Alberta Primetime: Full Day Kindergarten

Premier Alison Redford has followed through on her leadership campaign promise to return $107M in funding to education. Now she is working with Education Minister, Thomas Lukaszuk, to deliver on another campaign promise, full-day kindergarten for all.

Eryn Kelly, Co-President of the Calgary Association of Parents and School Councils, along with Cheryl Smith, Vice-President of the Alberta School Boards Association, and Cynthia Prasow, Instructor at the University of Calgary’s Faculty of Education, participated in an Alberta Primetime panel discussion around the provision of full-day kindergarten to all children in our province.

Panel Highlights:
•Full-day kindergarten offered in British Columbia and Ontario to all children
•In Alberta, full-day kindergarten is available to some, not all children
•Benefits: equity and fairness across province; greater potential for early intervention; improve grade 1 readiness; research shows improvement in literacy, language, social and emotional development - especially for “at risk” children; recognition of the important connection between early learning and later success
•Drawbacks: wide range of readiness for full-day program; availability of space; cost is projected at $200M; staffing pressures; bus ride times

Provincial Achievement Tests: waste of time or useful information?

Premier Alison Redford made a campaign promise to scrap Provincial Achievement Tests for grades 3 and 6, and expressed to our membership she was open to discussing the weighting on the grade 12 Diploma Exams. Provincial results were recently released for these tests.

Are the provincial achievement tests for grades 3 and 6 too stressful for students? Are they a waste of time? Do they provide useful data? What do you think?

A recent Primetime Alberta segment, "Achievement Tests a Waste of Time," provides a great jumping off point for a discussion around this important issue. Jonathan Teghtmeyer (Associate Coordinator, Communications -Alberta Teachers' Association), Jacquie Hansen (President - Alberta School Boards' Association) and Jim Field (Associate Professor, Faculty of Education - University of Calgary) share their perspectives in a panel discussion focused on Provincial Achievement Tests and Diploma Exams.

As well, we can look back to March 16, 2009, when Genia Leskiw, MLA for Bonnyville-Cold Lake and a former teacher, sponsored Private Member’s Motion #503. This motion asked the Legislative Assembly to urge Government to “eliminate provincial achievement tests for grade three students and consider alternative assessments for learning.” Several MLAs entered the debate which can be found on pages 416 to 423 of the Alberta Hansard record. In the end, 29 MLAs voted in support of the motion and 18 MLAs voted against the motion.

Of interest, then Education Minister, the Hon. Dave Hancock, voted against the motion. He had this to say,

Mr. Speaker, while I understand the sentiment behind the motion that the Member for Bonnyville-Cold Lake has brought forward and I understand the concerns that are being raised about people teaching to the test and about the stress of the grade 3 students, I think those are issues that can be overcome. I do think we need to make sure that we have ways of recognizing the testing standards and assessment standards and outcomes across the spectrum of our system. We have to appreciate that our system is held up as being one of the best in the world because of its strong curriculum, because of its strong teaching standards, because of its strong teachers, and because of our accountability pillar in our assessment processes. Before we change what we’re doing, we ought to know what we’re going to. That would be my comment to the hon. member. Should we look at the PAT 3 tests and, presumably, in the future the PAT 6 and PAT 9? Perhaps we should. But let’s know and understand what assessment we need to make sure that we’re effective not only for the students, which is most important, but for the system, know that we’re doing the right thing and investing in our system across the province so that our students can be ready for the 21st century – we’re into the 21st century now, so I’d better say for the latter half of the 21st century – so that they can participate in a knowledge economy, a global economy, and be good both global and local citizens.

Nearly eighteen months later, when asked by MLA Genia Leskiw in Question Period for an update on any actions taken on her motion, the Hon. Dave Hancock responded,

Well, Mr. Speaker, the tests are very effective for us both in terms of providing information for the accountability of the system and in terms of how we're doing. The school boards tell us that they can use the results very effectively and do use the results very effectively. It's important information. We shouldn't stop doing something that provides good information, is a useful tool in the education system for accountability and for development of further educational opportunities for children until we have some­thing better. We will hopefully have something better once we've aligned it with new curriculum development and new resources.

Update: In a recent Fort McMurray Today article, "Education leaders clash over third grade tests," Education Minister, Thomas Lukaszuk, is quoted as saying, '" I will be looking at PATs to make sure they serve role they were designed to serve and that they are not being misused for other purposes."'