Yellowknife (Apr 21/06) - Education Minister Charles Dent says the public school board can release Alberta Achievement Test scores.

He told Yellowknifer last week that he's given the go-ahead to release the scores, but it's not clear when the results will be made public.

"Once a written confirmation is presented, we will release (the results) to the public," said Yellowknife Education District No. 1 board chair Reanna Erasmus.

Until now, Yk 1 has refused to release the results, saying Dent said he would not release territorial exam results.

"School boards are allowed to release results of their board," said Dent.

Representatives with the Department of Education, Culture, and Employment said the board will receive clarification in writing soon.

Erasmus said the reason they had not released results like previous years is because this was the first time the education department was in charge of the testing.

Both the minister and the school board have similar reservations about parents using the scores to evaluate schools and districts.

"It's such a small population," said Dent, referring to the population of school-aged children in the NWT.

Some class sizes can change dramatically in a year and NWT students can't be compared to those in Alberta, said Dent.

Erasmus agrees.

"Our district's results were positive, but this is not the sole indicator of success," she said.

The standardized tests are taken by students in Alberta and the NWT in Grades 3, 6 and 9 in math and language arts.

Representatives with Alberta Education said these tests are designed to help schools see where their students are and what needs to be improved.

If the results are released, Erasmus said the board will hold a public meeting to discuss the results with parents.

Because there is only one Yk 1 high school, Sir John Franklin, the Grade 9 results will not be released.