Parents must be patient with new report cards, NBTA says

The president of the New Brunswick Teachers’ Association is calling for patience after dozens of parents complained about new report cards in Anglophone West School District.

"The big thing to remember is that it's a pilot project," said Peter Fullerton.

"Parents will have a chance to provide feedback in April and June. And we'll look at what changes have to be made."

Fullerton said he's surprised by the complaints he's hearing from parents this week.

The NBTA president said he understands that some parents in the Anglophone West School District are frustrated that the pilot project is being held in their region.

"How do you improve a system without ever testing something? Do we remain the way we always have? It’s a progression as we move forward," he said.

Fullerton said schools and teachers were given plenty of advance notice that the report cards were changing.

He said 830 teachers and 1,600 parents were consulted and surveyed about the change to report cards last year and most were looking forward to the change.

Fullerton said he understands why some parents become concerned when changes are made to marking systems they've grown up with but research shows that traditional rubrics don't present an accurate picture of student achievement. 

"I think the thing is that it’s new and people are always a little scared of something new coming out," Fullerton said.

"I think that we have to see how it will work throughout the whole system, through having both the achievement and the [progress] report card that just came out and see how it makes sense."

Under the new system, students in the school district will receive progress reports in early November and early April, which will indicate if the child is Progressing Well, Progressing or Progressing with Difficulty. The report is then intended to focus the discussion during parent-teacher interviews.

A separate achievement report will be distributed in early February and the end of June. These reports will have a four-point scale to indicate the student’s performance.

In this scale, a 4 indicates a student is exceeding learning goals, meanwhile a 1 indicates a student is working below the learning goals.

Previously, middle school students received a numerical mark. Elementary and primary students had report cards noting whether performance was superior, appropriate or needed improvement, for example.

In a two-page document shared with parents, the Anglophone West School District said the pilot project affects all students from kindergarten to Grade 8 in the district and it will be implemented in all other Anglophone school in the next two years.

Fullerton said representatives from the Department of Education and the NBTA sat down more than a year ago to discuss the new report cards.