Advertisement

B.C. parents weigh in on letter grades, descriptive grading in schools: survey

Click to play video: 'B.C. parents confused by student grading system'
B.C. parents confused by student grading system
According to a survey, a majority of B.C. parents are giving the province's new student grading system a big "F". Implementation of the "proficiency scale" was an issue that came up in the provincial election campaign, and as Kylie Stanton reports, this latest study indicates many would support a return to the "ABCs." – Oct 24, 2024

Parents and caregivers with children in B.C. schools are finding the new descriptive grading terms to be confusing and many say they would like to return to a letter grade system.

A new survey from the Fraser Institute, which commissioned a series of polls from Leger, found that letter grades on report cards were “significantly clearer and easier to understand” than the descriptive grading terms.

In September 2023, the B.C. government announced that letter grades were going away for all public school students from kindergarten to Grade 9.

Click to play video: 'Confusion around B.C.’s new grading system'
Confusion around B.C.’s new grading system

Instead of As, Bs, and Cs, student progress reports will use the terms “emerging, developing, proficient and extending” to assess their learning, along with written feedback from teachers.

Story continues below advertisement

Letter grades remain for grades 10, 11 and 12.

Get the day's top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day.

Get daily National news

Get the day's top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day.
By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy.

The new study found that 98 per cent of Canadian parents say regular, clear assessment of student performance is important to them and while about half of parents or caregivers said letter grades would be easier to understand, the rest don’t mind descriptive grading.

The study used two of B.C.’s new descriptive grades — Extending and Emerging — and two letter grades — A and C — and asked parent how easy it was for them to identify what each of these grades means.

About 93 per cent of those asked say the A grade is clear and easy to understand and 68 could currently identify what A means.

Click to play video: 'Benefits for students as B.C. swaps out letter grades for proficiency scale'
Benefits for students as B.C. swaps out letter grades for proficiency scale

However, 57 per cent of parents found the descriptive grade ‘Emerging’ unclear and difficult to understand and only 28 per cent could currently identify what it means.

Story continues below advertisement

Similarly, 58 per cent of parents found the descriptive grade ‘Extending’ unclear and difficult to understand and only 28 per cent could correctly identify what it means.

The B.C. government says the scale maintains “high standards for student learning.”

“Even in B.C., where descriptive grades on the province’s proficiency scale have already been rolled out, parents struggle to correctly match the report card terms with their definitions and find letter grades much clearer and easier to understand,” the report states.

Sponsored content

AdChoices