PEI students performed at a level on par with most other provinces in a recent national writing assessment.
The results of the 2002 School Achievement Indicators Program (SAIP) writing assessment, released today, indicate that more than 80 per cent of 13-year-old students in Prince Edward Island met and surpassed writing expectations. The expectation, set by a national expectation-setting panel was that 83 per cent of 13-year-olds would perform at Level 2 on the assessment.
In the 13-year-old assessment, most provinces, including Prince Edward Island, performed close to the national average. The three provinces which scored higher than PEI were Manitoba, Ontario and Quebec.
Two provinces, Quebec and Manitoba performed better than Prince Edward Island in the 16-year-old assessment. The expectation of the panel was that 70 per cent of 16-year-olds would perform at Level 3 on the assessment. More than 50 percent of 16-year-old students in Prince Edward Island met and surpassed this expectation.
The purpose of the assessment is to provide information each year on the performance of 13-year-old and 16-year-old students in one of three critical subject areas: reading and writing, mathematics, and science. The assessment has been conducted by the Canadian Ministers of Education, Canada (CMEC) every year since 1993.
Provincial coordinator Cindy Wood advised that this evidence of student achievement across Canada provides the Prince Edward Island education system with useful indicators of how it is doing. Knowledge from the assessment is used to continuously improve programs, report on student performance, and initiate further study where appropriate.
"The results of the assessment tell us that, generally, our students are performing well in language arts, particularly our 13-year-olds," said Ms. Wood. "We will be working with our regional and national partners to better understand why 16-year-olds across the country did not perform to expected levels on this assessment, considering that only one of seventeen jurisdictions met expectations at this level."
The 2002 SAIP writing assessment consisted of a written assessment administered to 1,221 randomly selected students in Island schools.
The report includes a companion document which contains information gathered from students, teachers and principals on the context of the education system. Some of these contextual highlights include:
• The percentage of 13-year-old students reporting average marks of 70% or more in language arts was 83% in PEI compared to 71% in Canada. The percentage of 16-year-old students reporting average marks of 70% or more in language arts was 67% in PEI compared to 62% in Canada.
• The percentage of 13-year-old students who reported feeling good about school was 76% in PEI compared to 71% in Canada. The percentage of 16-year-old students who reported feeling good about school was 74% in PEI compared to 69% in Canada.
• In PEI, 74% of PEI students expect to attend college or university after graduation, similar to the Canadian average of 73%.
• In PEI, 37% of 13-year-olds read one hour or more per week, compared to 46% in Canada. In PEI, 44% of 16-year-olds read one hour or more per week, compared to 45% in Canada.
• In PEI, 35% of 13-year-old students watch television for 15 or more hours per week, compared to 28% in Canada. This number drops to 20% in PEI for 16-year-old students, compared to 20% in Canada.
• 10 % more students in PEI have daily newspapers and magazines in the home, compared to the Canadian average.