FAQs: Understanding Friday Folders, Signatures, and Corrections

The familiar Friday folder is a tool that St. Brigid students have used for years; it’s the best way for a parent to know how his or her child is doing academically. However, sometimes questions arise in the middle school about how to best respond to the paperwork that comes home.

Why does my child have to get the Friday folder signed?

The Friday folder is one of the many ways that the school communicates with families - including the Wolfhound Wednesday and direct emails - but this is the primary method of sending home hard copies of both academic work and notes from the office.

We teachers need to know that a parent or guardian has seen the folder, even if there is nothing in it, which is quite rare. In addition to marked assessments, we also send home important school documents on occasion, so it’s important for us to know that the folder made it home.

• You can read more about the Friday folder on the “Communication” page of the Student Handbook, page 36.

Why does my child have to get individual tests or assignments signed?

There are several reasons why we ask parents to sign each assignment that did not meet the standard. Most importantly, we need to ensure that parents see it, know what happened, and are aware that the child needs to do corrections to show improvement (see below).

Unfortunately, in the past, we have had issues with students who do not share ALL of their papers with parents. As a result, we teachers want to ensure that parents always have a clear understanding of how students are doing in school. Interim reports and report cards are never meant to be a surprise, so we are trying to involve parents in understanding how each class is going.

What should my child do with these assignments once I’m done looking at them in the Friday folder?

If the paper has shown mastery and is “done”, then the child should IMMEDIATELY put that test or assignment in the most appropriate binder (math, science, ELA, social studies, religion, or other).

We understand that some families like to keep finished work at home; however, we ask that all papers still part of an ongoing unit come back to school. If a child is unsure, have the student bring the papers to school and ask the teacher where the best place is to store that document.

When and how should my child complete corrections to assessments?

This answer to this question is somewhat situational, because students will be asked to correct a test a little differently than they might revise an essay. However, the basic concept is that students need to:

• Get the assignment signed by a parent and return it to the teacher by Monday
• Revise the assignment by the following Friday (in one week or less)

If the student does not complete these tasks, the teachers may send a homework slip to alert the parent. Again, we simply want to communicate with the parent to ensure that he or she KNOWS about the situation... including if the child chose not to do the corrections.

• Parents can read more about the Second Chance Policy in the 7th grade and 8th grade versions of the 2016-17 Curriculum Packets from the beginning of the year.
• To read about the Corrections Process in more detail, check out this handy informal checklist that teachers created to help students.

Should we save old paperwork for midterms, finals, or high school?

Every subject area teacher will specify exactly which documents should be kept for future use; this typically happens at the end of a unit. We often ask students NOT to throw away papers too soon without asking us first! (If a student is thinking far in advance and wants to get organized early for exams, simply ask him or her to talk to teachers and confirm what papers to keep.)

We hope these answers are helpful. As always, if you have a situational question about an assignment or a class, please email the most appropriate teacher.

Thank you for reading!