Report card changes unveiled by Calgary public school board

The Calgary Board of Education has unveiled its plans to create a common report card system for students in kindergarten to Grade 9.

• Controversial report card changes postponed by CBE

The revamped reportswill be based on a numerical scale of one through four and teacher comments will be part of the reporting process, the public school board announced on Wednesday.

The scale will break down this way:

• 4 Excellent: The student has demonstrated excellent achievement of grade level expectations.
• 3 Good: The student has demonstrated good achievement of grade level expectations.
• 2 Basic: The student has demonstrated basic achievement of grade level expectations.
• 1 Not meeting: The student is not meeting grade level expectations.

The first report card will besent home from early December to late January, the second at the end of June.

The CBE announced last year it planned to cut the number of report cards per year from three to two and that it was considering dropping the personalized comment portion.

But that had many parents worried about the quality of information they would get about their childrens progress.

The board said it subsequently took the time tolisten to and consider the thoughts and ideas shared by students, parents and staff before settling on the new reporting practices revealed this week.

• Controversial report card changes postponed by CBE
• Face-time with teachers tough with report card cuts

"We are trying to build consistency across the system that puts the focus on the students learning and then accurately reflects that learning to the parents and they can work with that child moving forward," said Dennis Parsons, superintendent of learning services.

Frank Bruseker, president of the Calgary Public Teachers Association,said he believes teachers will be happy with the new format.

When I looked at it, my immediate thought was this is much clearer than what we've had for the past year and that's a good thing, he said.

The board of says the changes take effect in the fall but it still plans to tweak the system as needed.

There are no immediate plans to modify report cards for students in Grades 10 to 12, the board said.