'Not as bad as what I expected,' student says as Manitoba provincial English exam returns
Manitoba abruptly cancelled standardized exam last spring, citing issues with material within the test
The provincial English exam has returned to Manitoba high schools after being abruptly cancelled last year — and one Grade 12 student says the experience wasn't as bad as she had feared.
"People were hyping it up, like, 'Oh, it's the hardest day. And, like, your hands are gonna cramp.' But … it's not as bad as what I expected," St. John's High School student Catherine Rosales told CBC.
She's among the few Manitoba high school students to take the standardized English language arts exam since before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. High school seniors across the province began writing the four-day test earlier this week.
Manitoba cancelled all standardized provincial Grade 12 exams in 2020, over concerns that the mix of in-class and remote learning implemented during the pandemic might prevent students from having equal access to instruction. Schools administered their own exams instead.
The province said it would reinstate the provincial math and English exams for the 2023-24 school year.
The provincial tests for the first semester were written in January of last year, but the English exams were abruptly put on hold again in May due to issues with material within the test, a provincial spokesperson said at the time.
Now that the English exam is back, St. John's student Phoebe Agaya says she felt nervous heading into it.
"It was different from what I expected, because last year I actually took the math provincial exam," she said.
"But for English, what we had to go into is based on what we've learned for the past 12 years of our life. So we couldn't really study it.… You had to just go based on our literary skills," she said.
St. John's English teacher Dan Waldron says many students at the north Winnipeg school felt apprehensive heading into the Grade 12 exam, especially since many have little experience with the standardized tests due to the pandemic hiatus.
"A lot of students hadn't written exams like this before. Before, they were prepared in Grade 8," when students also write provincial exams, he said.
"These ones didn't really get that opportunity."
Waldron helped prepare the students by going over past exams, which he says used a similar format to the one being administered this year.
"A lot of it's just understanding how to answer the question correctly, identifying what's being asked, and then finding samples within the writing and their own lives to talk about how they came to the answer."
'Balanced approach' needed on testing: teacher
Michael Zwaagstra, who teaches high school social studies in southern Manitoba and has studied the academic performance of Manitoba students, says schools need to take a "balanced approach" to testing.
That should include some exams created by teachers themselves, taking into account the needs and classroom conditions of specific students, while using provincial standardized tests to track changes in student performance over time, said Zwaagstra, who is also the deputy mayor of Steinbach and a senior fellow of the Fraser Institute, and has written opinion pieces on the importance of standardized testing.
"Because then it makes it much easier to ensure that certain outcomes are being met and that we're able to do comparisons, school to school, and school division to school division," Zwaagstra told host Marcy Markusa in a Thursday interview with CBC Manitoba's Information Radio.
But Waldron isn't sure the provincial exams are the best assessment tool for every student.
"It's kind of a mixed bag. I think [for] students that are going to university, this is a really good asset to prepare them," he said.
"But as we know, lots of students can have success in many other ways than university. And is this necessarily the best way to prepare them for that? I'm not sure, but we do what the province tells us."
Manitoba students have consistently ranked among the lowest scores in Canada for English and math, according to standardized tests.
Zwaagstra says teachers should focus more on traditional teaching methods, including memorization and direct instruction.
Education Minister Tracy Schmidt says she understands exams can be "stressful" for students, and said the province is always reviewing its curriculum to find ways of improving student outcomes.
"But do your best, have fun and make sure to get lots of sleep," she said. "That's probably the most important part."
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
With files from Jim Agapito and Nelly Gonzalez