Vancouver schools test new report cards, scrapping letter grades for elementary students The Vancouver School Board is part of a pilot program testing out a new way of assessing students, scrapping letter grades on report cards.

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) — Letter grades on B.C. elementary school report cards will soon be obsolete.

Students in Vancouver are part of pilot project, which is paving the way for changes in how kids get assessed in school.

The new system is getting away from quantifying the amount of content learned, and assigning letter grades to reflect the level of achievement. Typically, letter grades were used in Grades 4 to 7.


Two-thirds of Vancouver’s 90 elementary schools and a number of secondary schools are taking part in the pilot project which started last year. The province launched its own pilot project, involving 14 school districts.

Richard Zerbe, a director of instruction at the Vancouver School Board, says a new way of assessing students had to be developed to reflect changes in the curriculum, which emphasizes communication, thinking and social competencies.

He says the problem with letter grades were that they suggested a particular subject was mastered, or completed. But learning, he says, is continuous.

“Frequently what happens with a letter grade at the end of a term, is it signals the end of some kind of learning,” he says. “This system enables teachers to tell a narrative about the student’s learning journey and where they are.”


A slide from a presentation about the pilot project at a Vancouver School Board meeting.

The new report card also outlines what areas the student needs to develop, and what the student could do to become proficient.

Zerbe also points out there will be less reliance on report cards in general, and more of a focus on regular communication with parents.

He says it’s a significant change.

“We’ve received more positive feedback than negative feedback. Teachers report they like the personalized approach and are commenting on things that matter in the child’s learning. For some it’s a bit of an adjustment moving from a check-list approach. Parents have told us they like the improved communication with teachers.”

He anticipates the new report card to be officially adopted by the rest of the province in the next few years.