Students are more than their academic performance or areas of difficulty. Taking time to understand a learner’s strengths, preferences, and experiences can help families and educators develop more meaningful supports and create a clearer picture of what each student needs to succeed.
A student profile provides an opportunity for families to share important information with teachers, specialists, administrators, and other members of the educational team. Rather than focusing only on challenges, the profile highlights the whole student by including personal interests, accomplishments, learning preferences, goals, and areas where additional support may be helpful.
For example, a sample profile of Jack, an eight-year-old student with dyslexia, demonstrates how families can describe both strengths and challenges related to language and literacy. Jack’s strengths include strong listening comprehension, a broad vocabulary, curiosity, critical thinking skills, and the ability to connect background knowledge with information from stories. The profile also describes challenges with decoding unfamiliar words, spelling, reading aloud, and feelings of anxiety related to receiving intervention.
Providing specific information about a student’s experiences can help educators better understand how to support learning. The sample profile identifies strategies that may benefit Jack, including explicit and systematic reading instruction, targeted intervention, guided practice, small-group instruction, teacher feedback, and breaks during longer learning activities. It also highlights the importance of considering how supports are provided so students feel included and confident rather than singled out.
Student profiles can be updated over time as learners grow and their needs change. Families can use them to prepare for school meetings, support conversations about instruction and services, and contribute to the development of meaningful literacy goals. Including students in the process can also help them develop self-awareness and begin to recognize the strategies and supports that help them learn best.
