Should the province make Alberta’s provincial achievement test (PAT) mandatory once again?
United Conservative Party (UCP) leadership Brian Jean, believes so. He says if the UCP is elected, under his leadership, he would also restore the provincial achievement tests (PAT) in Grade 3 and keep them in Grades 6 and 9 so parents and educators have a better sense of how students are developing against an objective standard.
In 2013, the Progressive Conservative government announced it would no longer require schools to have their students write the PAT exams but would be replace the exam with a new online exam, called the student learning assessment (SLA), to test students grasp of the curriculum that was less stressful for the student.
Originally the plan was that the PATs would be completely phased out by 2017 and be replaced by SLAs, but it has never been put into full practice across the province. Instead, the government has been experimenting with the tool the last four years, including a pilot project this past year in which 20 school divisions were recruited to use it.
One of the reasons why the test hasn’t been implemented fully is that the Alberta Teachers’ Association (ATA) has not been onboard. In 2015, the ATA conducted an online survey of its members in 2015, finding nearly 75 per cent of respondents felt the assessment tool was of little benefit and consumed close to five days of teachers’ time. Several teachers questioned the validity of the results and noted some students struggled to use the technology. As well, there have been reports the digital platform failed to work properly in some parts of the province.
I for one, am disappointed the SLAs have not been more successful.
Admittedly, I have never been a big fan of the PATs. The main reason being is I feel teachers tend to teach to the test, and I don’t feel that necessarily gives children the best education. Nor do I think the test actually helps the people it needs to and that is the students who are taking it. Students write the exams in the spring, which is too late. Even if you agree the PATs are an efficient way to know whether a teacher, school or division is getting the results it wants in a particular grade — the knowledge comes too late to help students who are experiencing difficulty as they will be in a new grade the next year with a different teacher.
The SLAs on the other hand are written in September, while teachers still have a chance to impact students learning.
Just for this reason alone I think the government shouldn’t abandon SLAs.
