The Northern Lights School Division's (NLSD) switch away from grades-based assessment is garnering opposition from elsewhere in the division.
At the NLSD's meeting in Bonnyville May 22, a group of parents from the Bonnyville and Cold Lake areas presented a petition of 251 names asking the division to put percentages back on report cards at the middle level.
“While the model seems ideal, we're not leveraging the model the way it was... designed,” said Lorne Kaban, a parent of three children in NLSD schools who presented the petition to the board. “(Kids) look at the report card and they don't know. They're lost.”
Since 2012, NLSD report cards for students in Grade 8 or lower have dropped percentages in favour of assessment categories like Exemplary, Proficient, Progressing and Needs Improvement. But Kaban said his son, in Grade 5, doesn't understand his assessments, and it's impacting his achievement.
“When he gets those letter statements, he doesn't know where he's at, he doesn't know if he's advancing, he doesn't know if he's improving,” he said. “Silence reflects what he gets in terms of individual feedback.”
The problem, according to the Kabans, is that the new outcomes-based system is inconsistent and gets interpreted differently by each teacher.
“If you were a teacher you might say the exemplary range is between 75 and 100 per cent. Where as I might say exemplary is between 90 and 100,” said Kaban. “We see that inconsistency on our kids report cards and it is confusing.”
After reviewing their son's work and converting raw scores to percentages, the Kabans found out that Exemplary ranges from 87 to 100 per cent, but saw grades ranging from 69 to 94 per cent in the Proficient category. They also saw some scores in the Progressing category that were higher than those in the Proficient category, which confused them even further.
“If our child comes home with a ‘Proficient' grade do we say good job or you need to try harder? We don't know because that corresponds to no known percentage,” said Deb Kaban.
The move away from percentages was made based on the Alberta Government's Inspiring Education review, which the NLSD says provided a vision for education that it coupled with research on the work of other jurisdictions on percentage-free assessment.
“We can no longer accurately represent complex and diverse student learning through the mathematical calculation of numbers,” said Karen Froude, the NLSD's director of learning - instruction, in an e-mail. Froude said the system's aim is to help students articulate their strengths, the areas where they need growth, and what they can do next.
“This is the feedback that students and parents need on an ongoing basis; detailed, descriptive feedback that moves learning forward,” Froude said. “We are committed to consistently working on improvement in providing this feedback.”
Kaban said that his group of parents, which didn't include those in Lac La Biche because they couldn't get in touch with people there, started the petition after they started talking at a school award night.
“None of us knew what our childrens' level of achievement were based on reviewing the report card. Is my son going to get an academic award, is he performing at an exemplary level?” he said. “That's what spawned this, because we weren't the only ones... they look at the report card and they don't know. We're lost. We don't know how to support our students, our children, to be successful.”
Around the board table, some trustees expressed support for a dual system that used both evaluative descriptors and percentages.
“This was experimental in some instances, and as a result there was a lack of clarity,” said Tom Varughese, trustee for Cold Lake. “I can't see why we can't have a dual system.”
“I'm glad you clarified that you support a dual system, because I have been reading some stuff on social media that has probably misrepresented your intentions,” said Lac La Biche trustee Debra Lozinski. “I had some parents call me too, from the Lac La Biche area, and many of the issues you had were the same issues that they raised.”
Lozinski said she supported a dual system. “Anything you can do to make report cards more understandable for parents is good.”
Bonnyville trustee Nestor Kunec said the portfolio given for evaluation wasn't simple enough; he thought committed parents could follow the portfolio, but still may not end up sure.
“You're not sure because those are adjectives, what do adjectives mean?” he said. “I'm concerned about the amount of work that a teacher has to do. It's onerous, for one report card.”
But Froude said a dual system would be problematic because percentages still have a negative effect.
“A percentage system has allowed for a ranking and sorting of students that is inappropriate... at this learning age,” she said. “We want them to be risk-takers who are willing to make mistakes as a part of (the) learning process... it would be counterproductive to reduce these valuable learning experiences to a ‘number'.”
The NLSD is currently conducting a Thoughtstream consultation process, and Hrynyk said it would consider the results after the report was delivered in June.
“We need to hear from our parents to make sure that we make the best decisions for our students,” Hrynyk said. “We want to make sure we have all the information before us, as much information as possible before we... make a decision.”
Kaban said some parents also reported feeling intimidated about being involved in the petition, both in terms of NLSD staff and parents who weren't employed by the division.
“There was fear at the parent level, and part of our parent population, that their children would feel the brunt of the consequences that we're advocating on our children's behalf,” Kaban said.
NLSD Board Chair Arlene Hrynyk said that she was surprised to hear the comments about intimidation, which many board members said they did not condone.
“I think I was very surprised to hear that. Our board fosters a culture of respect and a collaborative approach: we want to hear from all stakeholders, including our teachers,” she said. “Certainly we're always discouraged when you hear comments like that.”
At the meeting, she closed by noting the assessment topic was contentious.
“At every level,” she said, “I have the sensation that the decision (we) make may have repercussions.”
With files from Andrew Mendler (Bonnyville Nouvelle staff)
