It’s that time again – when our kids will bring home their first report cards for the school year. Apparently they’re going to look a little different. CBC’s Metro Morning had an interesting interview yesterday with Annie Kidder of People for Education about the new “Progress Reports we can expect this week. Rather than listing marks in the different subjects we’ll read whether our child is progressing “well,” “with difficulty,” or “very well” in each subject.

I think this is a great idea.

While marks give us a sense of objectivity in assessing our child, I believe that at least part of that is an illusion. I know. I used to be a teacher. Sure, some work is obviously an “A” and some is obviously an “F,” but the vast majority of student’s assignments are less cut-and-dried and one teacher’s “B” is another teacher’s “C.” It get’s even murkier when you try to grade “participation.” Yes, the teacher has to make the assessment criteria as clear as possible (and then stick to them!) but if you go too far with that, you end up focussing on the mark and not the actual learning.

The new reports will also move the learning skills and work habits to the top of the report. Brilliant. These are the building blocks of success in school and in life: the way we work with others, our initiative, our verbal skills, our ability to solve problems etc.

In addition, the province is apparently doing away with the cut-and-paste comments they used to use. I suppose they saved time for some teachers, but they were pretty soulless, if you ask me, and often so general that they offered no meaningful insights.

I like the idea that the new progress reports will not lock teachers and students into fixed marks. It’s still early and kids should have a chance to turn things around without dragging the whole year’s marks down because they had a slow start. No marks in the first report also means we’ll have to think a little more than if we just had a row of As Bs and Cs.

My favourite  aspect of the reports is something they’ve been doing at my son’s public school for some time now: “student-led conferences.” This Thursday I will sit down with my son in his classroom and he will guide me through the work he has been doing and give his own assessment of what he’s been doing well, and what he can improve upon. His teacher will join us for a part of the conversation and give her own thoughts. My son feels like he is in charge of his own progress and we are there to support him in reaching his goals.

I don’t know if all public schools have student-led conferences, but that – together with a progress report – seems like a winning combination for starting out the school year. When the reports and marks do come in January, we’ll have had a chance to assess how he was doing and make adjustments before the results are carved in stone.

What do you think?