ORANGE : Study Plans Will Be Parent-Teacher Topic

Parents of elementary school students in the Orange Unified School District will be discussing study plans instead of letter grades at parent-teacher conferences this fall.

In a pilot program that the school board unanimously approved last week, the first of the four report cards customarily sent out during the year will be discarded.

Parents usually come in for 15-minute conferences with teachers after the first nine weeks of the school year to discuss their children’s report cards, Assistant Supt. Neil J. McKinnon said.

The meetings will continue, McKinnon said, but the emphasis will shift: Parents and teachers will sign a “contract” intended to improve study habits at home and at school, he said.

The first part of the one-page contract will evaluate the student’s strengths and weaknesses. The second part, called an “assistance plan,” will assign duties to both teachers and parents.

Teachers, for instance, might give specialized homework, and parents might commit to developing a discipline plan.

Many parents had never thought to improve children’s school performance by staking out one particular area of the home as a study haven, undisturbed by noise from television, said Jim McMillen, principal of Sycamore Elementary School and chairman of the district’s elementary study committee.

Members of the committee had been searching for ways to involve parents in education, McMillen said.

“This will focus on education itself and not just letter grades,” he said. “Social skills and work skills are so important in bringing out the A’s, Bs, Cs and Ds that come later.”

Many parents have already been informed of the new reporting process, McKinnon said, and have expressed their approval. The teachers union has also supported the concept, he said.

Board President Maureen Aschoff said that flyers will go to the home of each student explaining the new process.