ST. PAUL – St. Paul Education released its 2022-23 Annual Education Results Report (AERR) on Dec. 13, following the board’s monthly meeting.
The AERR is an annual review that provides an overview of the division’s performance in the previous academic year, and its progress in advancing its educational priorities. The province’s Assurance Framework requires school divisions to submit this annual report.
Keith Gamblin, associate superintendent of learning, presented the division’s AERR to trustees, highlighting some key areas.
PAT and Diplomas
Included in the AERR are student results in the Provincial Achievement Tests (PAT) and the Grade 12 Diploma Examination (DIP). PAT is an annual test for students Grades 6 and 9.
The overall Grades 6 and 9 PAT results of the division decreased from an “Acceptable Standard” of 59.5 per cent in 2022 to 51.7 per cent in 2023.
Meanwhile, for diploma examinations, 74.2 per cent of students achieved the Acceptable Standard, which is an increase from 72.7 per cent in 2022.
The result for the overall PAT is a cause of concern, according to Gamblin, before indicating factors that might have contributed to the drop.
Grade 6 PATs
For Grade 6, all subject areas dropped, expect Math, which increased to 53.7 per cent from 47.9 per cent in 2022.
French Language Arts (FLA) saw the most drop, from 86.7 per cent to 67.6 per cent. These results include seven students who did not participate in the FLA 6 last year, according to the AERR.
Excluding them, 89.3 per cent of students achieved the Acceptable Standard, with 10.7 per cent achieving the Standard of Excellence. Provincial average for FLA in 2023 is 77.6 per cent, with the Standard of Excellence provincial average at 12.5 per cent.
Grade 9 PATs
For Grade 9 students, Gamblin said FLA 9 saw a 4.1 per cent uptick from 2022. “But otherwise, we saw some small decreases in most subject areas.”
Gamblin said Science 9 saw a fairly substantial decrease, from 75.5 per cent in 2022 to 57.8 per cent in 2023.
“A drop like that obviously... sets off a little bit of an alarm. So, we are in the process of looking at individual school results,” to figure out what may have caused the drop, said Gamblin.
One contributing factor that may have caused the drop, according to Gamblin, is the schedule for the 2023 PTA. Unlike previous years, the 2023 PTA schedule were conducted two weeks later, leading to two weeks less of instruction time and flexibility for students.
“So, that did impact our results somewhat.”
For the Science 9 PAT, the test took place on June 26, which Gamblin said, was “literally the last day of school.”
Grade 12 Diploma Examination Results
For the Grade 12 diploma results, the division saw increases of students achieving Acceptable Standards on several courses, including English Language Arts (ELA) 30-1, Math 30-2, Science 30, and Biology 30.
Gamblin also noted the number of students writing this year was significantly higher than the number of students who took the examinations last year, due to some diploma examinations being cancelled in the 2022-23 school year.
Going back to the general results, Gamblin said, “one area of note would be Biology 30,” where 84.2 per cent of the 101 students achieved an Acceptable Standard, with the rest reaching Standard of Excellence. Compared to 64.4 per cent of the 87 students who took the exam in 2022.
STAR Reading Assessment Results
Gamblin also talked about the results of the STAR Reading Assessment for its Grade 3 to 12 students.
The STAR reading assessment is a K-12 reading assessment test developed by Renaissance Learning. It tests students’ knowledge in reading and language equivalent to their Grade Level. St. Paul Education provides the assessment to its Grade 3 to Grade 12 students.
The assessment indicated the percentage of division students reading at the 40th percentile and above for their respective grade level. If a Grade 3 student scored a percentile rank of 40, that means they performed as well or as better than 40 per cent of other Grade 3 students in the country.
Among the 12 Grade levels, Grade 3 division students scored the highest percentage. Of the 264 Grade 3 students assessed, 45 per cent of them scored at or above the 40th percentile.
Trustee Darcy Younghans briefly interrupted the report. “I’m kind of interested with why the Grade 5 [and] 6 percentages are lower than current Grade 3 and 4. Do you have insight on that?”
Gamblin explained a contributing factor was the pandemic. Last year’s Grade 5 to 8 students would have been in the earlier grades when the pandemic began, and experienced significant disruptions in learning.
COVID-19 was declared a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) in January o2020. In Alberta, restrictions began in March 2020. All restrictions were lifted in July 2022.
“So, obviously, there’s been a decline in their reading levels because of the pandemic,” said Younghans.
Government funding has been provided to help address the issue, said Gamblin. A literacy team provides targeted support for students, for example. Other measures are also being taken.
Trustee chair Sylvie Smyl asked if other divisions are facing similar issues.
Gamblin said they are “on the same boat,” explaining that due to the pandemic, decline in literacy and reading affected the whole nation. In meetings and collaborations with other school divisions, “We’re hearing a lot of similar issues, struggles, concerns.”
Smyl noted that it would also be “interesting to compare data” indicating if there is a difference between rural and urban students.
Gamblin said both urban and rural school divisions are analyzing their AERR data to figure out trends or issues they are seeing.
Other areas of the AERR discussed include high school completion rates, and high school to post-secondary transition rate.
The full 2022-2023 Annual Education Results Report can be found on the St. Paul Education website.
