The province of Río Negro decided to leave behind the report card that for years characterized its educational system and much of the Argentine territory. Through a measure of the Education Council of that province, it was decided to repeal this model and establish another called “Appreciation of the School Trajectory”.

The initiative provoked angry criticism from the opposition and forced the authorities to give explanations. The provincial Ministry of Education tried to tone down the controversy, although Together for Change associated the measure with the decision to spend the year with up to 19 subjects in Formosa or the prohibition of qualifying below 4 in Entre Ríos. The trade union sector also expressed its displeasure at the lack of consultation.

The Provincial Education Council formalized the decision on May 6 through resolution No. 2839, signed by President Angélica Portales. There, it is stated that the “Primary Education Report Card” “is without effect”, which had ” bimonthly evaluation cuts ” in Language and Literature, Mathematics, Social Sciences, Natural Sciences, and Foreign Language. And “four-monthly evaluative cuts ” in “Artistic Education” that includes areas such as Theatre/Audiovisual Arts, Dance/Audiovisual Arts, Plastic Arts and Music, and Physical Education.

The resolution, published by La Mañana de Cipoletti thus indicates that in Río Negro a new instrument called ” Appreciation of the school trajectory ” of Primary Education will come into effect, which, in this case, will have quarterly and comprehensive evaluation cuts. In addition, the Educational Council specified that the new newsletter will be delivered to the family or guardian ” in paper or digital format”, with due confidentiality of the data.

The Board of Education repealed, in turn, “all other existing resolutions insofar as they contradict the principles and foundations of the Evaluation, Accreditation and Promotion system” that was approved in the resolution.

The system was already in force since 2020 due to the context of the pandemic, although provisionally. The educational authorities argued the need to evaluate the conceptual basis of the educational trajectory due to the lack of face-to-face classes and the connectivity problems of virtual education.

With the return of attendance, the authorities were inclined to modify the instrument rather than reinstate the previous model. In fact, in the recitals of the resolution, they cite that in 2020 and 2021 the “comprehensive review of purposes, criteria and evaluative instruments” was encouraged, amid the health emergency.

Critics

However, critical voices did not take long to appear. From the Union of Education Workers of Río Negro (Unter) they questioned that the measure has not been put into consideration by all the actors that make up the educational system in the province.

Mariana Rucci, secretary-general of Unter Cipolletti, maintained that the resolution was rejected in the parity discussion given that “the possibility of giving an opinion was not worked on or opened up”. “ It was a decision that the Ministry took without consultation without generating debates in the schools or instances of construction on the evaluation mechanisms in primary schools”, she affirmed to LM Cipoletti.

Meanwhile, the provincial legislator of Together for Change Juan Martín brought up the background of Formosa and Entre Ríos and expressed that, through the measure, “the province of Río Negro decides to join this path of lowering the educational level “.

Martín thought that the Educational Trajectory Appreciation system “focuses on a generality”, instead of “assessing whether the children learned Mathematics, Language or Geography”. “An instrument that served to reward effort, but also to have a concrete parameter of the functioning of the educational system, is being lost,” he observed.

“This will not remove the note”

The Minister of Education and Human Rights of Río Negro, Mercedes Jara Tracchia, tried to decompress the debate. The official denied that the bulletins will disappear and she pointed out that changes will be added. “That report card [the report card] did not give all the explanations and information that both families and children deserve. So we started working to modify that,” she added.

The minister of the governor Arabela Carreras insisted in statements to Radio Seis, quoted by Bariloche 2000, that the modification seeks to give the evaluation “greater richness.” In this way, she said that “the idea is not to remove the OS, the SA or the VERY SA”, but, in any case, she stated, “to say what an OS means in terms of the educational process”.

“In the bulletin, there was a second part where it said Appreciation of the school trajectory. We wanted to give more context to this appreciation of the school trajectory. And that is why we are working to incorporate the content that we are understanding into this appreciation of the school trajectory. This will not remove the note ”, He defended.