Recently, many people have been writing my office with concerns about the diploma exams that were written at the end of January 2010. I asked the department to thoroughly investigate each of the issues that were raised. The diploma exam program in its present form is a significant milestone in students' formal education. These tests are designed to be exit exams that assess students' knowledge of the Alberta programs of study. Like the courses...

Mr. Griffiths: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I was driving into the city the other day, and I saw a Strathcona county school bus with a big sign on the back advertising Elk Island school division. I've seen other school divisions advertising on billboards and TV. To the Minister of Education: given the need for accountability why in these tight fiscal times are school boards spending precious educa­tion dollars on advertising rather than on students...

Manitoba's Ministry of Education, Citizenship and Youth has an interesting page about the province's Grade 3 testing program, the Grade 3 Assessment in Reading, Lecture and Numeracy. What other provinces and states offer useful lessons about assessment?...

The debate and vote in the Legislative Assembly on Monday brought to the floor of the Assembly a discussion on a very significant issue for education in Alberta, as we constantly strive to understand how students learn and provide the best possible opportunity for all students to be successful.  (March 16 — text of my comments published here; the full debate is in Hansard; or you can watch the video.)...

On March 16, the Legislative Assembly debated Motion 503, which read, "Be it resolved that the Legislative Assembly urge the government to eliminate provincial achievement tests for grade 3 students and consider alternative assessments for learning." You can read the full transcript of the debate on Motion 503 (the debate starts on page 416, which is page 30 of the 44 page PDF file). Minister Hancock spoke to the Motion during the debate, and...