P.E.I. provincial student assessments show room for improvement

All data we collect is used to directly improve student achievement.— P.E.I. Education Minister Hal Perry 

French Immersion students in particular seem to be struggling, with only 58 per cent of Grade 6 students meeting expectations in reading comprehension, and 39 per cent meeting expectations in writing.

Some areas showed improvement, including the number of Grade 9 students meeting expectations in reading, writing and math.

The P.E.I. Department of Education says the assessments give parents and teachers an idea of how well students are doing in reading, writing and math at critical stages of learning. If there are gaps, then the system can be improved.

"Island math teachers are involved in an intensive provincial math project which teachers say has been extremely positive, so it is encouraging to see some improvements in math," said Education, Early Learning and Culture Minister Hal Perry in a written statement.

"The assessment results do show that we need to do similar work to help our students succeed in reading and writing."

Last year Grade 11 students wrote their first-ever common assessment for math. Students enrolled in the 521A math program scored an average of 55 per cent, while only 61 per cent passed the test. Students in the more rigorous 521B (pre-calculus) scored an average of 61 per cent on their test, and 71 per cent passed.

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The results have been sent home with students and are available to parents online, said Perry.

Assessment process under review

Some teachers don't like the provincial assessments, saying they take up too much time and haven't led to real improvements in the classroom.

"We see the results that it is working. But it needs to be tweaked a little bit," Perry said at the teachers' annual convention in Charlottetown Thursday.

"Some teachers find it a little-time consuming within the classroom. So it goes back to listening to the teachers, what their concerns are, what their challenges may be. 

"What we're going to do is take a look at the process of the assessments and see where we can find changes that can help ease the pressures within the classroom."

'Measuring success in our school system'

So what's the education department doing about scores?

Perry points to workshops given to teachers this past summer at Prince Edward Island Summer Writing Institute. Teachers were shown how to recognize student writing strengths and how to build on them.

The province is also working with Sandra Herbst, one of Canada's leading experts on learning assessment, on providing more professional development opportunities for teachers for student writing. See the detailed assessment results here.

"We value the data we receive from our assessments, and we are committed to measuring success in our school system," said Perry. "At the same time, I am committed to working in collaboration with teachers to review our assessment process to ensure all data we collect is used to directly improve student achievement."

Perry encourages parents to take time to review the material and discuss the results with their child's teacher.