Parents are being encouraged to share their thoughts on progress reports, through a public engagement process that kicked off this week.
The Ministry of Education is holding 10 community meetings throughout the province, where parents can offer input in person, as well as ask questions about how reporting should work. The closest meeting to Chilliwack will be in Abbotsford on January 17, 2017. The location has not been announced yet.
In the meantime, parents can turn to the internet to provide feedback through a page set up through the ministry. This year’s feedback process is focused on kindergarten through Grade 9, and the information gathered will be put in a report for June 2017, in time to be considered for the 2017/2018 school year.
Next year, the government will hold the same feedback process for Grades 10 to 12.
The ministry says the implementation of new curriculum has provided a good opportunity to also look at how teachers report to parents.
In a release this week, Mike Bernier, Minister of Education, said he hopes all parents take part in the feedback process.
“Parents want to know how their child is doing at school – and our new curriculum is an opportunity to make sure we are giving parents the right information. We have a real opportunity for parents to get an even deeper understanding of their child’s progress. I’m encouraging everyone to fill out the feedback form and take part in their nearest public meeting.”
Student progress is reported in many different ways, including report cards, parent-teacher meetings and regular student/parent/teacher check-ins.
To share your thoughts, or learn more about the upcoming community meetings, visit http://engage.gov.bc.ca/yourkidsprogress before Feb. 28, 2017.
