Elementary Teachers Urge Fewer Report Cards

August 16, 2006

Public school elementary teachers voted today in favour of a streamlined reporting process for elementary students.

Delegates to the annual meeting of the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario voted overwhelmingly in favor of urging the province to reduce the number of report cards from three to two per year.

“Teachers spend a lot of time testing and evaluating and don’t have enough time to teach,” said Emily Noble, ETFO president.

“Filling out formal report cards takes a lot of time that teachers could spend in more meaningful communication with parents,” Noble said.  “A lot of time parents come to us and say, ‘I’ve seen the report card now tell me how my child is doing.’”

The Federation will take the resolution to the Minister of Education and discuss with her the best way of moving forward with the changes.

More than 600 delegates and alternates are attending the ETFO annual meeting at the Westin Harbour Castle Hotel in Toronto.  The meeting continues until tomorrow.

The Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario represents more than 70,000 teachers and education workers across Ontario and is the largest teacher federation outside Quebec.