Provincial Achievement Tests Update

Dear teachers, students, parents, guardians and families, 

As you may be aware, each year our grade 6 and our grade 9 students write Provincial Achievement Tests at the end of June. The Provincial Achievement Test is a helpful tool for our teachers to determine how to improve teaching and learning for the students in the following year.

This year, Parkland School Division will not be administering Provincial Achievement Tests to our grade 6 and 9 students. 

We have certainly heard from our families and from our staff that our students are doing their best to be resilient. As you can appreciate, however, this has not been a typical year for our teachers, students and families and we perceive that administering the test in our current reality will not provide the clarity we seek from this assessment. Like many jurisdictions across Alberta, we are certain that our decision to opt out of Provincial Achievement Tests will alleviate some stress and anxiety for our staff, students and families without any impact on our students.

Provincial Achievement Tests are only a small part of the full spectrum of achievement results for students. Our teachers will continue to provide ongoing assessment and communicate student progress to our parents and guardians and we will continue to provide excellent learning opportunities even though our methods continue to be impacted by the ongoing pandemic. We have heard from many of you on this topic and we trust that you will support our decision.

Should you have any questions or concerns, please speak with your school principal.

For further information, contact:
Parkland School Division
Scott M. Johnston 
Associate Superintendent
Email: sjohnston@psd70.ab.ca
Phone: 780-963-4010