New Grade 4 test supports student learning
Edmonton... A new provincial achievement test will be available to schools next month to further help ensure the learning system is meeting the needs of all students.
One of the goals of Alberta's learning system is to ensure all children can read and write and do basic math by the end of Grade 3. For those who do not achieve that, tailor-made remedial programs are put into place to address those students' specific needs. To help ensure those remedial programs are working, Alberta Learning will be introducing a new test for Grade 4 students who did not meet the acceptable standard on the Grade 3 provincial achievement test or who did not take the tests.
"The Learning Commission's vision for our learning system - and it's one that I share - is a system where every child learns and every child succeeds," Learning Minister Dr. Lyle Oberg. "It is therefore important that we have a way to follow up with these students to make sure their learning needs are being met.
"As it stands now, these students don't write another provincial achievement test until Grade 6," Oberg said. "We want to follow up with these students sooner than that to make sure they are succeeding."
Teachers currently use provincial achievement test results to help them prepare instructional plans for students who did not meet Grade 3 acceptable standards. This new test will provide extra information for teachers and school administrators about students' achievement in reading, writing and basic mathematics, and about the success of their instructional programs.
"Teachers and school boards currently provide individual support for these students," said Oberg. "This initiative provides system-wide assessment, which can tell us what is working and what is not, and where the system can focus its efforts and resources."
Use of the test is optional for school boards this school year. Alberta Learning will consult with boards and other stakeholders before final implementation in the 2004-05 school year.
For those boards that wish to use the Grade 4 assessment this school year, it will be administered the week of June 14, 2004. Alberta teachers will mark the assessments centrally in July. The results will be provided in September in a separate report and will not be included in the detailed school and school authority reports of provincial achievement test results.
As with the other provincial achievement exams, special exemptions can be arranged through the superintendent on an individual basis. If a student requires special accommodations - such as additional writing time, isolation or a reader - the school principal can make the arrangements.
The new test is based on British Columbia's Grade 4 Foundation Skills Assessment. It includes reading, writing and numeracy, and has been adapted to align with Alberta's curriculum. Up to 15,000 students may be eligible to write the Grade 4 test. Total cost is expected to be about $75,000 each year.
