A few school districts in western Canada have moved away from percentage grades to categorical grades and involving students and parents genuinely in conferences about learning. In BC, Maple Ridge and Pitt Meadows school district has replaced letter grades with what they are calling a student-inclusive conferencing model. Battle Creek school district in Alberta has replaced percentage grades with a categorical grading of beginning, developing, achieving, or excelling. This change was implemented some time ago for elementary and junior high schools, and is now being extended to the high school. In both cases, participating in the new grading systems is optional for teachers. The change, in both cases, has been controversial… yay-sayers and nay-sayers abound. In AB there have been parent and student protests.
Today, I was on CBC Radio 1, The 180 with Jim Brown, debating the use of grades in school ~ Michael Zwaagstra, who is affiliated with the neo-liberal Frontier Center for Public Policy, representing the “we can’t live without percentage grades position” and I representing the “schools would be better places without grades position.”
CBC’s mini online poll shows about equal numbers of voters to be for percentage grades and for other approaches to grading.
Click here to hear the show (the interview/debate happens in the second half hour).
Follow
