In September 2023, the B.C. government replaced letter grades—such as A, B, C, D, etc.—on K-9 report cards with a “proficiency scale,” which includes the descriptive terms “emerging” and “extending.”
According to a new poll (conducted by Leger), 93 per cent of parents in Canada said the letter grade “A” is “clear and easy” to understand while 83 per cent said the letter grade “C” is “clear and easy” to understand. (For the sake of brevity, the poll only asked respondents about these two letter grades.)
Conversely, 58 per cent of parents in Canada said the descriptive grade "extending" is “unclear and difficult” to understand and 57 per cent said the descriptive grade "emerging" is “unclear and difficult” to understand.
“While other provinces also use terms in their grading systems, B.C.’s new descriptive grading clearly makes it harder for parents to understand how their children are doing in school,” said Michael Zwaagstra, a senior fellow at the Fraser Institute.
“This should serve as a warning to any province or school board thinking about adopting this type of convoluted descriptive grading,” Zwaagstra said.
Media Contact:
Michael Zwaagstra, Senior Fellow, Fraser Institute
To arrange media interviews or for more information, please contact:
Mark Hasiuk,
604-688-0221 ext 517
mark.hasiuk@fraserinstitute.org
