Monitoring Student Progress in Reading
School report cards are sent to parents regularly, facilitating communication between teachers and families. Report cards detail the results of periodic competency assessments, recommendations for student promotion to the next grade or cycle, and final decisions. The cycle council of teachers decides whether students will be promoted to the next cycle, taking into account teacher recommendations. In France, there are no examinations of consequence for students at the primary level, and promotion or retention depends on academic progress at certain key points rather than at each grade.
The Personal Skills Booklet (Livret Personnel de Compétences) comprises part of school report cards and provides evidence of student attainment of the common base of knowledge and skills from primary school to the end of compulsory education.21 Attainment of the common base is progressive and takes place in three stages: Stage 1 (up to Grade 2), Stage 2 (Grades 3 to 5), and Stage 3 (Grade 6 to lower secondary school). The booklet contains certificates of common base knowledge and skills attained in these three stages. At every stage, families are informed of student progress. At the end of primary school, the booklet is passed on to the appropriate lower secondary school. In 2016, a new version of the personal skills booklet was implemented for primary and lower secondary students, making reporting to parents simpler and more accurate. The new booklet also will be available online.
Required student competencies are fixed for each cycle. If students have not met the required competencies at the end of a cycle, the cycle council of teachers may recommend retention for one year, and the head of school would present the recommendation to their parents. If parents disagree, they may appeal to the inspector of schools, who makes final decision regarding promotion or retention. Over the past decade, lowering retention rates has become a priority in the French educational system. In 2001, the rate of students who were at least one year behind at the end of primary school was 19.5 percent. By 2006, the rate had fallen to 16.2 percent. It fell to 13.2 percent in 2010, and to 10.4 percent in 2014.
An assessment of students in French and mathematics is administered for diagnostic purposes at the beginning of Grade 3 to allow pedagogical teams to identify problems and implement solutions tailored to individual students. A bank of diagnostic assessment tools including a wide selection of items in French and mathematics that have been tested and refer explicitly to the common base of knowledge and skills soon will be available online. Teachers schedule assessments at their own discretion during the first weeks of the school year. This facilitates early tracking of students with difficulties in reading, writing, and calculation who may be at risk of not acquiring the necessary competencies by the end of the cycle.