Alberta students getting test results back on pre-COVID track

By ANNA SMITH Local Journalism Initiative on November 9, 2024.

asmith@medicinehatnews.com

Students are slowly but surely closing the gap on pre-pandemic provincial test results, according to the Government of Alberta.

The COVID-19 pandemic had profound impacts on the education system, including worse outcomes for students’ learning and social-emotional development.

However, Alberta’s Grade 6, 9 and 12 students are continuing to close the gap between pre-pandemic and post-pandemic scores in provincial tests, such as diploma exams and Provincial Achievement Tests, something the most recent test results show.

“The 2023-24 diploma exams and Provincial Achievement Test results are a strong indicator that learning gaps caused by the pandemic are closing,” said Education Minister Demetrios Nicolaides. “We recognize there are opportunities for improvement, but I am confident that through our investments, proposed legislation amendments and enhanced assessments, our K-12 students will gain the skills and knowledge they need to succeed.”

In particular, Grade 6 students showed significant improvement in the science and social studies categories, Grade 9 saw improvement in social and science in the acceptable standard and math and science in the excellence standard.

Grade 12 student scores on provincial examinations improved in both the acceptable and excellence standards in the majority of subjects.

In order to continue to support these improvements, the province will be prioritizing early years assessments, including investment to meet the specialized learning needs of students and proposing legislative amendments to prioritize student learning.

With this comes proposed amendments to the Education act, which the province said will establish a new right to education for Alberta students during future emergencies, including stressing access to in-person learning during times of crisis.

In addition to these proposed changes, Alberta’s government is investing $1.5 billion this school year to meet students’ specialized learning needs, including $44 million specifically for classroom complexity in the 2024-25 year, so school authorities can add staffing supports to complex classrooms.

“It’s encouraging to see the progress the students have made since returning to the classrooms. These findings are a testament to the hard work of the teachers, EAs, students and parents across the province,” said Dennis MacNeil, president, Public School Board Association of Alberta. “The results are also a reminder of just how important government funding is to public school education programs to continue to close this gap and have students not only reach pre-pandemic success, but to excel past it.”

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