A Message from Kim Lalli, Upper School (US) Principal re: Grades & Comments, Student Survey, & Family Conferences

November 19, 2024
 
Dear US Families, 
I am reaching out today with some important information about interim grades and comments, an upcoming student survey, and family conferences. 
On Thursday, students will have an opportunity to view the narrative comments that their teachers have been working on. The purpose of these comments is to give the student, and family a more complete picture of the work a student has done so far this term. This picture includes both an acknowledgement of where things are going well in addition to providing actionable feedback for the student to consider. They’ll review these comments with their Advisor, the goal being to find common themes and to begin to think about how to apply the feedback they receive.
 
Grades will be released to students on Thursday afternoon. Separating the comment from the grade is a deliberate step aimed at encouraging students to think comprehensively about about their work prior to seeing a grade-in-progress. Comments and grades will be released to families on Friday, November 22. At the bottom of this message, you’ll find instructions for how to access that information once it’s released on Friday at 4:00 PM.
This year, we will continue our practice of administering the Authentic Connections Survey to the Upper School students. The survey was designed by an organization called Authentic Connections, which aims to help schools improve student mental health and well-being. The Authentic Connections team consists of experienced researchers, consultants, and educators.  This will be our third year conducting the survey, and each year we gain valuable insight into school climate and student wellness. Doing the survey each year also allows us to build longitudinal data that will help make D-E stronger for our future students. 
 
The survey is aligned with several standardized measures that ask students questions about their feelings and behaviors. Honest responses from students are essential in this endeavor. Therefore, there are important criteria in place to engender honest responses and protect our students’ privacy. All of the information submitted will remain completely anonymous. No identifying information – including names, birthdates, and IP addresses – will be collected. Your child’s name will not appear anywhere on their responses, and questionnaires are all stored securely according to random ID numbers, specially allotted for this survey. No data will be sold to third party organizations.
 
When analyzed, anonymous and aggregated survey data will be presented to D-E administrators only in terms of trends (by grade, gender, etc.), and responses cannot be linked to an individual respondent. Students will take the survey online during Assembly period on Thursday, December 5. To ensure maximum usefulness of the data, we need the maximum participation of students in Grades 9-12. However, your child does not have to participate. If you do not want your child to participate, please fill out this form and return it via email to Kim Lalli (lallik@d-e.org) by Monday, December 2.
Finally, US Family Conferences are just around the corner. This year, we’ll continue our practice of welcoming families to campus to engage in brief but meaningful conversations with their students’ teachers about how the semester is going. Later this week, you’ll receive another email from me inviting you to use our “Pick-a-Time” portal to choose a time frame in which to have these conversations.
 
Individual conferences are not scheduled, rather a time period is chosen and you’ll meet with teachers during that window of time in the order that makes sense in the moment. On Thursday, December 5 there will be a late afternoon session and an early evening session. On Friday morning, there will be two sessions and again on Friday afternoon, we’ll have two sessions to pick from. Please stay tuned for more specific information later this week. 
On a final note, if you haven’t yet signed the Handbook Acknowledgement, please be sure to complete that soon. The acknowledgement indicates to the School that you and your student have reviewed the document and are familiar with what it contains. 
As always, please feel free to reach out with any questions. Thank you in advance for your ongoing partnership and support. 
Best, 
Kim Lalli 
US Principal 
 
How to Access Comments on MyD-E: 
  • Go to the My D-E area of the Dwight-Englewood website (https://d-e.myschoolapp.com/).
  • Log-in to My D-E using your assigned password or the password you established for yourself. If you need assistance, please contact D-E Computer Services by email at help@d-e.org or call 201-227-3177.
  • Click on your child’s name at the top of the page.
  • Click on Progress (if not already selected), then click on the current grade for your child immediately below that.
  • After selecting the grade, click on the link in the Performance area.