Milanda Rout March 15, 2007 12:00am http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,21383802-2862,00.html
VICTORIA'S Catholic schools have changed the controversial new student reports after confusion over grading.
Up to 160,000 Catholic school students will now receive reports with grade descriptions such as "well above", "at" or "below" the standard expected next to subjects.The State Government's A-to-E grading will be relegated to a legend at the bottom of the report.
The changes come after parents and teachers expressed confusion over the gradings.
Under the controversial model, students at the "expected standard" receive a C, while a pupil will have to work a year ahead to score an A.
The state's 490 Catholic schools were advised of the changes yesterday.
Catholic Education Office assistant director Debra Punton said the refinements were made after consultation with parents and teachers.
"The feedback was that they were confused about the use of A to E, given their own experience," Ms Punton said.
She said students would receive a grade description and the corresponding A to E ranking would be in a legend at the bottom of reports.
This means a student would receive an "at the standard expected" next to their subject instead of a C.
Ms Punton said the changes aimed to ease confusion while following Federal Government rules for standardised reports.
She said they would still use the A-to-E grading scale.
Victorian Independent Education Union head Deb James welcomed the Catholic Education Office's changes.
"It is now more comment-based reports . . . a much better way to go," Ms James said.
"Some sense will be made of the A-to-E rankings and it is not going to be the first thing that parents see when they look at report cards."
Australian Education Union Victorian president Mary Bluett said the reports would be better received by parents.
"It will avoid the confusion that is out there among parents about what used to be A and B grades compared with what it is now," Ms Bluett said.
Opposition education spokesman Philip Davis said the changes made by Catholic schools highlighted the confusion created by the new scale.
But a spokesman for Education Minister John Lenders defended the grading system.
"We stand by the system we're introducing in our state schools, which was developed after extensive consultation with parents," he said.
The Federal Government tied funding to introducing A-to-E reporting for prep to year 10, but the State Government created the model.
The model is mandatory in state schools this year, but optional in independent and Catholic schools.
The Herald Sun revealed in December the controversial A grade would be scaled down.
