Most BC Parents Confused by Descriptive Grading System Replacing Letter Grades: Study

Students’ backpacks, jackets, and shoes are seen outside an elementary school classroom in Vancouver on April 13, 2023. The Canadian Press/Darryl Dyck

Many parents in British Columbia are confused by the new descriptive grades that have replaced letter grades on report cards to convey students’ performance in school, a recent study by Fraser Institute finds.

When asked to choose the correct meaning of two of the new descriptive grades—“Extending” and “Emerging”—from a list of choices, more than 60 percent of B.C. parents were unable to do so, indicates the study, which included a series of polls conducted by Leger on behalf of the think tank.

“Parents in B.C. are clearly confused by the government’s new grading system, which includes vague terms open to interpretation,” said Paige MacPherson, study author and associate director of education policy at the Fraser Institute, in an Oct. 24 news release.

The B.C. government introduced a “strength-based four-point provincial proficiency scale” in September 2023 that saw the removal of letter grades—such as A, B, C, and D—from report cards from kindergarten through Grade 9. Letter grades and percentages remain in place for grades 10 to 12.

The new system, which uses the descriptive terms “Emerging,” “Developing,” “Proficient,” and “Extending” to indicate students’ progress, “maintains high standards for student learning,” said the province in a handout given to parents and caregivers.

An information sheet provided to teachers, called “Unpacking the Proficiency Scale,“ said the new grading system is paired with descriptive feedback that explains ”where the student is in their learning, and areas for future growth.”

One of the benefits of the new scale is that it “views learning as ongoing, rather than signalling that learning is done,” the information sheet said.

Identifying the Correct Meaning

The Leger poll asked parents to identify the correct meaning of the descriptive grades “Emerging” and “Extending” and letter grades “A” and “C” from a list of choices.

The findings indicate that 64 percent of B.C. parents could not correctly identify the meaning of “Emerging,” while 66 percent “either did not know what ‘Extending’ means or were unable to identify the meaning of the term.”

For the two descriptive grades, the choices, “using the B.C. Ministry of Education’s own definitions,” were as follows:

• The student is not yet competent in meeting learning standards but is consistently progressing.
• The student is inconsistently showing progress or is not meeting the learning standards.
• The student is meeting the learning standard expectations all or most of the time. This is not perfection.
• The student is meeting the learning standard expectations with increasing depth. This is not perfection.
• Don’t know/unsure

The correct definition for “Emerging” is “The student is inconsistently showing progress or is not meeting the learning standards,” the study said.

And the correct definition for “Extending” is “The student is meeting the learning standard expectations with increasing depth. This is not perfection.”

As for the letter grades “A” and “C,” the Leger poll indicates that 91 percent of B.C. parents said “A” was “clear and easy” to understand and 84 percent said “C” was “clear and easy” to understand.

The choices parents could choose from were “very clear and easy,” “somewhat clear and easy,” “unclear and difficult,” “somewhat unclear and difficult,” and “don’t know/unsure.”

‘Harder for Parents’

The findings on a national level suggest similar results as those for B.C.

The polls found that only 28 percent of Canadian parents could correctly identify what “Emerging” means. When asked to identify which description matches that term, the largest share of parents (31 percent) responded “don’t know/ unsure,” the study said.

Similarly, only 26 percent of Canadian parents could correctly identify what “Extending” means, and the largest share of parents (40 percent) responded “don’t know/unsure” when asked to identify which description matches that term.

Moreover, 93 percent of Canadian parents say the letter grade “A” is clear and easy to understand, while 68 percent could correctly identify what “A” means,” the study said.

And 83 percent of Canadian parents say the letter grade “C” is clear and easy to understand, while 75 percent could correctly identify what ‘C’ means.”

Michael Zwaagstra, a senior fellow at the Fraser Institute, says the new grading system in B.C. schools has created a barrier for parents.

“By switching from letter grades to descriptive grading, the government has made it much harder for parents to understand how their children are doing in school,” he said in the Oct. 24 news release.

Meanwhile, the study said 98 percent of Canadian parents say “regular, clear assessment of student performance is important to them.”

Leger conducted a series of polls via its online panel for this study, which surveyed parents of children aged 5 to 18 enrolled in public and independent schools. The first consisted of 1,200 interviews conducted from March 25 to April 8, and the second consisted of 690 interviews, with the same pool of respondents, conducted from June 27 to July 8.

For the first poll, 1,000 interviews were conducted with a representative sampling of parents across Canada, while an additional 100 were conducted in Alberta and B.C. while ensuring a representative sampling was maintained across the country.