A school principal is urging Education Secretary Bernard Drainville to stop fiddling with notes related to statistical moderation of ministerial exams to avoid bulling at-risk students into dropping out.
• Also read: More nasty surprises in the certificate: A student fails in math despite an annual grade of 73%
David Bowles is Principal of the Collège Charles-Lemoyne, a private secondary school in Longueuil. He faces several students this year who failed, notably in fourth-secondary history, while these youngsters had received good grades throughout the school year. However, as of last year, the ministerial tests only count for 20% of the student’s final grade.
The questionable process of grade moderation by the department needs to be reviewed if we are to avoid pressure on young people to drop out, says Mr Bowles.
“I’m really outraged,” he says. The teachers concerned, who are people of “experience and high quality,” cannot be questioned, he adds.
Against the “fumbling” of notes
The director recalled that former education minister Jean-François Roberge had enacted a law to put an end to the “note game”, i.e. upward adjustment of results by school heads in order to increase success rates.
The minister decided that the teacher’s professional judgment must prevail.
“There we are faced with a situation where the ministry is playing down the grades without regard to the teachers’ professional judgement, resulting in the students failing. It’s really absurd,” he drops.
Mr Bowles is asking Education Secretary Bernard Drainville to step in “from this year” to rectify the situation. “We are failing at-risk students who should be successful. I find that totally unacceptable,” he said.
Patches that are long overdue
The Journal reported Friday that “fixes” to grade moderation, announced almost a year ago, are still pending. A student who got a 73% grade in math failed his ministerial exam, even though it accounted for only 20% of the final grade.
The situation is explained by the moderation of grades, a policy by the Department of Education aimed at avoiding “candy grades” or overly harsh assessments.
If several young people from the same group achieve significantly lower results in the ministerial examination than the mark assigned by their teacher during the school year, the mark will be revised downwards. The opposite is also the case.
Following this publication, Le Journal received numerous e-mails from parents reporting similar situations involving their child. A young girl even failed in the fourth high school story, despite getting an 81% grade during the school year.
To ensure justice
However, this statistical process also has its proponents. Justin Forster, a high school history teacher for nearly 20 years, says moderation is key to ensuring fairness among students. “A teacher just has to give fair grades all year round,” he says.
Without this statistical treatment, there would be “significant inflation” in grades and there would be no way to ensure equity between groups of students, the teacher said.
The ministry’s regulations also state that a student’s final grade cannot be lower than the exam grade, Forster adds. For example, a student who fails throughout the school year can pass if they achieve 60% on the exam, allowing youngsters to catch up if necessary.
balance sought
In the office of Education Minister Bernard Drainville, we recognize that “there can be problematic cases”. “For this reason, we have started an analysis work on the use of moderation,” announced spokeswoman Florence Plourde in a written response.
“Can this tool be perfected? We think so. Now the moderation also has advantages, the ratings are also adjusted upwards. You have to find the right balance,” she adds.
The Ministry of Education’s work on this, which began in February 2023, will not be completed until next year.
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