PBLA Reporting – Learner Progress Reports and Conferences
Reporting Periods
Program-specified schedules will determine when you issue progress reports to learners and schedule short one-on-one learner progress conferences.
The number of hours of instruction before evaluation of a skill area or a full portfolio are not mandated by PBLA. However, programs should set progress report and conference schedules that are consistent with the following criteria:
- Reporting periods should allow sufficient instructional hours so that there is reasonable expectation that learners will make progress to the next benchmark level in one or more skill. According to the Watt study (2004, Executive Summary), “Students with 8 to 12 years of education register moderate rates of progress over any 250 hours of instruction, changing approximately .6 of a benchmark level in Listening and Speaking, .9 of a benchmark level in Reading, and .5 of a benchmark in Writing.”
- Reporting periods should allow time to gather sufficient evidence to document progress (aiming towards 8 to 10 entries per skill area).
Teachers should use the above information to apply to their own program situation. PBLA does not mandate evaluation schedules. The schedules that follow are examples only.
Table 5: Sample Progress Report and Conference Schedules
| Hours of Delivery | Number and Frequency of Progress Conferences | Number and Frequency of Progress Reports |
| 10 hours per week
Program runs from September to end of May. |
2 Progress Conferences
Conference 1: January Conference 2: May |
1 Progress Report
End of May |
| 15 hours per week
Program runs year-round with continuos intake. |
2 Progress Conferences
Conference 1: December Conference 2: June |
2 Progress Reports
Report 1: December Report 2: June |
| 25 hours per week
Year-round program with 4 terms of 12 weeks. |
4 Progress Conferences / year
Conferences held in conjunction with progress reports. |
4 Progress Reports / year
Report 1: end of 12-week term Report 2: end of 12-week term Report 3: end of 12-week term Report 4: end of 12-week term |
Additional Considerations:
- If learners have a complete portfolio before the benchmark reporting period (sufficient artefacts accumulated over an appropriate number of instructional hours since the last reporting period), you may wait until the scheduled reporting period to review the portfolio and issue a progress report or schedule a separate progress conference and progress report. The decision is at the discretion of the program.
- If learners don’t have enough artefacts (aiming towards 8 to 10 per skill) in their portfolio to conduct a portfolio review at the scheduled benchmark reporting period, schedule a progress conference to discuss progress and provide feedback; however, there is no mandatory PBLA reporting form to be completed. Programs may choose to use some type of reporting form to guide the conference, but the decision is at the discretion of the program.
- Questions around the scheduling of reporting on iCARE and HARTS and distributing the LINC certificate should be directed to the funder.
