National assessment shows Alberta students are good writers Government of Alberta News Release

For Release at 9:00 a.m.
March 10, 1999

National assessment shows Alberta students are good writers

Alberta's 13- and 16-year-old students continue to do as well as other Canadian students in a 1998 nation-wide reading and writing assessment, with 13-year-olds performing significantly better in writing at the highest levels.

The School Achievement Indicators Program (SAIP) is designed to determine student performance by level. Performance at level 1 is considered low, level 2 is expected of most 13-year-olds, level 3 is expected of most 16-year-olds, and levels 4 and 5 are the highest levels of reading and writing students would be expected to be able to achieve.

English results of the reading assessment show that among 13-year-olds, 78.2 per cent of Alberta students achieved at level 2 or above, compared with 76.7 per cent of Canadian students. In writing, results showed 95.3 per cent of Alberta students achieved at level 2 or above, compared with 95.6 per cent nationally.

In English writing, 23.9 per cent of Alberta 13-year-olds achieved at a level 4 or above, compared with 19.2 per cent of Canadian students. Results showed 4.5 per cent of Alberta students achieved at level 5, compared with 2.5 per cent nationally.

English results among 16-year-olds show 67.4 per cent of Alberta students achieved at level 3 or above in reading, compared with 69.3 per cent nationally. In writing, 83.8 per cent of Alberta students achieved at level 3 or above, compared with 86 per cent nationally.

"I am pleased to see that Alberta students continue to do as well as their Canadian counterparts and are meeting national expectations in writing," said Education Minister Gary Mar. "Teachers are doing a good job teaching students to write well."

Alberta results are consistent with results on provincial assessments and national results from 1994. The SAIP reading results show that not enough 13-year-old students are achieving at higher levels as expected of them by a pan-Canadian panel of educators; parents; and business, industry and community leaders. Also, girls continue to outperform boys in both reading and writing.

"The results confirm my belief that children do not spend enough time reading," added Mar. "Strong parent involvement and programs like the early reading initiative are vital to ensure young children have the reading skills they need to be successful in their education."

All Alberta francophone students aged 13 and 16 wrote the French language assessments. The francophone results in Alberta are similar to those of other anglophone provinces. In the study, these provinces are referred to as Other Francophone and include francophone students in Alberta, British Columbia, Saskatchewan, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland and the Yukon.

In French reading, among 13-year-olds, 78.5 per cent of Alberta francophone students achieved at level 2 or above, compared with 78.1 per cent of Other Francophone students. In French writing, results showed 85.5 per cent of Alberta students achieved at level 2 or above, compared with 81.3 per cent of Other Francophone students.

Among 16-year-olds, 68.6 per cent of Alberta's francophone students achieved at level 3 or above in French reading, compared with 62.5 per cent of Other Francophone students. In French writing, 55.9 per cent of Alberta students achieved at level 3 or above, compared with 50.5 per cent of Other Francophone students.

In 1998, about 3,600 Alberta students participated in the English-language and 300 in the French-language assessments. Conducted by the Council of Ministers of Education, Canada, previous assessments include mathematics in 1993 and 1997, reading and writing in 1994, and science in 1996. The second science assessment will be administered this spring.

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Backgrounders attached: 1998 SAIP Reading and Writing Assessment Percentage of Students Achieving at Different Levels

Note to Media: A description of reading and writing levels is available upon request.

For more information contact:

Jim Brackenbury - Student Evaluation, Alberta Education - (780) 427-0010

Beryl Cullum - Communications, Alberta Education - (780) 427-2285

Outside of Edmonton, dial 310-0000 for toll-free connection.

Backgrounder

1998 SAIP READING AND WRITING ASSESSMENT

The School Achievement Indicators Program (SAIP) is sponsored by the Council of Minister of Education, Canada (CMEC). CMEC is the national organization through which provinces/territories collaborate in support of education at the elementary, secondary, and post-secondary levels.
SAIP assessments have been developed and administered in mathematics, reading/writing, and science. The first round of assessments were administered in 1993 (mathematics), 1994 (reading and writing), and 1996 (science). The second round began in 1997 (mathematics), and continues with the 1998 assessment in reading and writing. The second science assessment will be administered in the spring of 1999.
In Canada as a whole, 46,000 students participated in the 1998 SAIP Reading/Writing Assessment, 24,000 were 13-years-old and 22,000 were 16. Students completed the assessment in their first official language - about 34,000 wrote in English, and about 12,000 in French.
In Alberta, 3,594 students completed the assessment in English and 309 wrote in French.
Provincial/territorial samples of students aged 13 and 16 were selected to participate. Students were randomly assigned to either the reading or the writing part of the assessment. All Alberta francophone students aged 13 and 16 wrote the French form of the assessment, and they completed both reading and writing.
Results are reported on the basis of five levels of performance. Results are provided at the national and provincial levels only.
For the national expectations, an 85-member national panel of educators and non-educators (including parents and business association representatives) determined the percentage of students of each age who should achieve at each level of performance.
Alberta expects its 13-year-old students to achieve at level 2 or above, and 16-year-olds to achieve at level 3 or above.

PERCENTAGE OF STUDENTS ACHIEVING AT DIFFERENT LEVELS

English Results

Reading

		Percentage of Students
Age of Students	Performance Level	1998		National
		Alberta	Canada-E	Expectations
13 years	Level 2 or above	78.2	76.7	75.0
	Level 3 or above	39.4	38.2	50.0
	Level 4 or above	7.4	7.2	15.0
	Level 5	1.0	0.9	5.0

16 years	Level 3 or above	67.4	69.3	72.0
	Level 4 or above	28.6	31.6	30.0
	Level 5	6.9	8.3	10.0

No statistically significant differences between Alberta and Canada (English).

Writing

		Percentage of Students
Age of Students	Performance Level	1998		National
		Alberta	Canada-E	Expectations
13 years	Level 2 or above	95.3	95.6	80.0
	Level 3 or above	74.7	73.0	60.0
	Level 4 or above	23.9*	19.2	20.0
	Level 5	4.5*	2.5	5.0

16 years	Level 3 or above	83.8	86.0	75.0
	Level 4 or above	42.7	40.3	35.0
	Level 5	10.0	10.3	10.0

*Alberta 13-year-olds performed significantly better (p <.05) than Canada (English) at levels 4 and 5.
No statistically significant differences on any other comparison.

Francophone Results

Reading

		Percentage of Students
		1998
Age of Students	Performance Level	Alberta Francophone	Other Francophone	Canada French
13 years	Level 2 or above	78.5	78.1	82.3^b
	Level 3 or above	44.6	41.8	52.3^a
	level 4 or above	10.3	10.4	14.0^b
	level 5	1.0	2.1	1.4

16 years	level 3 or above	68.6	62.5	78.0^a
	level 4 or above	36.3	30.7	40.5^a
	level 5	8.8	7.7	14.5^a

^{aCanada (French) results are significantly better than both Alberta and Other Francophone results at level 3 for 13-year-olds, and levels 3, 4, and 5 for 16-year-olds.

^bCanada (French) results are significantly better than Alberta at levels 2 and 4.

Statistical significance is at the 95% level.}

Writing

		Percentage of Students
		1998
Age of Students	Performance Level	Alberta Francophone	Other Francophone	Canada French
13 years	level 2 or above	85.5^b	81.3	93.8^a
	level 3 or above	36.2	35.4	62.1^a
	level 4 or above	2.4	4.8^c	13.8^a
	level 5	1.0	0.7	0.9

16 years	level 3 or above	55.9	50.5	83.7^a
	level 4 or above	12.7	13.0	37.2^a
	level 5	1.0	0.3	6.9^a

^{aCanada (French) results are significantly better than both Alberta and Other Francophone results at levels 2, 3 and 4 for 13-year-olds, and levels 3, 4, and 5 for 16-year-olds. Statistical significance is at the 95% level.

^bAlberta's 13-year-old students performed significantly better than Other Francophones at level 2.

^cOther Francophone 13-year-olds performed significantly better than Alberta at level 4.}

March 1999

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