For many of B.C.’s kids, there is now a big, province-wide change to the way their achievement is being measured as they start a new school year.
Letter grades are going away for all public school students from kindergarten to Grade 9.
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.
The new reporting style is being implemented across all of B.C. after being tested and adopted by half of the school districts.
“This is something we think is very good for the students. It will give more descriptive feedback,” B.C.’s Education Minister Rachna Singh said Tuesday.
Letter grades will stay for grades 10, 11 and 12.
About half of B.C.’s students from kindergarten to Grade 9 were already on the new proficiency scale as part of a pilot project but there are some concerns about the program.
“It is too difficult for them to understand what the proficient scale is,” B.C. United education critic Elenore Sturko said.
“What is developing? What is emerging? When it was percentages it was much easier to understand where they were at as a student.”
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Experts say it’s hard for some teachers and students to let the old system go, but this shift reflects a larger change in education — comparing students less against one another and focusing more on the ability to understand the material.
“With letter grades, it is a one-way, or lateral, conversation,” Dr. Victor Brar with the UBC Department of Education told Global News. “The teachers talk and the student responds.”
The first set of report cards will come in December.
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