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Winnipeg Free Press

Not making the grades

University of Manitoba instructors are warning there's a high level of unpreparedness among first-year students despite more of them entering with grade averages of 95 per cent or higher. A new report shows 40 per cent of local high school students who met U of M standard admission requirements in the fall had report card scores that scored perfection or within five points of it. These high achievers have represented the largest group of applicants annually since 2020. Two in five successful applicants were part of this group last year. Forty per cent of local high school students who met U of M standard admission requirements in the fall had high-school grades averaging 95 per cent or higher. Forty per cent of local high school students who met U of M standard admission requirements in the fall had high-school grades averaging 95 per cent or higher. Statistician Jenna Tichon said the dramatic shift took her by surprise as she was scanning historical entrance data put out by her university's office of institutional analysis. The percentage of Manitoba high school students achieving 95 per cent and up more than doubled from 2014 to 2024. It was the third most common entrance average group a decade ago. In 2020, following COVID-19-related disruptions and exam cancellations, it overtook the 90 to 94 per cent range as the largest group of its kind. 'Ninety-five per cent should be a really exceptional average,' said Tichon, who both teaches statistics at the university and serves as an executive on its faculty association. The union vice-president said she and her colleagues, who represent about 1,170 academic staff, are closely monitoring this trend to see if it persists. Entrance averages matter because they are used to stream students and, in an ideal scenario, indicate preparedness for post-secondary education, she noted. Faculty members have flagged concerns about grade inflation — the steady creep of average marks that does not reflect a corresponding increase in academic knowledge or skills — in recent years. Among them, senior mathematics instructor Darja Barr and Natalie Riediger, an associate professor who researches nutrition and health equity. Riediger said the level of her students' academic preparedness has dropped significantly since she started teaching at U of M in 2016. 'In the last few years, I've given out a lot more Cs, Ds and Fs,' the associate professor said. PHIL HOSSACK / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS FILES Entitlement and parent pressure also influence final report cards, said John Wiens, a dean emeritus at Manitoba's largest faculty of education. PHIL HOSSACK / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS FILES The fallout has affected workloads, given the time associated with putting someone on academic probation, accommodating exam deferrals and policing related misconduct, she said. Barr obtained her PhD in education in 2019 for exposing the unreliable nature of high school pre-calculus marks in predicting a Manitoba student's success in university calculus. She analyzed U of M datasets from 2001 to 2015 — a project sparked by her curiosity as to why so many students were in disbelief over failing her midterm when they had done well in high school. Her thesis concluded 'the disconnect' between secondary and post-secondary marks had grown over time, and better communication between the kindergarten-to-Grade 12 and university sectors was necessary to fix it. 'The trend suggested it was going to get worse and worse,' Barr recalled. She said that since then, she has been advocating for university instructors outside faculties of education to have more input on provincial curriculum and assessment development. 'I don't think teachers are knowingly inflating grades,' Barr said. 'I just think that the policies, the assessment strategies, the content in K to 12, it's like I'm watching what's trendy in clothing.' There was once a drive to cover the entirety of every curriculum, but high schools have shifted to prioritize compassion and student well-being in the wake of the pandemic, said John Wiens, a dean emeritus at Manitoba's largest faculty of education. 'The major change is that we are paying more attention to kids' mental health,' Wiens said, reflecting on the last decade and possible explanations for rising marks. Entitlement — 'if a student doesn't like their mark, they'll appeal it to the end of the earth' — and parent pressure also influence final report cards, the career educator said. As far as he is concerned, a high school teacher's personal observations about a student are more accurate than marks when it comes to predicting success in post-secondary education. 'We put too little stock in non-numerical judgments,' Wiens said. The Manitoba Association for Progressive Assessment was established at the start of the year to connect teachers interested in forms of 'ungrading,' such as 'outcomes-based assessment,' which involves doing away with high-stakes tests and regularly evaluating students against specific and clearly-defined learning goals. Asked about curriculum and assessment development processes, a spokesperson for Education Minister Tracy Schmidt said her office works closely with schools, school divisions and post-secondary institutions. 'The department regularly consults with post-secondary faculty, academic and subject matter experts to ensure students have the skills and knowledge they need to meet challenges throughout their academic career,' they wrote in a statement. No representative from the U of M's office of institutional analysis was available for comment Thursday. Its latest report on entrance grades includes a disclosure about the COVID-19 pandemic's toll on the university in 2020, 2021 and 2022. 'Comparisons involving COVID-affected years should be made with caution,' it states. Maggie MacintoshEducation reporter Maggie Macintosh reports on education for the Free Press. Originally from Hamilton, Ont., she first reported for the Free Press in 2017. Read more about Maggie. Funding for the Free Press education reporter comes from the Government of Canada through the Local Journalism Initiative. Every piece of reporting Maggie produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press's tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press's history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates. Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber. 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