Article content continued

Over the past several years, large Alberta boards — including the Calgary Catholic School District, Edmonton Public Schools and the Edmonton Catholic School District — have adopted what is known as “formative assessment” — a new way of assessing students, asking teachers to focus on ongoing reviews; they are now more learning coach than strict overseer.

It’s a philosophy in which grades are not a reward for work done, but a reflection of how well the student understands that work.

Advocates of this system say marks shouldn’t be used as punitive measures, that students should not be pitted against one another, that every student can be successful. But many parents are concerned it won’t translate to the real world, where students will go on to face bosses, not coaches, and work can’t be sluffed off without real consequences.

“It sounds OK,” Mr. Mitchell concedes. “But there are lots of people who probably have all kinds of capacity and ability. What you actually do at the end of the day is what matters. If someone has the capacity to do a work and doesn’t actually do it, it hasn’t been done.”

The seeds of this new approach to assessment were sown in the late ’90s when a U.K. meta-study suggested the method could better help students learn. The philosophy encourages teachers to diagnose potential learning problems as the school year progresses, instead of just slapping their pupils with a grade.

Even good students will see, they figured out pretty quick that if they’re not prepared or not feeling well that day, why go write a quiz and get a poor mark?

“Formative assessment suggests the most important learning takes place in the absence of grades. Instruction, coaching and feedback improve student learning more than giving students grades,” said Sherry Bennett, the executive director of the Alberta Assessment Consortium, a non-profit group dedicated to improving assessment and learning.