The report card (通知表): what A, B, C and 3, 2, 1 mean, and what to ask about

The 通知表 (tsūchihyō, report card; many schools call it あゆみ) comes home at the end of each term in a folder, with a line for you to sign and a page to return. It is the school's own document. What it has to say is shaped by the ministry's rules for the official record behind it, the 指導要録 (shidō yōroku), and that is where the marks come from.

Three viewpoints, not one grade per subject

Since the 2019 notice, every subject is assessed on the same three viewpoints (観点, kanten):

「知識・技能」，「思考・判断・表現」，「主体的に学習に取り組む態度」の3観点

Knowledge and skills; thinking, judgement and expression; and the attitude of working on learning actively. Each viewpoint gets its own mark. The ministry's 別紙1 defines the scale:

「十分満足できる」状況と判断されるものをＡ，「おおむね満足できる」状況と判断されるものをＢ，「努力を要する」状況と判断されるものをＣのように区別して評価を記入する。

Mark	The ministry's words	Plain reading
A	十分満足できる	fully meets the goal
B	おおむね満足できる	broadly meets the goal
C	努力を要する	needs more work

Many schools print these as ◎, ○ and △, or as words such as よくできる, できる, もう少し. Whatever the symbol, it is this three-level scale, and it is measured against the curriculum goal for that grade, not against the other children. B is the ordinary mark. A page full of B means the child is where the curriculum expects; it is not a middling performance on a curve.

The overall grade (評定) starts in grade 3

The 評定 (hyōtei) is one number per subject summarising the three viewpoints. 別紙1 applies it to 第3学年以上の各学年の各教科の学習の状況について and defines three levels:

「十分満足できる」状況と判断されるものを3，「おおむね満足できる」状況と判断されるものを2，「努力を要する」状況と判断されるものを1のように区別して評価を記入する。

So a first or second grader's record has viewpoint marks and comments but no overall number. From grade 3, expect 3, 2 or 1 per subject, where 2 is again the ordinary result.

Foreign-language activities (外国語活動, grades 3–4) and the integrated study period (総合的な学習の時間) are not graded this way. The record says only 児童にどのような力が身に付いたかを文章で端的に記述する。 (a short written description of what the child can now do).

What changes in junior high

別紙2, the junior-high counterpart, keeps the same A, B, C viewpoints and makes the 評定 a five-level scale for the required subjects:

「十分満足できるもののうち，特に程度が高い」状況と判断されるものを5，「十分満足できる」状況と判断されるものを4，「おおむね満足できる」状況と判断されるものを3，「努力を要する」状況と判断されるものを2，「一層努力を要する」状況と判断されるものを1

Those 5-to-1 numbers are the 内申 (naishin) that Tokyo and Kanagawa public high schools score at entry. How they add up is in how report-card points and the exam add up and junior-high life, tests and 内申.

The comments box

The record has a box the ministry calls 総合所見及び指導上参考となる諸事項. Its listed contents are the teacher's view of the child in each subject, facts and views on special activities (class duties, clubs, events), behaviour, the child's strengths and special skills, volunteer work and awards, standardised test results, and 児童の成長の状況にかかわる総合的な所見 (an overall view of how the child has grown). The 2019 notice tells schools to keep this to the essentials, in bullet points if they like, and says the written comment on the 通知表 may be given once a year rather than every term:

通知表の文章記述の評価について，指導要録と同様に，学期ごとにではなく年間を通じた学習状況をまとめて記載することとすること。

So a term's 通知表 with no written comment is not a sign of neglect.

Attendance: which days count

The attendance block has six items: 授業日数 (days school was in session), 出席停止・忌引等の日数 (days the child was told to stay home for an infectious disease, or away for a bereavement), 出席しなければならない日数 (the days that count), 欠席日数 (absences), 出席日数 and a remarks line. A week off with influenza under the school's infection rule is 出席停止, not an absence; it does not reduce the attendance figure a junior-high or exam school will later look at. The rule is in when your child must stay home.

What this means for a foreign family

• There is no rank and no percentile. Asking "where is my child in the class?" has no answer in this system; ask instead which viewpoint got the C and what the teacher wants done at home.
• A child who arrived mid-year with little Japanese will often show C in 国語 and a B or A in 算数 for the same term. The mark reflects the curriculum goal, not effort; the comment box is where effort appears.
• Nobody repeats a year in a public elementary or junior high because of marks. The 通知表 is information, not a gate, until the 内申 years.
• The grade-5 and grade-6 records are what a public combined school's 報告書 is built from, and a private school may ask for a copy of the 通知表. See documents from your elementary school.

What to do now

1. Sign where the folder shows you, write nothing else unless the sheet has a comment line for parents, and return it on the first day of the next term.
2. Find the viewpoint marks, not just the numbers. One C under 主体的に学習に取り組む態度 means homework and class participation; one C under 知識・技能 means the content.
3. Take the 通知表 to the one-to-one conference and ask the teacher for one thing to do at home per C. The phrases are in home visits, parents' meetings and the one-to-one conference.
4. Keep every 通知表. From grade 5 they become source material for school applications.

Every school designs its own sheet. Verify the symbols with the class teacher.