Why standardized tests are a controversial subject for Alberta schools

Article originally appeared on Global News (date: September 3, 2019) and features comments from Dr. Dan Laitsch.

Standardized testing is standard practice across Canada but the exams are a source of controversy as well.  

Christopher Kendrick is heading into Grade 6, which means later this year, the Calgary student will write his first provincial achievement test (PAT) — a province-wide standardized test that will measure how well he’s doing in math, language arts, science and social studies.

Kendrick’s mom, Lindsay, says she believes these tests are important.  

“I think it’s really important to know, as parents, where your child is, if they’re doing good in school or not.”

On its website, Alberta Education says PATs are a useful way to “determine if students are learning what they are expected to learn” and “see how well a school is performing.”

“A lot of provinces and governments like the use of standardized tests because it gives them a good survey of how the system is doing relative to the domains that the test is focused on,” said Dan Laitsch, an education professor at Simon Fraser University.

Earlier this year, Alberta’s United Conservative government announced plans to reinstate PATs for students in Grade 3.

Former premier Alison Redford’s government got rid of the Grade 3 PATs in 2013, replacing them with student learning assessments (SLAs) instead.

“The (Alberta Teachers’) Association was actually quite supportive of the cancellation of the Grade 3 PATs because those exams were really quite stressful for those students,” ATA president Jason Schilling said. 

“PAT results don’t measure creativity – they don’t measure a student’s ability to collaborate, they don’t measure critical thinking. They’re a snapshot of one moment in time.” 

Not every Canadian province administers standardized tests at the elementary school level.

Read the rest of this article, featuring comments from Dr. Dan Laitsch, via the Global News.