It’s progress report season! For most high schools, the first quarter ends in early November, while many middle and elementary schools wrap up their first trimester by early December. Report cards are coming home, and progress reports along with them. 

Both report cards and progress reports are powerful tools for advocacy.  Understanding what they measure and how to read them can help you spot patterns, celebrate successes, and intervene early when supports need adjustment. In this guide, we’ll break down both report cards and progress reports and give you strategies for tracking your child’s progress effectively.

How to use report cards for advocacy:

1. Compare past records: Line up the last three or four report cards and look for patterns. Is your child improving steadily in reading or math? Are there areas of repeated struggle? Have they declined in any area? For example, if your child has consistently thrived in math but is suddenly struggling, it’s definitely worth reaching out to their teacher.
2. Review teacher comments: These often provide insights beyond grades. A comment like “Student has difficulty paying attention in class,” especially when made across multiple report cards, may indicate an executive functioning challenge that warrants support.
3. Identify next steps: If you’re seeing slow (or no) progress in any areas, it is time to reach out to your child’s teacher. If your child’s on an IEP, ask to review the supports in place to make sure they’re adequate and supporting growth. If your child’s not on an IEP, consider requesting an evaluation.

Progress Reports:

Progress reports track your child’s progress toward their IEP goals. They’re typically issued alongside report cards and are completed by your child’s service providers, such as special education teachers, speech-language pathologists, or occupational therapists.

When reading progress reports, look for:

• Specific Data: It’s not enough to say that (Student) completes a given task in 4 out of 5 opportunities. Progress reports should contain information about your child’s accuracy and independence. Anyone can achieve any goal with enough support. What you’re looking for is whether teachers and clinicians are fading support to teach your child the skills they need to perform the task independently (or at least with more independence than before).
• Concrete Examples: Progress reports should describe what your child worked on, how it was approached, and the strategies used. For example, if a child is working on reading fluency, you want to know not only their speed, but also on which types of words they’ve made progress, where they’re still struggling, and what strategies have been used.

If your child’s progress report comes home lacking this information, don’t hesitate to reach out to the school to ask for clarification. The teachers have the data to support their progress reports, so they can provide the context you need to understand your child’s growth.

• Minimal Progress: If a child is making minimal progress toward their goals, it may be time to re-evaluate. Consider calling a Team meeting to revisit the rigor of the goal and its benchmarks. Ask the Team to review the accommodations and modifications and ensure they’re providing enough support for the student to make adequate progress. 
• Goal Achievement: If a child achieves their goal before the end of the IEP period, the school should reach out to you to schedule a meeting. If not, you can request a meeting to discuss how to increase the rigor of the goal to keep driving effective progress for your child.

Keep copies of each progress report. Over time, they create a narrative of skill development that can inform future planning and help when discussing new goals or changes in services.

Reconciling Discrepancies:

Many parents who receive both progress reports and report cards see discrepancies in the data. A child may be making excellent progress toward their IEP goals, but struggling in their classes. So how does this happen?

It’s important to remember that progress reports measure progress toward IEP goals, not toward the general education curriculum. Your child may excel at solving word problems (their goal) but struggle with algebraic concepts in math class, have difficulty initiating, completing, or handing in work due to executive functioning challenges, or simply need more support to thrive in their class. Executive functioning, attention, and classroom routines can also impact performance, even if the child has mastered specific skills in small-group or 1:1 settings.

Environmental differences matter as well. When students work on their IEP goals, they are often targeting specific skills in a supportive, small-group setting with individualized attention. In the general education classroom, students are part of a larger group, and the lesson likely requires them to address many skills at once. 

For example, a child with a decoding goal using the Wilson Reading System would be taught a specific skill in isolation before applying that skill to read controlled text. When they return to their general education classroom, they’re reading text with far more variety and have to apply their recently learned skill while simultaneously working on their reading comprehension.

What you can do:

• Discuss discrepancies with your child’s teachers. Ask for insight into why grades may differ from progress toward IEP goals.
• Track patterns over time and bring that information to Team meetings. This helps keep the conversation focused on solutions rather than isolated challenges. When everyone sees the full picture, including your child’s strengths, struggles, and trends, it becomes easier to develop supports that drive progress.
• Celebrate wins. Even small gains toward IEP goals are meaningful and indicate growth toward independence.

Using These Tools to Advocate Effectively

Understanding both report cards and progress reports enables you to advocate confidently and collaboratively. 

• Look for patterns across quarters or trimesters, not just individual data points.
• Ask for clarification when reports lack data or examples. Teachers and service providers have the information and can share it with you in a meaningful way.
• Take action early. Addressing slow progress quickly prevents small challenges from becoming larger gaps.

These documents are an excellent window into your child’s learning. By reading them closely, asking the right questions, and partnering with teachers, you can ensure your child is receiving the supports they need to thrive academically.

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