Report card season can be a time of anticipation, stress, anxiety, happiness, and pride, depending on the student, the family context, and the student and parent mindsets. Report cards are intended to be tools to monitor student’s growth and progress and to communicate these outcomes to parents. While many students (and parents) often focus on the letter grades that represent academic achievement and learning skills, there is often less focus on how to effectively use the valuable feedback that teachers spend time tailoring to each of their students. Here’s where an understanding of growth mindset concepts can help students, parents, and teachers to truly use the report card as an opportunity for self-reflection and growth, rather than over-emphasizing grades.
A great place to start is building the child’s understanding that everyone has strengths and ‘areas under construction’ that may not yet be as well-developed. In addition, a fundamental belief to instill in children and teenagers is that their worth as a person is not defined by their grades or academic achievement. Secondly, instill in them the belief that they have many skills, personality traits, and strengths that are not measured by tests or grades at school. Often, students’ academic achievement becomes so tied to their worth and self-esteem, that when a perceived low grade happens, it is extremely detrimental to their confidence and emotional well-being. For kids who struggle academically, the effect of perceived poor grades or learning skills can be especially impactful on their academic self-concept.
Growth mindset, the belief that one can improve their abilities and skills through effort and learning, h_as gained popularity since a Stanford psychologist coined the term in her 2006 book (Dweck, 2006). How can parents incorporate growth mindset concepts to support their children during report card season?
Taking a growth mindset approach to report cards might mean rethinking a ‘Satisfactory’ learning skill as an opportunity to reflect on what can be learned from this feedback. This might involve:
- unpacking the teacher comments to understand the ‘areas under construction,’
- identifying one or two specific skills the student can try and
- uncovering any barriers that may be interfering with the goal of identifying supports for the student.
If we work from a place of understanding that the brain is like a muscle that gets stronger with practice and challenge, we provide hope and motivation rather than a sense of shame or failure at report card time. In a growth mindset, ‘mistakes’ are seen as opportunities for learning and brain growth. We turn frustration about learning that sounds like “I can’t do this!” into hope and frustration tolerance: “I can’t do this…yet!”
If you have concerns about your child’s academic achievement, learning skills, perfectionism, or their frustration tolerance, we are here to help.
Written by Dr. Ashley Morgan, C.Psych.
Dr. Ashley is a child clinical and school psychologist in the Vaughan area who helps children and youth build on their inherent strengths, build self-confidence and learn to cope in healthy ways. Dr. Ashley, along with other clinicians on our team, can provide parents and children alike with guidance on how to navigate academic and learning challenges, foster a growth mindset, and bolster their self-esteem.