Some B.C. parents confused with new grading system for K-9 students

As the first term comes to a close for the schools around the province, thousands of B.C. parents are reading report cards for the first time that do not have letter grades.

Report cards have been renamed as “written learning updates.” For some parents, it’s been a confusing transition.

“I prefer the letter grade, honestly,” Michelle Lagura said, a parent. “The letter grade would make more sense to me, (because) when I did read the definitions for each of the words it seems like they are all similar to each other which confused me.”

The new written learning updates are for students between Kindergarten and Grade 9. Those in Grades 10 to 12 are still getting the traditional grades.

The province has been planning the change since 2016 and around half of B.C. students, under Grade 10, have received a new written learning update.

2:02 No letter grades for B.C. students up to Grade 9

The BC Teachers Federation (BCTF) has given the rollout a failing grade.

“There should have been support, in terms of time and resources, given to make sure that all the staff across the province had training,” Clint Johnston said,  BC Teachers Federation’s president. “That still hasn’t materialized. So it’s frustrating, but there’s still time to do it in our opinion.”

The BCTF said some districts are expecting teachers to write lengthier report cards which could cause burnout.

“It increases the workload, increases the stress at a time when everybody recognizes that there’s a severe shortage of teachers and other educational staff,” Johnston said.

The B.C. Ministry of Education and Child Care told Global News school districts were offered training on the new assessment.

“The current expectation is for concise, descriptive feedback from K-12. Under the previous reporting policy, teachers from K-9 were already providing written feedback as part of their reporting, with written comments in grades 10-12 as needed,” a ministry spokesperson said in an email.

The ministry and BCTF said if, or when, parents have questions about their child’s progress, they should speak to the teachers, directly.