Guidelines for Final Reports

As preparation begins for the writing of final evaluation reports for teacher candidates, the following points may be of assistance to Faculty and School Advisors:

1. The final or summative report written about a teacher candidate should summarize the school/faculty advisor’s overall experience with the teacher candidate and mention areas of growth, professionalism, classroom poise and confidence, competence with subject matter, classroom management, etc.

2. The final report should reflect and summarize reports written throughout the extended practicum. There should be no surprises; all conclusions drawn should be based on previous observations.  Moreover the teacher candidate should have heard about his/her strengths and weaknesses long before the final report.

3. Three-way conferences which include the teacher candidate and his/her advisors are normally scheduled to discuss the contents of the final evaluation reports. Often a conference is also held just prior to the writing of the final evaluation reports.

4. Although teacher candidates, upon completing EDUC 418/419/421, use their final (and previous) reports for employment purposes, the primary function of the final evaluation report is to summarize the ten-week experience, not to serve as a substitute for a reference letter. What teacher candidates do with their reports is not of primary concern to UBC.  Having stated that, however, we encourage both faculty and school advisors to write their reports with a professional sense of fairness and evenness, especially when commenting on the perceived weaknesses of student teachers.

5. Teacher candidates may approach advisors for a letter of reference, in addition to the summative evaluation reports they receive. Whether or not advisors agree to write reference letters is up to those individuals.  UBC does not become involved in writing any letters of reference for teacher candidates.

6. Since UBC has adopted a P (Pass) or F (Fail) system of granting assigned standing for EDUC 418/419/421, advisors are strongly advised to express their comments thoughtfully so as to make it as clear as possible the degree of success in each of the essential elements involved in the assessment. While a number of teacher candidates may have all demonstrated sufficient expertise to be graded P, it is not unexpected that teacher candidates differ in their level of mastery of various elements and superior achievement can be acknowledged.

7. In the event of serious disagreement between school advisors about the teacher candidate’s teaching performance, each is advised to write a separate written report, to complete separate evaluation checklists, and (if necessary) sign different Assigned Standing forms. The teacher candidate’s final assigned standing will be adjudicated by the Faculty of Education after all reports are in and all circumstances are considered.

8. Copies of all reports written about a teacher candidate during all practicum experiences are collected in the student teacher’s file maintained by the teacher candidate’s faculty advisor. The files when complete are given at the end of the practicum to the Program Coordinator at UBC, who then relays the information about teacher candidates’ assigned standings to the Registrar’s Office at UBC.