A motion put forth by Abbotsford Board of Education trustee Mike Rauch that would ask staff to investigate ways to enhance parent understanding related to student achievement did not pass in Tuesday's (Nov. 5) board meeting.
Rauch made the notice of motion at the Oct. 22 board meeting.
The specific motion said to approve asking staff to investigate and report to the board on the benefits and drawbacks of the K-9 proficiency scale with respect to student achievement and that staff bring suggestions on how the proficiency scale could be supplemented to enhance parent understanding and student achievement.
Rauch stated that he believes the current scale does not help parents effectively understand where a child's learning level is at.
"My view and the view of many parents that I've spoken with is that the proficiency scale is too vague," he said. "It has only four levels of achievement and the categories all sound inherently positive. The risk is that parents become disconnected with how their child is doing and by the time they realize their child is struggling it's hard for that child to catch up."
The proficiency scale ranks K-9 students progress as Emerging, Developing, Proficient and Extending. The scale was first piloted back in 2017 and was implemented province-wide in 2023.
Rauch said a more finely-calibrated grading system is needed for parents to understand how their child is doing. Trustee Jared White acknowledged that it's a provincial issue and the recent provincial election with the NDP winning means letter grades will not be coming back anytime soon.
"I like the way this motion is worded because it's not about getting rid of the proficiency scale – which I'm not a fan – but it is about possibly augmenting it," he said.
White said the proposed enhancements wouldn't be mandatory, but could be permissive and could be given if teachers wanted to. He added that he finds the proficiency scale itself "inherently confusing".
Trustee Rupi Kanda-Rajwan agreed that there is a disconnect when it comes to parents understanding a child's report card.
Trustee Stan Peterson cautioned that it could be simply people worried about change and that he thinks the proficiency scale is good.
"When used properly – and we're all learning it, including teachers – it provides way more information about your child's learning," he said. "It says what they are working on and what they're particularly not good at. I don't know what a C tells you about what a child has learned and not learned."
Peterson added that even though report cards have the proficiency scale, students regularly get tests and assignments with traditional marks and grading.
"If parents are concerned [about a child's learning], go talk to your teacher," he said. "It's a matter of time before this is a superior system."
Trustee Preet Rai agreed with Peterson and said that the system needs more time.
"When I would look at my kid's report card if there was an A we would think this is good but we didn't really know if they were understanding everything," he said. "This will give you more information. We can't really do anything about it due to the provincial mandate and it may get into some workload or union issues."
Trustee Korky Neufeld said the board would be stepping into provincial jurisdictions by doing this and had union concerns by adding more to a teacher's workload. He also stated that it's not a good use of staff time.
The vote finished 4-3, with Peterson, Rai, Neufeld and Trustee Shirley Wilson voting against the motion.
More money for all
In other board news, Wilson was elected as the new chair, with Rai as the vice-chair. Trustees voted on both positions at the beginning of the meeting.
It was also announced that trustee indemnity has slightly increased due to local inflation. The board chair will now earn $44,054 (up from $43,444, the vice-chair will receive $38,971 (up from $38,343) and trustee's now earn $33,888 (up from $33,341).
The approval to increase pay related to inflation was approved in June 2022.
Read the full Abbotsford News article here: Motion to investigate ways to enhance parent understanding of student grades voted down
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