Learning a language empowers you to think, act and speak in diverse cultural settings and to move from one cultural setting to another with confidence.
Outcome-Based Reporting
Beginning in the 2019-2020 school year, the Language Arts department at John G. Diefenbaker is making a change to their reporting practices for each of the language courses. The department has moved to an outcomes-based reporting system. This is a change from the reporting practices of recent years, where a task-based grade reporting system was in place.
The most obvious difference will be in how grades for assignments are shown on “PowerSchool” – they will be reported using the “General Outcomes” for the course of study, instead of by task type (tests, assignments, presentations, etc.). The four general outcomes in Second Language courses are as follows:
- Listening Comprehension
- Reading Comprehension
- Oral Production
- Written Production
The five general outcomes in Language and Culture courses are as follows:
- Listening Comprehension
- Reading Comprehension
- Oral Production
- Written Production
- Global Citizenship
This change represents only a difference in reporting, not assessment – the same standards and assessment practices will be applied, only the method of reporting the grades for assignments and/or tasks will change. Interim and final grades will continue to be reported as a percentage, and the final exam grade will be reported as a single separate task.
Depending on the task assigned, it is possible you will find more than one grade recorded under an assignment, depending on the desired outcomes of the assignment. More information regarding the specific weighting of the outcomes and final exams can be found on the course outline.
If you have any questions or concerns about this change, or seek more information about outcomes-based reporting and the reasons why the Language Arts department has made this change, feel free to contact the teacher of the course or the Language Arts Learning Leader, Ms. Kristin Hack, at kmhack@cbe.ab.ca or (403) 274-2240 ext. 2420.
