The public engagement and feedback opportunity that has been promised to parents about how they receive progress reports on their children’s education is now open.
With the official launch of the province’s new K-9 public school curriculum this school year, the problem of student assessment seems to be a real concern for parents and caregivers. The government – and school districts themselves – have been assuring parents their children will still be receiving core training in literacy and numeracy skills, for example, but since the new curriculum is designed for individualized learning and focusing on each child’s strengths, how each child’s progress will be assessed is a bit more complicated than it used to be.
Thankfully, School District 72 (SD72) has been using the approach the province has just implemented for some time, so parents and caregivers here are likely already familiar with the process.
SD72 assistant superintendent Nevenka Fair says the government started letting districts decide on grading practices a few years ago, at which point SD72 did away with the traditional “report card” model in elementary school and moved towards having open lines of communication between teachers, students and parents about how a child is progressing, which is the model the province has now moved to, as well.
“A letter grade or a percentage doesn’t actually help the student understand what they need to do next. We need to be engaging students in their self and peer assessment and just constantly be moving forward,” Fair told the board of education at a public meeting earlier this school year in discussing grading in the new curriculum.
And now the government wants to hear how people feel about this new assessment system.
“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,” said minister of education Mike Bernier in the provincial release about the engagement process. “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.”Unfortunately for parents and caregivers in our region, the two “nearest public meeting” locations of the 10 announced province-wide for the consultation process are a yet to be determined location in “Greater Victoria” on Oct. 27 or in Port Hardy in January.
Parents and caregivers can still submit their feedback to the province digitally, however, by going online to engage.gov.bc.ca/yourkidsprogress before Feb. 28 of next year.
Those interested can also sign up to receive updates on the consultation as it progresses at the same online location.
