Edmonton Public Schools has released achievement test results for provincial achievement tests and diploma exams for the 2017-18 school year.
In math, Edmonton Public said their students showed strong results in their diploma exams, with improvement for students in Mathematics 30-1 and results holding steady in 30-2.
As for Grade 6 students, results improved for another year with 73.8 per cent of students meeting the acceptable standard—41 per cent—in their provincial achievement mathematics tests, just less than one per cent more than the provincial results.
The results are higher than the previous school year, when 70.8 per cent of students met the acceptable standard (versus the provincial number, which was 69.4 per cent).
“Overall we’re pleased with the trends we’re seeing in last year’s provincial achievement results,” Superintendent Darrel Robertson said Thursday.
But for students three years older in the same subject, the results were not so positive: only 63.6 per cent of students met their acceptable standard (42 per cent) versus the provincial percentage of 59.2 per cent.
Results for Grade 9 math have dropped over the last two school years, in Edmonton Public and throughout the province. In the 2015-16 school year, 73 per cent of students reached the 42 per cent benchmark (versus 67.8 per cent provincially). The next year, 70.3 per cent of Edmonton students also met it (67.2 per cent provincially).
Robertson said the drop came following changes to how students are tested.
“Last year was the introduction of the Part A written portion—no calculator—for Math 9,” Robertson said. “The previous year was the introductory year at the Grade 6 level where we saw a similar kind of decrease.”
Robertson said officials are looking at plans to improve results for students in the coming year, including a committee looking at ways to help students achieve better results.
In the 2017-18 school year, Edmonton Public Schools had a total of 98,914 students.
