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6 Steps To Take When You Are Concerned About Your Child's Academic Progress

Steps to take when you are concerned about your child's academic progress

Children attend school in order to learn fundamental skills in order to eventually become productive, contributing members to society. When you send your child to school you expect the teachers to teach and your child to learn. However, not every student progresses academically at the same pace. If your child doesn't seem to be keeping up with what is being taught, struggles with reading, math, or writing, doesn't seem to retain new information presented in school, is struggling with homework, or seems to dislike school then you may want to take the following steps to express your concerns about his or her academic progress.

1. Document your concerns

The first step to take is to document your concerns. Getting a notebook to write down specific examples of when your child experiences difficulties and with what subjects will be helpful in later steps when you articulate your concerns to the school. Keeping work samples, progress notes, report cards, standardized testing results, and teacher feedback helps you to see whether or not these struggles and concerns are consistently present.

2. Make contact with your  academicexperts child's teacher

Make a phone call or send in a note to your child's teacher. Letting the teacher know that you have concerns about your child's academic progress is a good idea because it lets them know that you are invested and following through at home. Teachers will usually have additional information about your child's academic progress, and they will typically offer suggestions for extra practice as well as keep a closer eye on your child's progress in the classroom.

3. Ask for a conference with your child's teacher

A conference with your child's teacher, or team of teachers, is a more formal meeting where you can discuss specific concerns and strategies that have been attempted. A conference is sometimes helpful because there are usually additional teachers involved who can help brainstorm strategies for interventions. In addition, you can develop an action plan with the teacher and/or team in order to monitor your child's progress which can be followed up on at a specific time.

4. Make contact with the principal

Your child's principal may have additional suggestions or know of additional resources to help you with your concerns. She may suggest pre-referral interventions or response to intervention (RTI). These types of interventions may already have been implemented, however, if they haven't, then they will be useful in order to determine your child's response to specific and targeted interventions. The idea behind these approaches is to intervene before your child fails.