A NEW REPORT CARD FOR THE NEXT SCHOOL YEARAs of the 2011-2012 school year, a new provincial report card will be used in schools throughout Québec. This standardized report card will more effectively take into account the evaluation of student learning as well as provide parents with information that is easy to understand.

An example of the content of the provincial report card is available on the Ministère’s Web site: www.mels.gouv.qc.ca/bulletinNational/ .

Will be used across Québec in all public and private schools.

Will be issued to parents at specific times of the year, no later than November 20, March 15 and July 10.

Will include three terms with the same weighting in all schools throughout Québec: • The results of Term 1 will count for 20% of a student’s final mark in a subject.• The results of Term 2 will count for 20% of the final mark.• The results of Term 3 will count for 60% of the final mark.

Will continue to present marks expressed as percentages as well as group averages.

Will include only one mark per subject, except in language of instruction, second language, mathematics and science, for which detailed results will be presented for each competency or component.

Will also include teacher comments regarding subject-specific learning and two of the following competencies for Terms 1 and 3: - Exercises critical judgment - Organizes his/her work - Communicates effectively - Works in a team

THE PROVINCIAL REPORT CARD:

Once the provincial report card is implemented, evaluation will be based on new frameworks for the evaluation of learning. These frameworks will:

serve as a reminder that, under the Education Act, teachers are responsible for selecting the evaluation tools that they will use with their students

reduce the number of results to be recorded and to be communicated in the report card, for example: - from 19 to 11 for homeroom teachers in Elementary Cycles Two and Three - from 3 to 2 or from 2 to 1 in most secondary school subjects

outline the new evaluation criteria and reduce the number of criteria to be evaluated decrease the amount of time spent on evaluation and thus increase the time devoted to learning

Although these evaluation frameworks will only come into effect as of the 2011-2012 school year, they will be made available on the Ministère’s Web site on October 29, 2010, so that teachers may become familiar with them.

INTRODUCTION OF NEW FRAMEWORKS FOR THE EVALUATION OF LEARNING

SCHOOLADMINISTRATORS

ENGLISH LANGUAGE ARTS Term 1 (20%) Term 2 (20%) Term 3 (60%) Final Mark

Uses language to communicate and to learn (33%)Reads and listens to spoken, written and media texts (33%)Produces written and media texts (34%)

Subject markGroup average

13-0048A

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

?Why a year of preparation before introducing the provincial report card?The Minister has favourably welcomed proposals from various representa-tives in the education community for a transition year during which all those concerned would have time to become familiar with the changes and to pre-pare for their implementation. Training sessions will be scheduled during this year and support will be offered to school teams to help them adapt their evaluation procedures. A table listing the actions planned to prepare for imple-menting the provincial report card is available on the Ministère’s Web site at www.mels.gouv.qc.ca/bulletinNational/ .

What happens with the report cards during the 2010-2011 school year? Since the provincial report card will be used only starting in 2011-2012, the rules in effect last year will continue to apply this school year. As a result, the number of terms and the format of the report card will be determined locally, and elementary and secondary school students must be assigned marks ex-pressed as percentages.

In what way does evaluating knowledge constitute a change?The Ministère has recently published documents on the progression of lear-ning for both elementary and secondary education. These documents outline the knowledge specific to each program of study. The new frameworks for the evaluation of learning are based on these documents and students’ re-sults will reflect their learning as a whole, that is, the knowledge that students have acquired and their ability to apply it in different contexts. The relative importance of these two dimensions will not be prescribed in the frameworks because it will depend on the planning of evaluation.

What other changes will take place with respect to communication between the school and parents?

At the beginning of the year, the school will provide parents with a summary of evaluation standards and procedures explaining the main types of evaluation that will be carried out with students and when they will take place during the year for each subject.

By October 15 at the latest, the school will also inform parents in writing, in a format different from the report card, about how their child has started off the school year. The form of this communication will be specified in the school’s evaluation standards and procedures.

Training sessions on the new frameworks for the evaluation of learning given by education consultants will be offered to teachers during this school year. A support document will be made available to school teams to help them review their evaluation standards and procedures, and a training session will be offered to school administrators on this matter. A table listing the actions planned to prepare for implementing the provincial report card is available on the Ministère’s Web site at www.mels.gouv.qc.ca/bulletinNational/ .

EXAMPLE OF HOW RESULTS ARE DETERMINED

Whether for one of the terms or for the final mark, a subject mark expressed as a percentage is calculated automatically on the basis of the weightings assigned to the subject-specific competencies established by the Minister (in this case, 33%-33%-34%).

For Terms 1 and 2, the teacher communicates a mark expressed as a percentage that reflects the knowledge and subject-specific competencies that a student has acquired, based on the evaluations carried out during the term (tests, assignments, etc.).

The report card for the last term also includes a final mark that is calculated using the results of all three terms, in accordance with the weighting prescribed in the Basic school regulation (20%-20%-60%), as well as the results on the compulsory examinations set by the Minister for elemen- tary school and Secondary Cycle One (in this case, the examination result counts for 20% of the final mark). No changes have been made with respect to the weighting of the results obtained on the uniform examinations administered for certification purposes in Secondary IV and V: the mark that a student obtains on such an examination still counts for 50% of the result that appears on the achievement record issued by the Ministère.

COMING UP THIS SCHOOL YEAR . . .

For the last term, the teacher pre-pares a competency report that covers the student’s learning as a whole for the year (knowledge and subject-specific competen-cies) and communicates a mark expressed as a percentage.