Provincial Testing

Guidelines for Interpreting the Achievement Tests

Multiyear Reports

Achievement test results provide only part of the overall picture of the province’s, a school authority’s, or a school’s performance. Although provincial assessments are designed to assess the achievement of provincial standards, many important learning outcomes cannot be measured by time-limited paper-and-pencil tests. In addition, the interpretation of achievement test results involves considering many factors that contribute to achievement. The local school and school authority are in the best position to accurately interpret, use, and communicate provincial assessment results for the school or school authority. For this reason, information about school or school authority results should be obtained from the school or school authority. To receive more detailed information on the calculation and use of these data, please contact Jo-Anne Hug, Director (Achievement Testing) or Nicole Lamarre, Director (French Assessment), Learner Assessment, at (780) 427-0010, toll free at 310-0000 or by email at Jo-Anne.Hug@gov.ab.ca or Nicole.Lamarre@gov.ab.ca.

  1. Results on provincial assessments for individual students and for groups of fewer than six students are not to be publicly released.

     

  2. Because the difficulty of the test varies slightly from year to year and to facilitate the comparison of student performance over time, Alberta Education adjusts the cut-scores that define the Acceptable Standard and the Standard of Excellence each year. This makes it possible to identify trends in the percentage of students meeting standards across the five years of 2001-2002 to 2006-2007 for subjects where the curriculum and standards have remained the same.

  3. For school authorities with new boundaries, the statistics have been recalculated based on those schools that were within the new boundaries at the time of testing. The statistics were recalculated using school data rather than individual student data. Using this method, it is possible to recalculate all of the statistics reported, except for the standard deviation of the test which is reported as N/A.

  4. In 2002-2003, students in Grade 9 wrote one of two forms of the Science achievement test, depending on which Program of Studies they had followed in that year. Form A reflected the learning expectations as stated in the 1990 Program of Studies. Form B reflected the learning expectations as stated in the 2002 Program of Studies.