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grade level of achievement reporting
Under GLA reporting, teachers will assess student achievement with a grade that matches the student’s performance in meeting curriculum outcomes. In simple terms, GLA reporting means honest assessment by a child’s teacher in terms that are easily understood by parents and educators alike. (Alberta Education, “Grade Level of Achievement Reporting Questions and Answers”, June 21, 2005) Grade Level of Achievement Reporting will involve teachers from Grades 1 to 9 and will be phased in over two years:
In June, teachers of Grades 1 to 9 will report the Grade Level of Achievement (GLA), in Language Arts and Mathematics, for all students who are studying the graded Alberta Program of Studies. The student’s GLA will be reported as at, above or below grade level. Most students who have an Individualized Program Plan (IPP) are studying the graded curriculum. Their teachers will report a GLA for them. Some students who have an IPP are not studying the graded Alberta Program of Studies. Their teachers will report on the IPP goals set for these students in Life Skills, Foundational Skills and Academic Readiness Skills. For further information and illustrative examples see the Grade Level of Achievement Reporting Teacher and Administrator Handbook distributed by Alberta Education to all school jurisdictions and principals in February, 2006. The handbook is also available online at http://www.education.gov.ab.ca/ipr/GLA/ GLA will not be based on a test or on the administration of any other single assessment strategy. GLA will be based on evidence of a student’s achievement of the outcomes in the Alberta Program of Studies collected over the entire school year, using a variety of assessment strategies. Alberta Education is supporting teachers’ classroom based assessment. GLA will be reported in June to parents on the student’s report card and to Alberta Education, using a standardized reporting process. Parents and teachers will use the student’s GLA and supporting evidence to plan appropriate instruction for the student over the next school year. Alberta Education will use GLA data to assist them in program evaluation. GLA data will give Alberta Education information about student achievement at every grade level, supplementing the Provincial Achievement Testing Program. The 2005-2006 school year is a pilot year for all Alberta school jurisdictions. The Curriculum Support Department of the Calgary Board of Education is working collaboratively with about 800 teachers in 40 pilot schools to develop resources and professional development strategies that will build teacher capacity in classroom assessment. The work has three goals: Students will be significantly engaged in the assessment process (e.g., stating the goals for learning in their own words, helping to set criteria for assessing their work, providing feedback on their work to themselves and their peers, reflecting on their progress and setting goals to improve their achievement, collecting evidence of their achievement and communicating it to their parents, etc.). Teachers will develop plans that are grounded in the Alberta Program of Studies and that describe how assessment, evaluation and communication of students’ achievement will be connected to instruction. Teachers will adapt assessment resources authorized by Alberta Education, create new assessment resources, and collect samples of students’ work to develop a shared understanding of the standards for achievement (i.e., the acceptable standard and the standard of excellence) at each grade level in language arts and mathematics. This work will lay a foundation for further development in subsequent years involving teachers in other Calgary Board of Education schools. Read the Calgary Board of Education booklet for parents, Grade Level of Achievement Reporting: Information for Parents Translated versions of this booklet are available in: Arabic, French, Hindi, Korean, Punjabi, and Somali. More languages will be available in the near future. Read the CBE revised 2008 booklet Grade Level of Achievement Reporting (GLAR) (PDF). Translations are available in Bosnian, Chinese, German, Tagalog, and Vietnamese.
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