The new federally
mandated grading and reporting system is predicated on making reports to
parents easier to understand – this is a good thing.

However, in order
to do this, reports that have been muddled, technical and
often impenetrable haven’t been simplified in either format or presentation: information has simply been
removed. Instead of reporting, via an indicator (VL-VH) or the traditional A to
E, where a child sits with relation to where they should be at that year level,
most students will now be given a C which indicates that they are within
the range of what would be expected at that year level. The problems with this
are self-evident and many.

By adopting the traditional A to E grading
scale, educational authorities aim to play to the familiarity many parents would
have from their own schooling. The problem with this is that an A no
longer means an A, a B no longer a B. And a C now covers
the spread of demonstrated abilities which would have traditionally (read: when
most parents were at school) been assigned anywhere from a D to a
B+.

So there is a reduced motivation to achieve: a student who
works hard and is showing ability in the upper range of what might reasonably be
expected will receive a C. Another student who does minimal work and just
scrapes by will, also, receive a C. This is patently
inequitable.

To achieve above a C (ie a B or A) a
student must demonstrate that they are, respectively, either six months or a
year above where they should be. For skills based subjects such as English, this
is possible and occurs quite frequently. However, for content based subjects
such as mathematics and the sciences, a student could never be awarded an
A or B unless the teacher had presented the material usually
taught six months or one year ahead. Should they do this, what should be taught
in six months or a year?

School reports have been difficult for many
parents to understand. The new national standard does not improve the situation.
It merely removes valuable information about a particular student’s place within
the accepted range and re-hashes (and makes a hash of) the traditional A to E
reporting scale.