Nova Scotia must reverse downward student test-score spiral: Education expert
Coming out of COVID-19, it was assumed students in Nova Scotia would perform poorly on the province’s academic assessment tests.
“We’ve got a pandemic generation who’s going to struggle because learning loss is real and every set of tests that are released indicate just how serious it is for this generation of students,” says Paul Bennett, the director of the Schoolhouse Institute in Halifax.
Scores released Tuesday show that in math, from Grades 3 to 10, students performing at or above expectations fell by between 2 and 8 per cent.
Meanwhile for English, reading scores were down between 1 and 5 per cent -- and writing too, except for a small improvement by students in Grade 8, who scored 1 per cent higher.
Bennett says the challenge is reversing the trend that started before the pandemic and was made worse by a lack of in-class learning.
“It’s taken a few decades to get where we are so we need to get started right away,” Bennet says.
The province’s education minister says some supports are on the way: things like a focus on phonics and phonological awareness for students in Grades primary to 2, software to support students’ learning in math, reading and writing and more physical activity.
The president of the Nova Scotia Teachers’ Union says with staffing shortages, teachers shouldn’t be expected to take on more responsibilities.
“Initiatives coming from the department need to be funded with proper staffing, with proper human resources, otherwise, all those initiatives are just doomed to fail,” says Ryan Lutes.
Liberal Leader Zach Churchill has concerns that the strategies the province wants to implement don’t do enough for students who are behind right now.
“The education minister doesn’t have anything targeted for this particular cohort of students. The supports they announced we’re fairly broad and I think we need to have a very strategic focus to help this cohort of kids get caught up,” says Churchill.
Bennett would like to see provincial testing turned over to an independent student assessment agency.
“It’s not right that the results generated by our provincial test are reported by the same agency that authorizes them. There’s no accountability whatsoever, there’s some transparency but no accountability,” Bennett says.
He says assessment scores have been in a steady decline for a decade and may take the same amount of time to rebound.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
![](https://www.ctvnews.ca/polopoly_fs/1.6968093.1721265304!/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_800/image.jpg)
DEVELOPING Live updates from the RNC: Donald Trump makes an appearance
Follow for the latest updates on the third day of the Republican National Convention.
Two deaths in listeriosis outbreak linked to plant-based milk recall
Two people have died after an outbreak of listeriosis trigged a national recall of certain plant-based milks, the Public Health Agency of Canada said Wednesday.
Quebec filmmaker denied replacement hand after airplane propeller accident
The War Amps is speaking out after one of its members who lost most of his hand in an airplane propeller accident was denied coverage by Quebec for a mechanical hand.
Video shows B.C. grizzly basking in clawfoot tub
A donated clawfoot bathtub has become the preferred lounging spot for a pair of B.C. grizzly bears, who have been taking turns relaxing and reclining in it – with minimal sibling squabbling – for the past year.
Biden tests positive for COVID, will self-isolate in Delaware
U.S. President Joe Biden, under pressure from fellow Democrats to drop his re-election campaign, tested positive for COVID-19 while visiting Las Vegas on Wednesday and is self-isolating after experiencing mild symptoms, the White House said.
Rare photos reveal uncontacted tribe in Peruvian Amazon as loggers move in
Rare images of the Mashco Piro, an uncontacted Indigenous tribe in the remote Peruvian Amazon, were published on Tuesday by Survival International,
'I feel like he did not die in vain': Family responds to report on tortured B.C. boy's death
The heartbreak over the death of an Indigenous 11-year-old Fraser Valley boy, tortured and then ultimately killed by his foster parents, was felt by all who knew him.
Poilievre vows to fire envoy as Canada buys a $9M condo for diplomat in NYC
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is promising to fire Canada’s consul general in New York City if the Tories wins the next federal election.
'The city is not designed to handle this amount of water': Official says little could have been done to prevent Toronto flooding
Toronto’s city manager says little could be done to prevent the widespread flooding caused by Tuesday’s record-breaking rainfall, adding that the city 'is not designed' to handle these type of storms.