Dear Editor:
Re: Math students' marks adjusted after complaints, The Record, Feb. 8.
The actions of the school district suggest the children's marks in Foundations of Math 11 were not scaled.
All FOM 11 students received a letter stating "each student's achievement must be reviewed individually. During the review process, we will consider many alternatives including but not limited to: maintain current mark; adjust the mark on a student-by-student basis; base the final mark on the final test; base a percentage of the final mark on the final test."
Interestingly, it appears that marks were adjusted in only three of the four FOM 11 classes, and of the three classes, adjustment ranged from 15 per cent to over 35 per cent. Interesting, too, is that all three adjusted classes were taught by the same teacher.
The district and New Westminster Teachers' Union president Grant Osborne appear to be unwilling to look at this situation beyond FOM 11, but Helga Robson, curriculum and assessment coordinator with the Ministry of Education, states in correspondence with me, "I have had no concerns from other teachers or parents in B.C. that the Foundations of Math 11 course is too difficult, resulting in high failure rates."
This teacher's FOM 10 class also had an unusually high failure rate, but nothing has been done to address those marks. In fact, this teacher has had a very high failure rates for more than 10 years. The real story is why this has gone on for so long. Why didn't her colleagues reach out to her? Why didn't school administration look into the low success rate and support her? Why wasn't senior administration concerned/aware of the situation? Why weren't the NWTU and Grant Osborne advocating for retraining and support for this teacher? And most important, where is the accountability?
Lisa Chao, New Westminster
