available throughout the Intellischool Learner and Cohort profiles to springboard into detailed, data-backed comments for each student.

I often found that a focus on growth throughout report writing comments tended to be the most impactful for both students and parents to receive, while remembering the importance of highlighting areas for improvement going forward, and how the student can move towards these improvements.  

I also appreciate that depending on your role, you may be looking for subject-specific information, or broader information such as pastoral trends for a given student. With this in mind, you'll find that some of my tips below will be more useful than others depending on your students' context. Regardless of whether you're looking for broad or specific information, you'll see that I've tied these comment suggestions back in with a focus on growth.

Happy report writing!

Quick jump to each area using these links:

• 🚸 Learner Attendance tab

• 📈 Learner Achievement tab

• 📊 Learner Standardised Testing tab

• ↗️ Learner Relative Growth tab

• 📝 Learner Tasks tab

• 🌟 Cohort Relative Growth tab 
  
  

🚸 Learner Attendance tab

🤔 Questions to consider about the student:

• Have there been any significant or noteworthy changes in the student's attendance across the reporting period, whether that be a decline or an improvement?
• Are there any particular patterns of concern across the student's attendance, e.g. particular days of the week, times of day or subjects where they are regularly absent? 

📝 A sample comment:

"While it has been pleasing to see Matthew's overall attendance improve compared with last semester, he has had a number of absences from his General Mathematics class this semester, which may have led to the regression seen across his results for this subject. Matthew is encouraged to be proactive in seeking out additional support to ensure that he remains up-to-date during periods of absence." 

📈 Learner Achievement tab

🤔 Questions to consider about the student:

• 🌿 For Performance (Secondary) Analytics: What quick information can the insight cards (on the left of the screen) tell me about the student's semester average across all domains, including any growth or regression, and their most improved learning domain?
  • Can I make any comments on particular trends for this student?

    ✅ Remember - clicking on a subject in the legend above the line graph will isolate information for that specific subject, and clicking on a plot point will reveal further detailed information.

  • Can I use concrete data/percentages in my comment to highlight growth, either from the line graph or the tabular view?
• 🌱 For Progress (Primary) Analytics: Can I use the 'Below, At and Above Expectation' colour coding of the plot points to guide my comments?
  • Can I use concrete data/percentages in my comment to highlight achievement in a particular assessment task or strand for a chosen subject?

📝 A sample comment:

"Luella has made excellent progress in Chinese this semester, with her efforts resulting in an almost 15% increase from her average score last semester. She performed particularly well in her Unit 1 Speaking Assessment. Going forward, she is encouraged to focus on honing her already well-developed listening skills, and to seek out additional help as needed."

📊 Learner Standardised Testing tab

While I think it's important to be wary of commenting too extensively on standardised tests - which we know are often representative of a single instance of testing - there are opportunities to comment on growth where a similar standardised test has been repeated over time.

🤔 Questions to consider about the student:

• Has the student completed more than one of the same testing type where growth or regression has been calculated? Is it appropriate and/or relevant to comment on this change for this student?

📝 A sample comment:

"Tyson should be proud of the improvement he's shown over the past year as a result of his continuous efforts in Maths, which are reflected in his almost 17% increase on his Allwell Numeracy results. These efforts have also seen him increase his proficiency from 'At expectation' in 2022 to 'Above expectation' in 2023."

↗️ Learner Relative Growth tab

🌿 Schools using Performance (Secondary) Analytics will be able to view this tab.

🤔 Questions to consider about the student:

• Can I use the insight card above the line graph to comment on any noticeable trends,  growth or regression in the chosen subjects for this student? 
  

  ✅ Remember - clicking on the coloured squares next to each learning domain will isolate to the selected subject(s), and will also modify the insight card to reflect the chosen subject(s). 

• Can I use concrete data/percentages in my comment to highlight growth, either from the line graph or the tabular view?
• Can I overlay certain subjects to make comparisons between growth, and make comments on this where relevant or appropriate?

📝 A sample comment:

"On average across all learning domains, Elayna has shown a 7% decline in performance since last semester. In particular, she's shown an almost 30% decline in her Maths results. Given that Elayna has demonstrated that she is a capable student in Maths throughout previous years, she is encouraged to carefully reflect on any changes in her work habits, and to take initiative in seeking out guidance and support as needed."

📝 Learner Tasks tab

🌿 Schools using Performance (Secondary) Analytics will be able to view this tab.

🤔 Questions to consider about the student:

• Are there noticeable trends throughout the student's work submission habits overall? 
• Are there certain subjects where the student has demonstrated specific work submission habits?
• Can I use information in the tabular view below the pie chart to make comments about noteworthy results for specific tasks? 

📝 A sample comment:

"Kirra's average results for submitted work across all subjects this semester indicate that she is a capable student, with a particular aptitude for both German and Art. However, her work submission habits show that Kirra needs to carefully reflect on her organisation skills, as she has submitted a number of tasks late, and still has a number of tasks overdue. Kirra is strongly encouraged to make better use of the resources at her disposal, including her Student Diary and Help Desk sessions with her teachers to ensure that she is meeting set deadlines, and asking for additional support as needed."

🌟 Cohort Relative Growth tab

Here are a few reminders for using this report to hone in on the most relevant and/or useful information for an individual student:

• First, use the Search bar to search for the individual student, which will then show both insight cards and plot points specific to their assessment results.
• You can also use the 'Learning domains' and 'Semesters' drop-down menus in the top right-hand corner to hone in on specific areas.
• Clicking on the coloured boxes in the legend above the quadrant chart allows you to isolate the view to your chosen data sources.

🤔 Questions to consider about the student:

• Can I include any comments based on information from the student's insight cards? What are their highest and lowest areas of growth? Do their growth and performance averages show any significant growth or regression?
  

  ✅ Remember - make sure you've chosen the appropriate semesters from the drop-down menu in the top right-hand corner to be sure that the insight cards are reflecting the period for which you're commenting on

• Is there any noteworthy discordance between the student's school-based results (Teacher judgements) and their external testing results for a given subject area? 

📝 A sample comment:

"Andrew's results for English have declined this semester in comparison with his previous results. However, he produced strong scores throughout both NAPLAN and Allwell tests for reading and writing, indicating that he is a capable student with sound skills in these areas. Andrew is encouraged to carefully reflect on his work habits both in-class and during periods of revision at home, improvements to which may see him achieving results more reflective of his true capabilities in English."

💡 If you need any support with the dashboard tabs you've seen in this article, reach out anytime at help@intellischool.co.