Alberta students, educators want mandatory tests and diploma exams cancelled amid 4th wave

Students and educators are calling on the provincial government to make diploma and provincial achievement tests (PATs) optional again this year as the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic continues to disrupt learning. 

Grade 12 William Aberhart students Miila Gordon and Ayda Seyednabian launched a petition this week with plans to submit it to the Alberta legislature to cancel provincial exams this year.

"The last time we had a normal class with a normal exam was the first semester of Grade 10 in January, early 2020," said Seyednabian.

"It's because we have no learning experience or prep for exams, because we didn't take any last year, so we don't really know the situation we're going into. I feel like it's very rushed in the learning process going up to that."

So far, the petition has garnered more than 100 student signatures.

Alberta Education says more information about provincial exams this year will be released later this week.

"I just hope the government takes away that, hey, we have not had a regular school year since 2018 to 2019. That is almost three years ago," said Gordon, who spent nearly all of the past two years learning online.

"The amount of stress that is on students and teachers and families at this current moment is so unprecedented.… The majority of students right now are just trying to make sure that we are studying for the next quiz and then the next unit test, never mind PATs or diplomas."

Educators agree. 

Medicine Hat Public School Division's superintendent of schools, Mark Davidson, said the impacts of COVID-19 continue to be felt in their classrooms. He said it's an "even more dislocated learning year" than last school year as students and teachers continue to experience absences and changes from online to in-person learning due to COVID-19 cases. 

"It's hard to manage a class of, let's say, 22 social studies students in Grade 11 in front of you and have another eight or nine at home and try and make sure that you're monitoring their needs as well as the ones who are in front of you," he said. "So it's actually been more challenging. Our division is as concerned, or even more concerned, about provincial achievement and diploma exams as we were in the past."

Calgary Catholic School District's chief superintendent Bryan Szumlas said he shares those concerns. 

"We're still living through the most dangerous wave of COVID-19, and it's very difficult for students to focus and to show their true performance on some of these exams," said Szumlas.

"It would be our recommendation that the provincial government consider having diploma exams as well as the provincial achievement testing program as optional."

In a statement, the Calgary Board of Education said it's preparing students to write provincial achievement exams, as was previously announced by Alberta Education. 

"PATs and diploma exams are standardized tests that help school boards and Alberta Education determine how individuals and groups of students are achieving and to ensure that provincewide standards of achievement are met," it said. "While these are important assessments, they are not the only way that schools determine student achievement and progress."

Last school year, Alberta Education made diploma exams optional because of the interruptions to learning that the pandemic had caused. School boards were also given the choice to administer or not administer PATs, with most school boards opting out. 

In June, the province announced provincial exams would return this school year under its re-entry plan.