‘90s FAMILY : Making the Grade : Good grades or bad, there’s more to a report card than academic achievement. And the more parents understand about them, the more help they can be in guiding their children’s educations.

Most parents know that the best education begins at home, yet many could use a few lessons in how to discuss a report card with their children. Good grades or bad, educators say that report cards require unruffled review and that the contents should never take parents by surprise.

Report card savvy starts with being in the know, says Dick Browning, director of instruction at the high school level for the Los Angeles Unified School District. Know what classes your child takes. Know your child’s teachers. Know your child’s homework habits and pay attention to the papers and progress reports coming home throughout the semester. Know the school calendar and when a report card is due.

Understanding the mechanics of the report card is equally imperative. On all grade levels students are given marks for academics, behavior and attendance. All cards allow for teachers’ comments.

“It’s natural to focus on academic grades first, but equally important are behavioral marks,” says Megan Scannell, principal at Adam’s Middle School in Redondo Beach. Scannell says work habits are the first grades she looks at on her own child’s report card.

“There is no excuse for a U [unsatisfactory] in cooperation and work habits,” says Deborah Thompson, a teacher and humanities coordinator at Roosevelt High School. Unsatisfactory marks in this area often reflect tardiness, using bad language, lack of class participation or homework problems, she says.

Browning says a strong correlation exists between all the marks on a report card.

“You should expect excellent work habits to go along with good grades,” he says. “Parents should notice whether attendance is consistent. Absences damage a student’s grade.”

Educators urge parents to take time to open the card together with the student.

“Go over the card subject by subject,” Browning says. “Listen to your child’s explanation about the grade. Talk about what went right and what went wrong.”

Don’t take it for granted that your student has it easy when grades are consistently good. Don’t threaten or yell when the grades are bad, he says.

Scannell says one of the biggest mistakes parents make is comparing their child’s grades to the achievements of other children. “A lot of parents tend to live vicariously through their kids. Make sure your child is trying to succeed for his benefit, not yours,” she says.

Good grades deserve recognition. Although rewarding A’s and Bs with cash is a popular tactic, most educators say praise and positive family time is a more effective compensation. “The student needs to know you share the joy and satisfaction of their good work,” Browning says.

Families need to do what works for them best, says Jessie Sullivan, principal at Felton Elementary School in Lennox. “Tangible rewards are OK. I’m not keen on money for good grades,” she says. “I’d much prefer parents do something that ties in with the report card. A museum trip or an educational movie would be great, but if a trip to Magic Mountain is what the kid has been pining for and that’s the agreement you’ve made, stick with it.”

Parents should celebrate and support the small successes as well, says Karen Chang-Eubanks, coordinator and teacher for academically challenged students at Roosevelt High School. “If a child is having a hard time understanding a subject and with much effort pulls his grade from a D up to a C, recognize the effort.”

Consequences for poor grades should relate to the reasons for those grades. Many parents take away television time or driving privileges while enforcing stricter rules about homework.

“When bad grades come home, try to view the task separate from the person,” says LAUSD psychologist Rich Mills. “Overreacting, blaming and yelling make you upset and your child upset. No child wants bad grades. Look together at the problem and find a solution.”

“Telling a child to study harder is too general,” Scannell says. “Notice any positives and ask specifics about what happened with the bad grade. They might like one teacher better than another or feel more organized in certain classes.”

Don’t help your child to make excuses, Sullivan says. “Parents may pass on their own hang-ups when they say things like, ‘I didn’t do well in math either’ or ‘My second-grades teacher didn’t like me.’ ”

Educators agree that a conference with teachers is the best way to get at the root of problem grades. “Always be in communication with the teachers,” Scannell says. “Phone calls and notes work well.”

“Recognize when a teacher calls you it is a call of support,” Sullivan says. “Many parents take it as bad news. I try to tell parents teachers call because they want your child to make it.”

Chang-Eubanks suggests helping children become more responsible for their grades by becoming more organized. Set up a homework space, routine and calendar that reminds them of what needs to be done.

“Homework is a big part of whether you achieve academically,” Sullivan says. “If all the grades need improving try to zero in on language arts. In most cases improving language arts will help everything else.”

Realize that family disruptions affect grades, Thompson says. Grades that suddenly slip are often affected by what’s going on not only in the family, but other interpersonal relationships. And, “In middle school and high school, when romances fall apart so do grades,” she says.

Sullivan says parental involvement is crucial from the time a child starts school. “We think of parents as partners,” she says. “Kids wouldn’t be so apt to be pulled into drugs and gangs if they started succeeding in school from Day One.”

Parents should continue that concern through the teen years. “Parental involvement is at its highest in the elementary grades,” says Dale Stanley, assistant principal in the secondary counseling office at Lincoln High School.

“Parents tend to pull back as kids grow up,” he says. “By high school parental participation is at its lowest. It’s a natural process, one of cutting the apron strings, but parents do their children a disservice by not making their child’s education a priority.”