A survey put out by concerned parents in the Prairie South School Division shows that parents are not in favour of the outcome-based reporting system that is currently being used.

The system was implemented in elementary schools and does away with the classic percentage system. Instead, the students are graded in a four-level letter grade system with letters such as E for Excellent, P for Proficient, A for Adequate and NY for Not Yet.

"Our goal with the survey was to prove that our opinions were shared by many other parents in the school division and not just our own,” said Jan Nelson, a concerned parent from Mortlach who par the survey together.

“When we first began, we were told that our concerns would be concerned on an individual basis. They weren’t taking it as if it was a shared opinion of others.”

The survey had 89 responses including 61 parents, 22 teachers, four concerned citizens, and two staff members.

Of the responses from parents, 84 per cent felt the system negatively affected accuracy, 80 per cent felt it negatively affected student motivation and 80 per cent felt it negatively affected communication.

Nelson brought the numbers to the school board during their  Jan. 7 meeting and she wants to continue to work with the school board to make the system better.

“Because we feel so passionate about it, we feel like we have educated ourselves, become well-read on the topic and become that link between parent and the division that we could be really beneficial in helping bring about positive changes. It’s not that we want to work against them, we want to work with them,” Nelson said.

When it came to teachers, the results were split.

When asked if the teachers are seeing better quality, lower quality or no difference is the students’ work, 32 per cent said better, 32 per cent said lower and 36 per cent said no difference.

As well, overall 59 per cent of teachers said they are happy with the system, while 41 per cent were unhappy.

Nelson suspects the changes came after a meeting between teachers and the school division earlier in the year.

“At the beginning of the school year before the first day of school started, the division actually had a meeting with their teachers asking for input on how to engage parents because parents don’t seem to be as engaged anymore with their student’s education,” Nelson said.

“We’re wondering if this doesn’t have something to do with it. No news to parents maybe it’s good news. But no news doesn’t help the student.”

Discover Moose Jaw reached out to the Prairie South School Division and they declined to comment at this time.

Further discussion from the survey is expected to the next board meeting on Feb. 4.