Keep provincial exams in place
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 16/03/2024 (581 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
The Sun’s support of provincewide testing of high school students was welcome news because of the importance to Manitoba students, parents and teachers knowing how their education stacks up against other students, schools, provinces and countries. Provincial ministers of education must resist any attempts by teachers, their unions or others to do away with standardized testing.
For me, the holy grail of comparing education systems is the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) tests of mathematics, reading and science skills of 15-year old students regularly carried out by the Organisation for International Co-operation and Development (OECD). You refer to these tests in your editorial. In 2022, nearly 700,000 students from 81 OECD members took the PISA tests.
The mathematics scores of Canadian students rank significantly above most other countries, including the United Kingdom, Germany, France and, especially, the United States. Within Canada there are significant variations among provinces. Quebec and Alberta consistently rank above the national average, while Manitoba, Saskatchewan and the four Atlantic provinces are all significantly below the national average.
Reading scores of Canadian students also rank above most other countries, with Ontario and B.C. above the national average and Manitoba students significantly below average. Science scores are also above average for Canadian students, with Manitoba well below the national average. Alberta, B.C. and Ontario are well above the national average.
Manitoba’s new minister of education needs to address the province’s low scores, compared to the rest of Canada, in mathematics, reading and science. When he is considering the views of those who are for and against standardized testing, he should consider the words of the latest PISA report: “Some people argue that the PISA tests are unfair, because they may confront students with problems they have not encountered in school. But then life is unfair, because the real test in life is not whether we can remember what we learned at school, but whether we will be able to solve problems that we can’t possibly anticipate today.”
JAMES A. McALLISTER, PhD
Ajax, Ont.