Parents are demanding answers from the Foothills School Division over a proposed new report card they say is too vague.

A group of almost 20 parents came to the division’s board meeting to deliver a presentation on the division’s Learner Profile, which would replace existing report cards at the elementary and junior high school levels. Most of the parents came from Red Deer Lake School, which had a number of meetings about the Learner Profile, both with the division and with parents. There were also concerned parents with children who attend Millarville School and Dr. Morris Gibson School in Okotoks.

Cindy Poole, head of Red Deer Lake School’s report card committee, told trustees and administrators parents want to see changes to the Learner Profile, which is being used at three pilot schools.

She told the board using words like achieving and extending tell parents little about their child’s abilities. The Learner Profile uses the words beginner, developer, achieving and extending to explain where students are in their learning.

Cindy Poole and Susan Haas with a group of parents who are concerned about the Foohthills School Division's proposed new report cards, called Learner Profiles. The parent group packed the division office last Wednesday to give their opinions on the profiles.

According to Poole, the descriptions are confusing and are too broad because when a student’s grade drops or rises within one of the categories, neither the student nor their parent knows. The parent group also said not providing junior high students with percentage grades will cause problems when they move into high school. They said each school should be allowed to make changes to report cards and called for a Learner Profile that included both percentage grades and descriptors.

This is not the first time the school division has heard the same message from parents. Similar issues were raised in meetings held at Red Deer Lake School in the fall.

Poole said following the presentation last week parents gave the trustees a letter asking them to provide a response to parents’ concerns. She said they also wanted all trustees to hear their concerns.

Doug Sopp has children in Kindergarten, Grades 6 and Grade 8 at Red Deer Lake School. He said the division has been dodging questions from parents.

“If there is a question they don’t want to answer, they don’t,” he said.

Sopp and his wife Joelle have been at several meetings regarding the Learner Profile and say their concerns have not been addressed.

Joelle said she likes how the report card gives a descriptor grade to every topic the student studies in each subject, but would still like to see an overall grade.

“Our daughter always had small jumps like from a 70 per cent to 72 per cent to being an honours student,” she said. “Without those small jumps she may have just thrown her hands up.”

An unofficial petition is also posted at the school just south of Calgary. Poole said they want to know how many parents want the issue looked at further.

Kim Saunders, whose children attend Dr. Morris Gibson School, said she will be present at the last of three information nights regarding the Learner Profile. Division officials will be at the school’s library on March 18 at 7 p.m. to discuss the new report card for parents in the Okotoks area. Meetings have already been held at Red Deer Lake School and Oilfields Junior/Senior High School in Black Diamond.

Saunders said she wasn’t concerned about the Learner Profile until she learned it would be used in junior high.

“My biggest concern is them going to high school never having grades,” she said.

Foothills School Division (FSD) assistant superintendent of learning Stacey Meyers said there will be answers to the concerns raised by the end of the month.

A committee of 18 teachers and some administrative staff has been working on the Learner Profiles for three years. They will review all of the feedback, including what parents have said at meetings and surveys from parents, students and staff from the three pilot schools.

Meyers said recommendations will be passed on to the board of trustees by the beginning of April. He said he expects the implementation timeline will be extended. Currently, the Learner Profiles are to be rolled out this fall.

“It’s pretty loud from our community that we are not there yet,” Meyers said.

Meyers said he has responded to every e-mail and phone call he has received, but said many of the issues cannot be resolved until the committee makes decisions about how to proceed.

He added a new online reporting system is now in place to augment the Learner Profile. The Students Achieve website allows parents and students to log on and see teacher’s comments and marks from assignments throughout the year. Meyers said the division will work on a system to standardize how often a teacher will update the Students Achieve website.

Survey results from parents and students at the three pilot schools show just under half of parents are accessing the site and only about a quarter of students. Students had a better understanding of the new descriptions than parents. Slightly more than half of the parents said they knew what beginning, developing, achieving and extending means. About three-quarters of the parent respondents said they didn’t understand the rationale behind the change to Learner Profiles.

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