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Maria Vazquez: We are just over one month into the school year. And you know what that means? Progress reports coming up. Why it's so important to review your child's progress.
Announcer: Welcome to Mondays with Maria, presented by ADDITION Financial Credit Union. Here's OCPS Superintendent Dr. Maria Vazquez.
Maria Vazquez: Hi everyone. Jamie Holmes is here with us. Welcome back.
Jamie Holmes: Thanks for having me back. Yeah, I don't always know if I'll get the call. <Laugh>,
Maria Vazquez: It's always great to see you
Jamie Holmes: Thank you so much. Appreciate it
Maria Vazquez: Oh, we, we are now over a month into the school year and so do you know what that time of year is?
Jamie Holmes: Summer break already?
Maria Vazquez: Yeah. No <laugh>, no, no Summer break. It really is at a, an important time for our families and for our children because progress reports are about to be released.
Jamie Holmes: Oh, I remember those as a kid.
Maria Vazquez: Do you, I bet you were a straight A student.
Jamie Holmes: Oh, you bet. And curiously, my parents never ever got to see my progress reports.
Maria Vazquez: <Laugh> the dog ate it?
Jamie Holmes: Every time.
Maria Vazquez: So, for families that maybe are new to our district or not aware. The progress report comes in the middle of each of our marking periods. We have not, we have four marking periods throughout the year. Each one is about nine weeks long. And in the middle we have a progress report and that allows a parent and a child to see how they're doing. And if they need help, they're still four weeks to go. And if they're doing great, parents can celebrate and continue doing what they're doing to get those grades.
Jamie Holmes: So what if hypothetically, there was a child that has a progress report on paper and they don't bring it home kind of concept hypothetically? Of course, hypothetically, parents can still see it.
Maria Vazquez: Absolutely. We really have gone digital and parents can access a, their child's progress report on Skyward. They can, it's a parent portal that we use. They can click on the Skyward icon and it lets them in and they're able to see the progress report. They are able to see grades, lots of information that's available to families through that parent portal.
Jamie Holmes: So, if there is a child, again, hypothetically, and their parents see something on that progress report that concerns them, what do they do?
Maria Vazquez: So first I would talk with your child. Right? See what's going on.
Jamie Holmes: I remember those lectures
Maria Vazquez: <Laugh>, Do you?
Maria Vazquez: I won't say lectures, but let's see, how can we help? Right? Right. because It really is, it's not too late. We can talk about what may have caused the grades, either maybe not to be submitted or for them not to do well. And then I certainly would make sure that they're communicating with their teacher. Every progress report lets you know who the teacher is. If you don't remember, you know, sometimes there's six or seven different teachers, parents have to keep track of. But then reach out to the teacher. You can communicate via email. You can call the school. You can set up a conference either in person or by phone or simply with email so they can find out what's going on. I know you would never have done this, but no, no. Another child, my child says they've turned in every single assignment, but yet there are six zeroes that are showing up on Skyward.
Jaime Homes: Bizarre how that happens decade after decade. <Laugh> in classrooms all across America. Yeah. So, let's talk a little bit about, obviously I think it's important to even access the teacher because you want to have those conversations. Yes. Because you really want to get out ahead of these things before everything starts to snowball.
Maria Vazquez: Right. And we really are partners in the education process. And so connecting with the teacher finding out information from the teacher's perspective, why the grades are what they are. You might learn about resources that are available. For example, we have tutoring that's offered at our schools across the district. Some of them are face to face, but some of them are even virtual. A parent or even a child may not know that. So having that conversation with the teacher, trying to make a plan of how you can turn this around is critical for the child to be successful.
Jaime Homes: So we're more than four weeks into the school year. Now, when do the report cards come out? Right. So
Maria Vazquez: Report cards come out every nine weeks. We have the dates published on our website where the calendar is. And you will be able to again, access the report cards through Skyward. And it's almost every four and a half weeks. You can expect either the progress report or the report card.
Jaime Homes: And despite what I used to say to my parents, F is not fantastic.
Maria Vazquez: No. Okay. No. We, we really don't want <laugh> our children to be receiving Fs. And really a lot of times it's because they have not turned in assignments. Right? Right. And so our teachers are incredibly gracious. Especially the, the start of the school year. The children have been on vacation. They may not be back into in the mode. Right. Right into that mode of doing your homework, turning it in. And so a great time to talk with your child, revisit the plan. What are the goals? How are you going to take care of your homework? If you have questions, what are you going to do so that we're all working together to ensure the child is successful.
Jaime Homes: So if a parent has a problem getting access to their Skyward account, what resources are there for them?
Maria Vazquez: Oh yes. That's very important. Especially if, you know, some of us are not tech savvy. Oh no, we're not. So the easiest thing maybe if you're not tech savvy, is to reach out to the school. Right? They have someone there that can help you. But we do have resources on our website that have videos that can walk you through what to do to access skyward. Thank you all for watching. Remember to like and follow us on social media and hit subscribe on YouTube to get notified when a new episode is posted. We'll see you next week on Mondays with Maria.
Jaime Homes: I think we made a lot of progress on this show.
Maria Vazquez: Ha ha ha ha.
Announcer: For an extended conversation on today's topic, listen to the Mondays with Maria podcast. Available wherever you get your podcasts. Mondays with Maria's presented by Addition Financial Credit Union. Count us in for every step of your financial journey. Learn more at Additionfi.com. For more OCPS news and information, visit TheSlice.ocps.net. I'm your announcer. Kaleb Priester, a senior at Jones High School. Thanks for watching and have a great week.