The Sea to Sky School District is taking another step away from letter grades for students.
The plan now is to proceed with a pilot project for some students in Grades 4 to 9 in the district.
Director of instruction Peter Jory said this should happen soon in order for the classes to have the second half of the year to try out the new approach. He emphasizes, however, that staff have already been moving toward new ways of reporting progress.聽
鈥淭he whole practice globally is evolving,鈥� he said. 鈥淭eachers are gravitating toward this type of practice already.鈥�
Jory is still not sure how many students the pilot project will include, as the district is waiting to hear from all teachers interested in taking part, though he hopes to have a mixture of classes from different grade levels.
鈥淲e would like to have a cross section if possible,鈥� he said.
The pilot project has come out of instructional leadership team discussions over the last few years and is prompted in part by changes at the provincial level in how student progress is to be reported.
Jory said that in the near future, for the majority of students, the plan will be to simply adapt to the new reporting order, which recognizes concepts like student self-assessment.
He reiterated a point made at recent board meetings about the research behind the argument that letter grades do not serve to motivate many students.
鈥淭hey have a tendency to cause more people to switch off than to switch on,鈥� he said.
With the pilot project, the Sea to Sky District is taking this further by having the students self-report on their progress based around the five competencies the district identifies in its education plan: creativity and innovation, critical thinking, collaboration, contributing and learning.聽
While the students in the pilot will not receive a letter grade, their progress will be detailed and communicated to parents. The idea is to provide more thorough descriptions and depictions of their students鈥� work. The pilot project鈥檚 methodology calls for 鈥渄etailed, descriptive information, regarding progress within the curricular standards and core competencies.鈥� This could include information gathered from cross-curricular projects that integrate various subject areas and competencies.聽
鈥淭here鈥檚 a lot of latitude in how students represent themselves,鈥� Jory said. 鈥淲e are very excited about the possibilities.鈥�
The district鈥檚 instructional leadership team will also be preparing sample means of communications with parents that could include letters or PowerPoint presentations.
As to what will happen next fall, Jory said he does not know at this point because the district will have to wait to see what happens this spring.聽
鈥淲e also have to recognize that this is a pilot,鈥� he said.
The district might continue to proceed without the letter grades for some students. If it eventually chooses to adopt the practice as a whole, it will require thorough consultation and policy discussion.聽
The pilot only goes up to Grade 9 because the province has not yet changed reporting requirements for students in Grades 10 to 12, although it is anticipated that this could happen in the future.
