The traditional grading system of A’s, B’s and C’s could soon be replaced for students in grades 4 through 9 with what’s called proficiency scale reporting, not only in Quesnel and the Cariboo, but throughout the province.
Suzanne Bolin, the Director of Instruction and Curriculum in the Quesnel School District, touched on the potential changes at this week’s Board of Education meeting.
Bolin says there would still be a scale that would give parents a good idea of how their children are doing.
“All the pieces would still be in there but instead of it being A,B,C there’s language emerging, developing, proficient and extending are some of the language that is being used in there, it’s a four point scale. Emerging means the student can demonstrate an initial understanding of the concepts and competencies related to the respected learning, where as at the other end it says the student demonstrates a sophisticated understanding of the concepts and competencies relevant to the expected learning.”
Bolin says the Ministry of Education felt that letter grades weren’t a match to provide students with feedback about their learning.
“It’s not specific enough in lots of ways for kids to really understand what they need to do next in their learning, and how they’re going to progress. It’s not a final determination. There isn’t a final determination that’s marked by a letter grade.”
Bolin says the proposed changes go beyond just replacing the letter grades as well.
“There are other things that have been added to the reporting policy as well where students are to do self reflection on their own learning and do some goal setting so those are also new components that are in the reporting policy as well.”
Bolin says the proposed changes have been in the works for a while.
“In 2016 the Ministry of Education redesigned the curriculum for the entire province, and between 2016 and now there have been a lot of Districts, including Quesnel, have been changing how we do reporting to parents around report card time. So we’ve had things like student inclusive conferencing and digital reporting that many our families in Quesnel would be familiar with.”
The Ministry of Education expects to have the policy, that is in the draft stage right now, completed by January of 2022.
It could then be implemented in September of 2022.
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