Throughout my schooling experience, I was graded on a proficiency scale from grades K-3 and then again in grades 8-9. For grades 4-7 and grades 10-12, I was given letter grades. Having experience with both types of grading, I have found that there are most definitely differences between the two. There are pros and cons. Each student will have a different experience and they will have different outcomes from their experiences.
When being graded on the proficiency scale, my peers and I felt more relaxed. The levels that you could be performing at were Emerging, Developing, Proficient, and Extending. Emerging was for students who were not comfortable in the subject but could understand the basics. Developing was for students who were starting to grasp the ideas a bit more and were able to apply knowledge a little past the basics. Proficient was for students who were performing at an independent level and were comfortable with the information. Extending was for the students who would go above and beyond the expected learning. This scale took pressure off students for getting a letter grade, but also in my experience it didn’t encourage students to work as hard as they may have worked for a letter grade. I was always a student that wanted to get A’s and when I was switched back over to the proficiency scale in 8th grade, I found myself settling for proficient because I didn’t understand why I would need to put more work in if I didn’t need to. The extending grade was something that seemed unnecessary. My peers also felt this way.
When being graded by percentage and letter grade, there is a far more strict criteria to meet these marks. When doing assignments you typically know at what level you’re doing assignments and what grade you want to get. There is a push to work harder to get a higher percentage. You always hear people talking about A+ students and honour roll, but with the proficiency scale, you don’t have that push for those goals. In my experience, a lot of students felt that when we were switched back to the proficiency scale after having a taste of letter grades, it felt like some of our maturity was taken away. This also discouraged some people to not working as hard for their grades.
As of September 2023, British Columbia public schools from grades K-9 will be marked on the proficiency scale. Students in grades 10-12 will receive letter grades so that their post-secondary requirements will be met. “I think this is a way of getting across a better message about how a child is moving through that educational journey,” said Clint Johnston, president of the B.C. Teachers Federation.
For future generations who haven’t experienced anything different from the proficiency scale, I think that this will be enjoyed by the students and the parents. It does give a more personal version of feedback and I am very interested to see how this impacts students’ education and educational goals. Imagine growing up and instead of thinking about wanting to be an A+ student, you want to be an extending student. This takes away the focus on getting that exact number based on one set of criteria and allows students to take their learning into their own hands and extend past the goal in their own way.
In the end, this is a positive thing. There can be an issue for the students who, like me, were given letter grades and then switched back to the proficiency scale. This can cause some relaxation and less of a drive to do as well as you may have done before. Looking back on it now, I think I would have tried harder to learn in STEM 8 and do my homework more if I had gotten a letter grade at the end of the semester, but students who know nothing else won’t know what it’s like to want a certain letter grade until they get to post-secondary preparation. These upcoming students will have a whole different outlook on their studies than my generation and I am very interested to see how things unfold for them in their education experience.