Ontario will stop issuing fall report cards to elementary school pupils starting next year.

Teachers in Ontario have pushed for years to get rid of the report cards, which are usually issued in late October or early November, saying they come too soon after the start of the school year.

"Teachers have about six to eight weeks to make a formal assessment evaluation in reporting to parents, and it's a very short period of time to do that," said Sam Hammond, president of the Elementary Teachers' Federation of Ontario, which represents 70,000 teachers and education workers.

Under a new system announced Tuesday in a news release, parents will get informal "progress reports."

The progress reports will evaluate students in the same areas as the report cards, but instead of letter grades, students' progression will be measured by three categories — whether they're getting on very well, well or with difficulty.

"The fall Progress Report Card will facilitate better communication among parents, teachers and students by assessing students early in the school year in a new format," the Education Ministry said in a release Tuesday.

60-80 hours needed

Elementary school teachers spend on average between 60 and 80 hours completing report cards, Hammond said.

"They'll still do a lot of that assessment and evaluation, they just won't have the 60 to 80 hours of work to complete those report cards. We'll be able to spend much more time in … parent-teacher interviews and assessing student portfolios," Hammond said.

The federation first approached the education ministry about dropping the report cards in August 2006, after its delegates voted overwhelmingly to support the changes.

"What will be exciting to see in a new kind of report card in the fall is if, for instance, we get comments that are about your actual child, as opposed to the computerized comments that are on them right now," said Annie Kidder, executive director of the advocacy group People For Education.

"We have to remember and be aware that there's a huge range of parents in our province. Some who've gone to school and university in Canada and some who've just arrived from other countries."

The move makes Ontario the first province to issue only two report cards with letter grades per year.

One will be issued in late January or early February, the other at the end of the school year in June.

The new system has been tested in pilot projects in 60 schools and nine school boards, the education ministry said.