SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
St. Patrick High School staff are hoping a new system for analyzing certain test results will isolate problem areas for students, according to assistant-principal Todd Stewart. Stewart said students at the Catholic district's high school scored below the Albertan average last year on advanced placement tests - with French being the sole exception.

One of St. Patrick High School's assistant-principals, Todd Stewart, left, and principal Coleen McDonald, delivered a presentation on last year's advanced placement scores for trustees at last week's meeting. According to Stewart, the school is using a new data management and analysis system which will allow staff to hone in on where their students need help. - Evan Kiyoshi French/NNSL photo

Advanced placement tests are typically written by students wishing to pursue post-secondary education in another province during their final year of study in the NWT. Stewart said the new data system will analyze these results to help determine where the students are struggling most.

Yellowknife Catholic Schools chairperson Simon Taylor asked Stewart at the district's Nov. 18 board meeting if more funding would contribute to improved test scores.

"More funding is always a good thing," said Stewart.

There are success stories, he said. In addition to beating Alberta students on French test scores - by about two or three per cent on average last year - the school can boast about award-winning students such as 17-year-old Kyle McKee, who was named winner of the Schulich Leadership Scholarship in April.

Stewart said although the test scores are lower than the Alberta average by approximately five to ten per cent in each area tested - the school is competing against a vast pool of students in Alberta where results are more representative. Thousands of students take the tests down south, said Stewart, whereas only a handful write the test in Yellowknife each year. Citing the French test as an example, he said only four students wrote the test last year.

"All it takes is for one of our students to have a bad day and it really skews our results," he said.

Superintendent Claudia Parker said it did not cost any money to implement the new system, adding staff got the idea to use colour coding and spreadsheets to organize test results - at the NWT Principals Conference, held in October. "We had a bunch of presenters come up from Edmonton Public (Schools) and they basically introduced a process for analyzing results," she said, adding the program did not require any new software.

She said St. Pat's staff have had their hands on the system since the fall so they are only beginning to upload the last three years of scores. This information will be used to build a picture of the school's performance.

"We're in the process of running the data for the last three years," she said. "If you want to make a difference you should really be looking at trends rather than just taking a look at one year of results."

Parker said more funding is always helpful in implementing new strategies.

"Let's say we wanted to put some intervention programs in place," she said. "For example, at our elementary schools we have literacy support teachers. If we wanted to put a literacy intervention or a math intervention, of course, the more staff you have, it always helps. Nobody is going to turn down more resources if they can get them."

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