Student assessment is cause for concern: N.S. educator
Posted Nov 29, 2011 05:18:21 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
A national survey of grade 8 students shows Nova Scotia students in the middle of the pack – and a top educator says we should be worried.
The Pan-Canadian Assessment program results, released Monday, show Nova Scotia kids are performing below the national mean in math, reading and science.
Education Minister Ramona Jennex called the results “very good,” but acknowledged there’s room for improvement.
Paul Bennett, director of Schoolhouse consulting in Halifax, calls the results “disappointing,” and says the bar is being set too low.
“When you consider the fact that we’ve had so many reforms over the past decade, one would expect that there’d be more improvement,” he said. “I think we should stop patting ourselves on the back with mediocre results.”
Bennett says he’s especially concerned about the Nova Scotia results in math and says there are things the province could do to improve, including overhauling the curriculum.
“Quebec has led every single one of these assessments becuase its mathematics curriculum is more challenging, more time is allocated to mathematics instruction and there’s much more emphasis on direct instruction of mathematical principles,” he said.
Bennett says more math specialists need to be placed in elementary schools.
“In Manitoba, for example, there’s a movement afoot right now to ensure that every elementry school has at least one specialist in mathematics,” he said.
Bennett says he’s encouraged by improvements in the reading results, but says Nova Scotia is doing its students an injustice if they’re allowed to consistently underperform in other areas.
“Students in other countries are improving, particularly in math and science,” he said. “Our students, ultimately, will be at a disadvantage.”
