Policy

Policy 8700 - Communicating Student Learning (Grades K-12)

RATIONALE

Introduction

The Surrey Board of Education believes the primary goal of communicating student learning (CSL) is to ensure that parents are well informed about their children’s progress in relation to the learning standards of the BC curriculum, while adhering to all appropriate legislation and ministerial orders.

Meaningful communication between the home and school is central to student success. Responsive, clear and descriptive communication provides parents with information about their child’s learning, as well as an increased ability to support their child.

Guiding Principles

The following guiding principles inform district planning and decision making with respect to communicating student learning:

CSL honours learning as an ongoing process rather than a series of separate events.
Moving from traditional reporting to communicating student learning ensures parents are consistently well informed of their child’s progress;
Formative and summative assessment, together with CSL, are central to supporting students’ understanding of their learning.
- Formative assessment promotes learning and shifts the ownership from teachers to a shared responsibility among students, parents and teachers;
- Summative assessment evaluates learning at a moment in time; and
- CSL makes the learning and assessment process visible to all stakeholders.
Communicating student learning includes:

Capturing Learning

On a continuous basis, teachers assist students in choosing samples of work that capture learning and growth over time.

Conferencing

Conferencing involves students engaging in meaningful conversations with teachers and parents around setting criteria, acknowledging progress, and identifying next steps in their learning.

Invitations to Partner in Student Learning

School communities provide various experiences and events, both face- to-face and digital, that allow students, parents and teachers to engage in regular, meaningful conversations about student learning.

Reporting

Teachers use evidence of learning to make professional judgments and provide evaluative feedback. Reporting is reserved for those occasions when a snapshot of student performance/achievement is required or necessary.

Educational Benefits

Ongoing and responsive forms of communicating student learning are beneficial to students and parents.

Students develop greater awareness and responsibility for their learning when they reflect on their strengths and needs, set goals for improvement, and identify strategies to accomplish these goals.
Students’ motivation and belief in their abilities increases when communication about student learning is timely, and embedded in the learning process.
Parents can be more effective in supporting their child’s learning when they are well informed about their child’s progress in relation to the learning standards.

Adopted: 2017-09-20