The New Westminster Teachers' Union president calls it "new territory" and something he's never heard being done before outside of provincial exams, but Grant Osborne told The Record on Monday that students in the Foundations of Math 11 course received scaled marks in the first semester.
According to Osborne, parents of New Westminster Secondary School students taking the class received a note from senior administration, dated Jan. 24 and signed by Bob Tamblyn, director of human resources, that stated the district was undergoing a review process for the course.
In the letter, Tamblyn states: "Our review of FOM 11 indicates that each student's achievement must be reviewed individually. During the review, we will consider many alternatives, including, but not limited to: maintain(ing) current mark; adjust(ing) the mark on a student-by-student basis; bas(ing) the final mark on the final test; (or) bas(ing) a percentage of the final mark on the final test. A decision regarding how final marks will be assigned will not be made until our review is concluded."
But Osborne told The Record, both on Monday morning and in a subsequent interview on Tuesday afternoon, that he was told that marks were scaled.
"I have been told that the marks in FOM 11 were scaled five to 15 per cent," said Osborne. "If there's anything else that has been done, I'd be very surprised."
According to an explanation from a teacher about what form mark scaling can take, it's a process by which student grades in a class or program are compared to each other and students are assigned grades depending on where each student falls on a relative scale. For example, if the top mark earned is 60 per cent, the teacher can give the top grade to that student and then scale other marks in relationship to that number, with all the grades increasing. In most forms of scaling, the marks remain relative to each other.
According to Osborne, he was told by district administrators that scaling was for all students who took the course, not just students in classes taught by the teacher parents had raised concerns about.
"I haven't heard of this being done before, at least not at this level," Osborne said Monday. "I've heard of scaling done at the provincial exam level, but not here.
"This is new territory. I'm concerned about the precedent this sets."
Osborne added that he doesn't know which district administrators did the scaling and how it was actually done, but he did say that no members of the high school's math department participated or were asked to do the scaling.
He said he is concerned with scaling because it puts into doubt the work teachers do in developing test banks, teaching the curriculum and evaluating students.
"I've had teachers tell me that is not how marks should be given out and how assessment should be done," he said. "Right now, I'm trying to get more information on how this was done."
Local parent Lisa Chao, who has a daughter in Foundations of Math 11, confirmed via email that the district has contacted her and her husband Kelvin.
And Lisa Chao is adamant that she believes FOM 11 marks weren't scaled, but adjusted on a student-by-student basis using an unknown criteria, with marks going up by zero to 35 per cent.
In an email to The Record, Lisa Chao states:
"Kelvin and I plan to meet with administration and review our daughter's exams to determine if it was a warranted or arbitrary adjustment. Her grade is meaningless if she has not learned the work.
"If the adjustment is warranted for three of this teacher's classes, what about the fourth? According to the Ministry, it is not a course issue so the Math 10 students should have the same consideration as the FOM 11 students. In fact, all of this teacher's students going back over a decade should be given the same consideration."
In the Tuesday afternoon interview, Osborne said he doesn't see the big difference between scaling and adjusting.
"Did they scale it or not? Well, I was told they scaled, so that's what I have to go by. The term was definitely used. If they misused it and it doesn't describe exactly what they did, that's not the most important thing.
"For me, the bigger issue is teachers feel their professional autonomy has been compromised. ... Whether it was scaled or adjusted, the issue is it was done without consultation with the teachers involved."
This news comes several weeks after local parents concerned with their children's low grades in one particular Foundations of Math 11 class went public.
The district has been looking into the issue after a Jan. 10 committee meeting where more than 15 parents raised concerns about a math class where they are claiming the teacher is failing as many as 70 per cent of the students in the class.
Superintendent John Woudzia talked to The Record on Monday afternoon and said because of privacy rules, he could not talk about what marks students received in any course.
"All I can say is district administration has been in contact with parents and is communicating with them," said Woudzia. "I'm not in a position to discuss any details of that communication."
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