OP-ED: The problematic push to eliminate letter grades
"Crucial information about whether a student is passing or failing has been replaced with a new 'Provincial Proficiency Scale' on report cards that obscures what’s really happening in the classroom."
Author: Christina Park
Report cards are meant to provide clear and succinct evidence to students and their parents about academic progress. Not so in British Columbia. Instead, crucial information about whether a student is passing or failing has been replaced with a new “Provincial Proficiency Scale” that obscures what’s really happening in the classroom.
The proficiency scale, first unveiled in 2023, eliminates As and Fs in favour of four mysterious progress categories. Now a student is either “Developing,” “Emerging,” “Proficient,” or “Extending”. What these actually mean is anyone’s guess. Most parents and students don’t have a clue.
