SPERD schools have moved Grade 6 students to outcome based report cards. The outcome based cards will show if students achieve certain outcomes, but students looking to outdo one another by trying hard for an A need not apply. The local change follows alongside provincial trends towards reducing student competitiveness. The change aims to ease the stress students face from ranked grading.
The report cards won't indicate if little Johnny worked his way to the top of the class or if little Suzie's extra hours in the library paid off. Basically the message from schools moving to the outcome based reporting is telling students to lower their standards and to stop trying so darn hard.
Of concern is the vague language by which students will now be graded. For instance, students will be evaluated on “achieving personal and school success,” skills to maintain “healthy interaction,” or “historical thinking.” Does anyone understand what these mean? If we adults find it confusing, imaging what your elementary age child must think of it.
This gradual move to eliminated grading will raise a generation of grads who have no idea what awaits in the real world, which is very competitive. To get that job, promotion or raise, fresh grads will have to compete among the country's best and brightest. Telling students they are all winners to spare some hard feelings is handicapping students from achieving success in the future.
Competition is the fabric of the free world. It is entirely natural and desirable for students to compete for high marks. Giving everyone a low bar to pass on vague outcomes does no one any favours in the long run.
Even more troubling are rumblings from the Province about eliminating Provincial Achievement Tests (PAT). On its annual report card of schools, the Fraser Institute measures the difference between school grades and provincial testing to show if schools are inflating grades. Results often show a big difference between the way a school grades and results of standardized testing. Many parents and students are surprised to get their PAT scores back much lower than school marks, another reason why outcome based reporting can’t be trusted to be an accurate gauge of student learning.
Without a grade based report card, students will have no precise measurement of their ability going on in life, perhaps as punishment for the Alberta Education’s increasingly tardy track record on encouraging healthy academic competition among students.
