Physical Education Teacher Newsletter: Communicating Grades to Parents
PE grades are the ones families are most likely to dispute, because families often assume PE is graded solely on athletic ability or that a student who "tries hard" deserves an A regardless of documentation. A grade report newsletter that explains your grading system clearly, shows how grades are documented, and gives families a path to address any gaps transforms most disputes into productive conversations before they happen.
Send a mid-semester update before report cards
A family who discovers their student has a 70 in PE at the end of the semester has no path to recovery. A mid-semester update at week six or seven gives families specific information and time to act. "I am sending this mid-semester update because the first fitness unit is complete and I want families to know where students stand before report cards arrive. The class average for the unit is 85. If your student's current grade is below 75, please reach out this week. There are specific, actionable steps to improve the grade before the semester closes."
Break the PE grade into its documented components
"The semester PE grade is based on three categories with specific weights: Participation and Effort (40%): documented daily, based on attendance and active engagement during class. Skill Assessment (40%): each unit ends with a specific skill demonstration assessed against a written rubric. Fitness Knowledge (20%): fitness logs, the FitnessGram report, and any written health components."
Then give the class average for each category so families understand where the grade is coming from. "Class averages this semester: Participation and Effort: 89 (most students are earning full credit in this category). Skill Assessment: 79 (this is the category with the most variation). Fitness Knowledge: 83."
Explain the participation grade with specifics
Here is a newsletter excerpt that handles participation grade explanations:
"Participation is documented daily. Full participation credit requires: present and dressed for activity (or with a documented excuse for modified participation), actively engaged in warm-up, instruction, and activity time, and not on a phone or sitting in a corner during activity time. Students who are present and participating earn 5 out of 5 points for the day. Students who are present but sitting out without documentation earn 2 out of 5. Students with documented modified participation (doctor's note or parent note for illness) earn 4 out of 5. Absent with excuse: 0 for the day, but excused absences do not penalize the overall grade when the total is calculated. To check your student's specific attendance and participation record, email me and I will share it with you."
Describe skill assessments with rubric language
Families often do not know what the skill assessment actually measures. Describe it. "The volleyball unit skill assessment has four components: Forearm pass (bump) accuracy from a toss, Overhead set accuracy, Service over the net from behind the service line, and Positioning awareness in a three-player rotation. Each component is scored 1 to 5. Students who cannot yet consistently serve over the net from the full distance are scored on how close they serve from, with partial credit for controlled serves from a reduced distance." Specific rubric language removes the sense that skills are graded on a subjective impression.
Communicate FitnessGram results with appropriate framing
"FitnessGram results are included in the grade only for completion, not for the scores themselves. A student who completes all five assessments earns full credit for that component regardless of where their scores fall. I want to be clear: no student is penalized for being in a lower fitness zone. The assessment is designed to give students and families data, not to grade people on their body composition or cardiovascular endurance. What IS graded is completing the assessment and using the results to set a personal improvement goal."
Give specific paths to improve before the grade window closes
End with actionable options. "If your student's grade is below 75 and you want to address it before the semester ends: (1) Check whether any participation days can be retroactively documented with a parent note within the allowed window. (2) The skill assessment retake for the volleyball unit is available on Tuesdays at 3:15 through November 18. (3) If the fitness log has missing entries, completed logs can be submitted by November 21. These are the three most common sources of grade gaps and all three are fixable before the window closes." Specific steps, specific deadlines, specific opportunities.
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Frequently asked questions
How do I explain a PE grade to a parent who thinks grades in PE are subjective?
Name the specific documented evidence behind each grade component. 'PE grades are based on three documented categories: participation (I take daily attendance and participation notes), skill assessment (I evaluate specific observable skills at the end of each unit using a written rubric), and fitness knowledge (written assignments and fitness logs). There is nothing subjective in the grade. If your student's grade is lower than expected, I can show you the specific attendance record, skill assessment notes, and knowledge component scores that produced it.'
How do I explain a low participation grade to families?
Be specific about what was documented. 'Your student missed six PE classes this semester without submitted documentation, and on three additional days sat out during activities without a note explaining why. The participation grade reflects both absences and engagement during class. Students who are present and making a genuine effort, even if they are not skilled at the activity, earn full participation credit. Students who sit out or disengage without documentation do not. If any of the undocumented absences have legitimate reasons, please submit documentation retroactively before the grade window closes.'
A parent says their student tried hard but got a low skill assessment grade. How do I respond?
Distinguish between effort, which is worth full credit in the participation category, and skill demonstration, which is assessed separately. 'The participation category reflects effort and engagement, and your student has done well there. The skill assessment category reflects whether specific observable skills were demonstrated by the end of the unit. For the soccer unit, your student was not yet dribbling with their non-dominant foot and did not demonstrate the defensive positioning benchmark. Effort does not substitute for skill demonstration in the assessment category, but strong participation does earn full credit in the participation category. The skill assessment represents 40% of the grade, so there is a path to improving the overall grade by making up the participation or knowledge components if those had any gaps.'
How do I communicate FitnessGram results to families in a way that does not shame students?
Focus on the instructional purpose and avoid any language that compares students to each other. 'FitnessGram results are shared as a personal report, not a class ranking. Your student's report is attached to this newsletter. Results in the Healthy Fitness Zone indicate a fitness level associated with good health outcomes for their age. Results below the HFZ indicate a specific area to work on. This is not a measure of athletic ability or body worth. It is a health data point. Students who set a personal improvement goal in one area and track it over the year often see meaningful results by the spring assessment.'
What tool makes PE grade report newsletters easy to produce?
Daystage lets you draft the grade report newsletter with a breakdown of grade categories, attach the FitnessGram personal reports as individual PDFs to the relevant family's email, and send to all families in one step. For families whose students have participation or skill gaps, you can follow up with a separate targeted message that is more specific than the whole-class newsletter. Having the complete communication record in one platform makes parent-teacher conferences about PE grades straightforward to prepare for.
Adi Ackerman
Author
Adi Ackerman is a former classroom teacher and curriculum writer with 8 years in K-8 schools. She writes about school communication, parent engagement, and what actually works in real classrooms.
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