Even more entries modified

PHOTO COURTESY OF SARAH BELISLE
According to Bianca Nugent, acting chair of the Coalition of parents of children with special needs, the use of the amended bulletin is a solution that is sometimes “a little easy” in place sometimes too quickly in a pupil’s school career.

Daphnée Dion-Viens

Thursday, 22 February, 2018 00:00

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Thursday, 22 February, 2018 00:00

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In five years, the number of students in difficulty is assessed according to an ” amended bulletin “, which includes reduced requirements do not lead to a secondary school diploma, exploded at the Commission scolaire des Premieres-Seigneuries, Québec, from 1 to 188.

For students with special needs, the ministry of Education allows you to “lower expectations compared to the requirements” of the program and assess the student accordingly, according to an amended bulletin. In effect, this measure is often to young people who have at least two years behind in school, that there is now according to custom needs. They will not be counted in the average group (see example above).

By this directive, in force since already several years, the department wants to keep “some motivation” and preserve “the self esteem” of these students, ” says Nicolas Maheux, director of educational services at the Commission scolaire des Premieres-Seigneuries (CSPS).

Soaring

In this school board, the number of students assessed according to an amended bulletin that is passed from one student to 188 at the elementary, 2012-2013 to 2016-2017. The proportion of students in change teaching, however, remains lower than other school boards in Quebec (see box). The increase in First-Seigneuries can be explained by a “better application of what is requested by the department,” says Maheux. In 2014, Quebec was detailed in a reference guide to the tags that enclose the ” change in teaching “.

At the Commission scolaire de la Capitale, where the entries changed are in place for a longer time, this measure had been implemented prior to the guide produced by the department. “We had taken the lead in revising our policy of school adaptation “, explains the deputy director of educational services, Mélanie Rhainds.

Measure of last resort

The change in teaching is a measure of last resort, “adds Nicolas Maheux, since it has a “significant impact” on the educational path of a student who, as a general rule, will not be able to get his high school diploma. “We must have tried everything before coming to the amendment “, he says. However, some stakeholders questioned precisely if the amended bulletin does not represent an easy solution to which we had been too quick to use (see another text). Mr. Maheux stated that the decision to evaluate the student according to a special ballot shall be taken in collaboration with parents.

However, the information provided to parents varies greatly depending on the school or the school board, ” says Brigitte Dubé, co-founder of the Coalition of parents of children with special needs (CPEBP).

“This is where the shoe pinches, she says. Many parents do not understand what that means. “This is a once their child at the secondary level, these parents understand that the high school diploma is now inaccessible. “He is there, the drama,” says Mrs. Dubé.

The “cutting torch” that represents the amended bulletin is sometimes “far too early” in the school career of the child, adds for its part, Bianca Nugent, president of the CPEBP. “What one regrets, is that quickly one jumps to the conclusion that the student does not have the potential to succeed,” she said.

The ministry of Education does not know how many quebec students are assessed according to a bulletin amended. Even some school boards are unaware of it, noted The Newspaper, following a request for information made within a fortnight of school boards. The Commission scolaire de Montréal, for example, do not compile these data. However, in general, the numbers collected allow us to conclude that, in many school boards, the number of ballots changed fluctuates from year to year for the past five years.

An easy solution that enables you to inflate the grades ?

Stakeholders of the school network are asking whether the use of newsletters modified does not represent a solution that is too easy to overcome the lack of training and services to students in difficulty, an alternative that also allows you to exclude students in the lowest success rate of the school boards.

“Parents feel that the change in teaching may be a way too easy” to which one has recourse rather than truly thinking about how to respond to the needs of the student, ” says Bianca Nugent, acting chair of the Coalition of parents of children with special needs. There is still much training to do from the teachers, she adds, who might be better equipped to intervene more effectively with students in difficulty.

For its part, the Federation of trade unions of education (ESF) asked whether, in general, the use of the amended bulletin is a way to address the lack of services for students with special needs in the school system. “When we saw cuts and a lack of services evident in the media, is that it is really the only solution that is available for students who are not able to keep pace in the regular classroom ? “says his vice-president, Sylvie Théberge.

Manipulation of the results ?

The latter also wondered if the evaluation of the students according to a bulletin modified is not another form of manipulation of notes, since these young people are excluded from group averages and success rates of schools and school boards.

“It’s still an assumption, considering the context in which education is subject to targets for success within the framework of a results-based management,” says Ms. Thompson.

“Very questionable,”

The ESF are also questions about the speed of using the bulletin as modified for students who do not have a cognitive deficit recognized. “How can you say that from the first or the second year, the student will not be able to finish his high school ? It is very questionable. Rather, they should be put in place services to enable it to overcome its difficulties, ” says Ms. Thompson.

This opinion is shared by Catherine Thabet, who has denied that his son with multiple learning disabilities is assessed according to a bulletin edited by the third year of primary school. The result has proven him right, since his son has subsequently managed to pick up his high school diploma.

Region of Quebec

Number and proportion of students with an amended bulletin to the primary in 2016-2017 :

• Commission scolaire des Premieres-Seigneuries: 188 students / 1,4 %
• Commission scolaire de la Capitale: 282 student / 2,9 %
• School board of the Discoverers: 160 students / 2,5 %
• Commission scolaire des navigateurs: 230 students / 2 %

A Total of 860 students