Ian Landy, principal of Sorrento Elementary in Sorrento, BC, is no stranger to the inadequacies of report cards. In his time as principal in two different school districts, he struggled to make them better, to somehow meet his students’ needs. In the end, as he writes on his blog, he realized that he needed to move past the search for a better report cards.

ePortfolio products such as QUIO Learning Map andFresh Grade provided exactly the kind of alternative assessment Landy was looking for. The eportfolios have allowed a shift to a focus on individual learning. “Instead of focusing on “one size fits all” assessments, eportfolios enable us to share personal learning journeys and personal successes,” Landy explained, “Families are talking about what was learned, not what score was achieved on a task.” He particularly likes the way QUIO organizes the province’s learning standards, making it easier to plan lessons and organize student work.

Landy points out that report cards are great at doing what they were designed to do, but what we know about teaching and learning has changed dramatically. Rating and comparing students has shifted to a desire to communicate the learning that has taken place, rather than achievement on a set of tasks. Recent changes to the BC curriculum include the elimination of all but two provincial exams for high school students, which test for math and literacy skills prior to graduation.

This is a great start, but Landy wants to see it go even further. “As our new report order is being created in our province, I hope to see two key elements: ongoing communication between school and home, and the ability to add artifacts of learning that occur throughout the student’s career.” He would also like to see “A guided, gradual release of responsibility where learners get to see/practice/use eportoflios to show their learning and what they have done…..24/7 because learning does not just occur in a brick & mortar school!”

For more about the implementation of eportfolios in British Columbia, go to Ian Landy’s blog at technolandy.wordpress.com/eportfolios/.