How to Improve Reporting to Parents

The practice of issuing an annual "chequebook" style set of reports to the parents of high school students seems well past its sell-by date to me.  Surely modern communications offer opportunities for more flexible, timely feedback to parents and students.

Having said that, I think we could improve reports overnight by adopting a few simple rules:
  • no more "Joe is a clever boy / Joe is very able/ Joe is a hardworking pupil / Joe is conscientious" comments.  These represent ego-centred feedback, and undermine resilience;
  • no more "If Joe works hard he will make good progress" comments.  This is obviously true of all students to some extent, and so provides no information to parents and learners. "
What rules would you add to this list?

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