B.C. moves ahead with ending letter grades despite parent, teacher, student concerns

B.C.’s Ministry of Education went ahead with plans to do away with letter grades from kindergarten to Grade 9 despite its own public consultation showing the majority of teachers, students and parents didn’t like the idea.

A 97-page report completed in 2021 for the Education Ministry includes a survey of more than 4,000 people on the government’s new policy, which includes assessing younger students as emerging, developing, proficient or extending, instead of grading them A to F.

Other changes in the policy include a minimum of five updates provided throughout the year, including three in writing, and new requirements for students to assess themselves.

Overall, the document says 69 per cent of people reported being dissatisfied with the policy and only 13 per cent were satisfied, with the dissatisfaction rate highest among teachers at 77 per cent, followed by students at 68 per cent.

More than half the teachers reported low satisfaction when surveyed specifically about the so-called proficiency scale that would replace the letter grades, while 60 per cent of parents or caregivers and 83 per cent of students didn’t like the change.