MABEI or MABEI not?
By Lynne Bell
Last week, I went back to school and received a crash course in something called the MABEI assessment scale. The MABEI scale is part of an outcome-based reporting system, which simply put, replaces percentage marks on student report cards with a system that rates a student's progress in each subject by indicating whether they have mastered a subject, or attained most knowledge of a subject, or attained some knowledge of a subject, or are experiencing difficulty, or finally, whether there is insufficient evidence whether or not the student has any knowledge of the subject.
As a mom, my report-card signing days are over, and this was underscored in my mind when I asked an area educator what parents thought of the MABEI system. Naturally, this individual couldn't generalize, but the comment they gave me was: “It depends on the age of the parents”-which perhaps explains my misgivings.
Representatives from the area school district outlined the advantages of the MABEI system in great detail, and stated that it enabled teachers to give a detailed account of a student's progress (or lack therof ) as to whether they were meeting requirements within a subject area. This, along with heightened student involvement in parent-teacher meetings is said to lessen or eliminate surprises (unpleasant or not) for unsuspecting parents.
However, the MABEI method has-to my untutored eye, anyway-some very real disadvantages.
Firstly, the insufficient evidence category seems pretty vague and (I assume) might require a lot of explanatory notes from teachers already up to their elbows in report cards. This category can mean that the subject matter hasn't yet been fully covered in class or that the student hasn't turned in the work. (Are they legitmately absent? Struggling? Skipping class?). This,will require (and I assume again), clarification from the teacher, anyway. And will the MABEI system require even more paperwork for already-busy educators whose most valuable contribution is teaching our kids?
Because the provincial Ministry of Education requires it, students in grades 10 to 12 receive a report card that contains both percentage grades as well as additional reporting which uses the MABEI method of assessment. This, too, seems to me to be a lot of extra work for teachers who are required to ready students for life after high school and prepare many of them for a variety of post-secondary options.
Which brings me to my final point-admission to any type of post-secondary school almost always requires certain grade requirements to be met, and these are reported in percentages. Does the MABEI scale prepare kids for this eventual possibility? And is the system a boon to teachers and parents who want to zero in on a student's areas in need of improvement? Or is it a cumbersome system that adds to the administrative side of an educator's workload?
MABEI or MABEI not...
MABEI it’s not the best
By Kelly Running
In school I strove to have the best marks, I wanted to see those “E’s” in elementary school where the letter stood for “Efficient” and I wanted my percentage marks to be in the 90s, although I slipped into the high 80s on occasion.
These marks I was able to carry throughout high school, except for a low 80s mark in one of my English classes, I wonder what Mr. McLennan thinks of me having become a writer. Heading with very competitive marks into University I had a small life crisis that first year. I started getting C’s and I felt like I didn’t belong in university. In my second semester I even dropped two courses and changed my major, and although it was the best thing for me, I felt a little bit like I had failed but only because I expected a lot out of myself.
Today schools are testing out the MABEI scale and the more I learn about it the more I shake my head, wondering if we’re setting kids up for failure. I understand not wanting to compare kids in the system, but I’m not sure if this system does it. Every time I got my report card, we’d start comparing marks, and I’m sure kids now brag about their M’s.
Going from a system like this to percentages in grade 10 will be a huge change for them. I once felt high school hadn’t prepared me for university but it turns out I should have done better in high school. I found out I had more in me thanks to a professor who told me I should reconsider taking another course from him… in my head I thought “How dare you tell me that! I’ll show you!”
He ended up becoming one of my favourite professors there, but he saw my mark from a class the semester before, and he decided I wasn’t good enough. He wasn’t judging me based on other students, he was judging me on my own work. So, do percentages really compare students at large? I raised my grade by an entire letter that semester and I impressed a professor who was considered by the advising office to be the toughest marker on campus. Would kids that have gone through the MABEI system stick out a class they were told to drop or would they give up?
The MABEI system clearly shows outcomes the students have reached, but it can be with percentages as well. Teachers always give you feedback. In math it’s clear when you get a concept or not, you get marked on your work and the right answer. If you do everything right, you understand the material but there was a one really hard question you walk out with a 90-something.
In English the teacher tells you if you need to work on your grammar or spelling, or if you misinterpreted a quote that you used. They don’t just give you a percentage and ignore you; they give you a percentage and give you feedback, or at least my teachers and professors both did.
For kids having gone through the MABEI system, they’re pushed through. They can’t fail. Even if teachers have Insufficient Evidence, which essentially means the kid didn’t hand anything in or participate.
Creating competition with oneself and with others is good. The real world compares people to each other, how else do multiple people apply for one job and the employer chooses? They pick who they think is best for the job, the one that will work hard, and will get along well in the position. They compare people who are competing for a position.
Doesn’t it make sense to prepare youth and instill in them a work ethic? I planned on being a teacher in university and in Lethbridge you must take a course which includes a practicum before being accepted into the program. I gave a classroom of grade eight kids homework and one came up to me after to tell me he wasn’t doing it. He didn’t have to because he would pass anyways; the sad part is the student was smart, and consequences would have pushed him to actually apply himself and better himself.
Therefore, are we not setting kids up for failure by using the MABEI system? They’re pushed through whether they reach the outcomes or not until they come to a time when they can fail, they will have a difficult time adjusting from can’t fail to failing because they didn’t fully understand the basics early in life. Lucky them, they’ll get to go through what my first year university was twice: the first time they can fail in grade 10 and then that transition from high school to university. I don’t envy this generation coming up at all.
