CHARLOTTETOWN, P.E.I. - The P.E.I. government should follow Ontario’s lead and review its student assessments, says Opposition MLA Matthew MacKay.
During Thursday’s question period, MacKay questioned Education Minister Jordan Brown about how many assessment tests students have to write in P.E.I.
“Mr. Speaker, this government is smothering students with provincial standardized assessments,” he said.
Students in P.E.I. write provincial assessment tests in math and literacy to determine if they are meeting expectations.
That includes tests in Grades 3, 6 and 11.
They also have to write Pan-Canadian Assessment Program assessments and Programme for international Student Assessment (PISA) tests.
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This year P.E.I. added a literacy assessment for Grade 10 students as a pilot project.
MacKay tabled a report from Ontario that reviewed its testing and made several recommendations, including a redesign of that province’s large-scale assessments.
Brown responded by saying P.E.I. will be reviewing its assessment program, but he couldn’t say if that would mean more or fewer assessments.
“We will be looking at what assessments we do and why we do them and what we hope to gain out of them,” Brown said.
