EDMONTON - Two teachers, both facing discipline for handing out zeros at Ross Sheppard high school, spoke in front of the Edmonton Public School Board on Tuesday. It was the first meeting of the year, and now a committee made up of three trustees has been assigned to take a closer look at the district's assessment policies.
Lynden Dorval, the teacher responsible for bringing light to the controversial 'no zero' policy, was joined by Mike Tachynski - a second Ross Sheppard teacher awaiting disciplinary action for violating the no zero policy when he used them as "temporary placeholders."
Tachynski says he was forced to go back to the no zero grading system. But frustrated with the results, he put the zeros back in as temporary placeholders and got results.
"In the last three weeks of the term," he explains, "I ended up - because of putting the zeros in there - getting 45 students and 167 assessments cleaned up."
Tachynski says he's spent the summer researching the policy. And in his readings, he claims he's found no sound research in regards to it.
"Different children require different ways of being supported and encouraged along the way," says Sarah Hoffman, the new chair of the Edmonton Public School Board. "I can only imagine that when the policy was created, an assessment policy that had some room it was with that in mind."
Hoffman says "all policies that reference assessment or assessment criteria will be the first task for the policy review committee in the upcoming months."
Dorval, now facing a possible termination for how he assessed students, says he would have liked to see more input from teachers and parents on the committee, which is currently made up of school board officials.
"They're not educators, and again, I don't think they are getting the representation they should from parents and perhaps staff...so I'm a little concerned that this is a sweeping under the carpet strategy."
Speaking in support of Dorval and Tachynski, retired Ross Sheppard teacher Linda McKeage hopes that's not the case.
"When you see what they're asking you to do isn't helping students, it's very difficult as an educator," she says. "They need to take a look at what is sound, educational, good for the student policy, and put something in place so there is at least consistency throughout the system."
SOUNDOFF: What do you think would be the best kind of evaluation method at schools? Let us know on our Facebook page.
Hoffman hopes this is something that can happen quickly. "But it's very important," she adds, "that it's in a way that we feel confident we're making the best decisions for our students throughout the district."
It could take months before recommendations from the committee are put before the board, and the recommendations will still have to go through a public consultation process.
To learn more about the EPSB's 'No Zero' policy, click here.
With files from Vinesh Pratap and Quinn Ohler, Global News
© Global News. A division of Shaw Media Inc., 2012.