Love them or dread them, we all got report cards. And recently, Manitoba Education introduced a provincial report card to be used in schools starting this school year.
The parent-friendly report card seeks “to provide clear, consistent information to parents based on a coherent framework for assessment, grading, and reporting” (from Manitoba Education website). Manitoba’s First Nations run schools have decided to use the provincial report card, and MFNREC recently held a two-day workshop for teachers focussing on how to understand, use and complete the report cards.
During the well-attended and lively two days everything from how best to grade academic achievement vs. learning behaviours, to how to fill out comment sections was discussed. Not surprisingly it was easy for most of the attendees to remember comments they got on their own report cards as students. The idea was reiterated that, positive or negative, written or verbal, students don’t forget comments from a teacher. And they thrive on praise.
Filling out a report card is not easy and requires a lot of time. It is hoped that with these new report cards, parents will gain a clear understanding of how well their children are learning, and what steps will help improve learning.
