SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Tests used to measure student achievement in Alberta are being phased out, and territorial educators who borrow the province's testing tool are searching for a replacement by September.

Melissa MacLellan takes a test in Tomiko Robson's Grade 10 social studies class at Sir John Franklin High School in 2015. The territory is in the market for a test to replace the soon-to-be phased out Alberta Achievement Tests (AAT) used to assess student progress and point out problem areas. - Evan Kiyoshi French/NNSL photo

Yellowknife Education District No. 1 (Yk1) superintendent Metro Huculak said the Alberta Achievement Test (AAT) is usually administered to students in Grade 3, Grade 6 and Grade 9 as a means of assessing student scores against those in other provinces and territories, to help inform teachers as to what they might do to improve results. Alberta has phased out the Grade 3 achievement test, and will soon stop offering the Grade 6 and Grade 9 tests as well, said Huculak, which leaves territory schools without a tool to figure out how their students are absorbing information.

"What we use it for is to inform teaching, where our kids strengths, where their weaknesses are so we can work on those to make sure our kids are achieving the outcomes for their grade."

On Tuesday, Huculak said he was scheduled to meet with Carole Fullerton, a math consultant from B.C., to find out about testing tools the district might consider to assess student achievement in mathematics. He said the district has already found a replacement literacy assessment tool - Fountas and Pinnell - and hopes to have a math tool in place by next school year.

"I want to have something in place for September," said Huculak.

The Alberta government announced in 2013 it would replace the AATs with a series of new computer-based tests . Yk1 schools helped to pilot Alberta's new test - the Student Level Assessments (SLAs) - but decided the new test doesn't provide enough data, said Huculak.

The SLAs test students on literacy and numeracy but also test students' creativity, critical thinking, and problem-solving. Huculak said testing numeracy and literacy are enough to paint the picture territorial educators are looking for.

"If kids can do math and do literacy, they're going to do quite well in all subjects," he said.

Jacqueline McKinnon, spokesperson for the Department of Education, Culture and Employment, stated by e-mail the computer-administered SLAs had limited success in the NWT due to insufficient bandwidth issues.

"As a result, we will be unable to implement the SLAs territory-wide at this time," she wrote.

ECE has struck a working group tasked with finding new testing tools, according to McKinnon.

"The tools selected must be connected to the NWT curriculum, be culturally relevant to our students and ensure consistent application of standards across the NWT," she wrote.

In April 2015, then-education minister Jackson Lafferty announced the department was seeking a tool "more suitable for Northern students", but did not provide specifics as to what that would mean.

Darryl Dolynny, then-ange Lake MLA, told Yellowknifer if a replacement test ends up being easier that equivalent tests delivered elsewhere in Canada, it would ultimately cause problems for some students. In her e-mail last week, McKinnon wrote ECE and regional education authorities will thoroughly pilot any new tools before implementation.

"NWT schools will continue to use the AATs at Grades 6 and 9 as long as they are available from Alberta," she wrote.