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June 15, 2005

Edmonton... Alberta's 13 and 16 year-old students have significantly outscored their Canadian counterparts on the 2004 School Achievement Indicators Program (SAIP) science assessment. Approximately 2,000 students from 210 randomly chosen Alberta schools participated in the test, conducted by the Council of Ministers of Education, Canada (CMEC) last year. In total 25,700 students from approximately 1,800 schools from across the country wrote the test.

"These results show that Alberta has the highest percentage of students in Canada achieving higher than expected standards of knowledge and skills in science," said Gene Zwozdesky, Minister of Education. "Alberta students continue to lead the nation, which is a credit to our educational system."

The SAIP assessment is designed to determine student achievement in relation to Canada-wide standards. Performance is reported on the basis of five levels with five being the highest level of achievement. The target level for 13 year-olds is level two, and level three is the target level for 16 year-olds. In both age groups, Alberta was the only jurisdiction whose SAIP results were significantly higher than the Canadian average. Both age groups wrote the same science test, making results comparable.

"The high standards of Alberta's curriculum, together with outstanding teachers and our provincial assessment program, are key factors in making our education system one of the best in Canada and the world," said Zwozdesky.

The 2004 SAIP science assessment included questionnaires administered to students, teachers, and principals, to gather information about the learning environments and experiences of students across the country.

Alberta and the other provinces/territories are working together through CMEC to transform SAIP into the Pan-Canadian Assessment Program (PCAP), which will be integrated with international testing programs such as the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA).

All provinces and territories except Nunavut participated in the 2004 SAIP assessment. Previous SAIP assessments include science in 1996 and 1999, mathematics in 1993, 1997, and 2001, reading and writing in 1994 and 1998, and writing in 2002.

Note to Media: Comparison charts are attached.

Backgrounder

The School Achievement Indicators Program (SAIP) is a cross-Canada assessment program of student achievement conducted by the Council of Ministers of Education, Canada (CMEC). SAIP tests
13 and 16 year-old students on a rotating basis in mathematics, reading and writing, and science. The third SAIP Science assessment was administered in the spring of 2004 in selected schools across Canada, based on random sampling across provinces.

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