B.C. Premier David Eby signs a student’s cast as he visits a classroom to mark the opening of the new Bayview Community Elementary School, in Vancouver, B.C., April 13, 2023.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck
Parents need to directly hear from teachers and administrators via open houses or parent advisory councils to lift the fog of confusion and concern surrounding this change.
Focusing on grades or scoring doesn’t help students learn and retain information and causes pressure and stress.
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Teachers in a study identify ‘grading obsession’ as a top challenge in education. Some are fighting back and dedicating class time to student self-assessment and peer assessment activities.
With proper teaching, students can use ChatGPT to develop their arguments and build their essays.
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Students could learn about critical thinking, writing and the broader role of artificial intelligence tools like chatbots.
There are variations in school curricula, grading policies and practices and social, cultural and educational values that affect grading and schooling internationally.
(AP Photo/Matt Dunham)
Understanding complex and contextual differences in grading across cultures and countries is important. Only in doing so can we interpret student achievement based on grades in a fair and valid way.
Teachers and university professors have relied heavily on ‘one and done’ essay assignments for decades. Requiring students to submit drafts of their work is one needed shift.
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A new study of academic integrity policies and practices at 41 Australian universities found little evidence of changes to deal with cheating and academic misconduct arising from online assessment.
When COVID forced exams online, reports of cheating were rife and proctoring software was problematic. But in-person exams are also flawed, so now’s the time to rethink how assessment works.
A team of caring adults, including certified teachers and coaches, support The Youth Association for Academics, Athletics and Character Education (YAAACE) community initiatives in Toronto’s Jane-Finch neighbourhood.
(Ardavan Eizadirad)
Revamping standardized testing needs to be accompanied with tangible actions to mitigate students’ opportunity gaps at the community level, particularly for racialized students.
Dropping the OECD’s Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) this spring is an easy way to lessen the pandemic recovery burden on students and educators.
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A chasm has opened up between early childhood learning and the first years of compulsory schooling. Kids go from playing to being tested in the blink of an eye, and their learning is poorer for it.
The adverse effects of the pandemic on student learning loss and absenteeism mean Canada urgently needs a national vision for supporting this generation.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Paul Chiasson
Gavin Brown, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau
Training New Zealand students to be better at tests would probably improve their performance. But, as Finland has shown, there are better (if more expensive) alternatives.
Our educational systems should be doing more to ensure STEM classrooms are places where relevant inquiry pertaining to real-life issues thrives.
(Flickr/Allison Shelley/The Verbatim Agency for American Education: Images of Teachers and Students in Action)
Education minister Nadiem Makarim announced he would abolish Indonesia’s national exams in favour of a PISA-style student assessments. We asked two experts how this policy should best be rolled out.
In increasingly diverse societies, teaching must recognize the importance of affirming students’ cultural backgrounds in all aspects of learning.
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