Yellowknife (Jun 23/06) - Yk Education District No. 1 (Yk 1) finally released its 2004-2005 Alberta Achievement test (AAT) results.

The decision saw the end of a long debate between trustees and parents who wanted to know the results.

But Education Minister Charles Dent said the Department of Education, Culture and Employment (ECE) would stop funding the AAT project if people start asking for the release of individual school results.

"I've made it clear these results are not to be used to rank schools," said Dent. "We'll put money elsewhere."

Assistant superintendent Mel Pardy said he believes these tests help schools see where they are, but are not true indicators of a student's academic success.

"I'm not against the AATs," he said, "but I worry about the misuse of them."

Pardy said the AATs can be helpful to schools and districts, but only examined over the period of three or five years.

"Schools are supposed to demonstrate growth over time," said Pardy.

He considers the AATs as one component to examining a school's success, but it's not the only, he said.

Important things to watch for are downward trends, said Pardy.

Yk 1 chair Reanna Erasmus said at previous board meetings that trustees would not release the results of the test this year because ECE had asked for them to be kept sealed.

The Yk 1 students showed results similar to last year, said Pardy, but are struggling in areas like reading comprehension and problem solving.

To combat these problems, Yk 1 initiated an early intervention program for kindergarten to Grade 3 students.

A math committee has also looked at some of the math curriculum to see if there are possible improvements in the teaching of problem-solving skills.

The results were released at a public meeting on May 10 to inform parents about Yk 1 efforts on the facilities committee - the committee comprised of members from the city, the Francophone school board, Yk 1, Yellowknife Catholic Schools (YCS), and Aurora College.

This committee made recommendations to Dent about the space crunch at YCS schools and Aurora College's Yellowknife campus.

The Kaw Tay Whee school in Dettah and Kalemi Dene school in Ndilo were not included in the results, said Pardy.

Results for French immersion students were not released because individual classes could be identified.

Each year, school principals make a presentation to Yk 1 administration about their schools' performance.

Pardy said the AATs are discussed, but again, they are only one part of the many different factors that determine how a school is succeeding.

Parents looking for results for their children can ask the school's principal for that information.

Parents can also contact Yk 1 to receive a copy of the results, including the 2005 diploma scores.

Pardy recommends parents visit the schools and speak to other parents about an individual school if they are wondering where they should enrol their children.

Acceptable standards are defined as scoring between 50 and 100 per cent on the test