1. Achievement Exams Administered by Alberta Learning yearly to all students in Grades 3, 6, and 9 Purpose: Serves as a ‘dipstick’ measurement Gauges general performance of a large population Measures effectiveness of curriculum and initiatives designed to effect learning Should be used to improve teaching and learning

2. What they are not: An effective measure of individual student ability An effective measure of school performance in the short-term A ‘gateway’ or filter to direct individual student promotion. “High-Stakes” tests. Nobody fails, nobody gets fired, no school loses funding or autonomy over student performance on these exams.

3. What they are: Data, through which we can see trends indicating the effectiveness of initiatives (such as AISI) designed to improve student learning. General measures of Program content and delivery over time “Large-Scale” assessments – enough students write them to create a basis for consistent appraisals. Only a piece of the larger assessment puzzle

4. Strengths of Achievement Testing Reliable, valid data. Every student in the province writes the same exam. If others are achieving where we are not, we know that we can improve on that area. Good fit to many curricular objectives. While they do not tell the whole story, they do tell a useful part of it. The trick is to find the useful parts; sometimes, the very act of searching for those is an opening for great collaboration and sharing of ‘best practices’ among teachers.

5. Weaknesses of Achievement Testing You can’t measure everything that is important with these. Don’t try. Uber-Security. Not being able to sit down with the test and look at (and discuss) how the specific outcomes are measured. Multiple-choice.

6. Validity--Reliability--Usability An assessment instrument has: Validity – if it measures what it is supposed to measure; Reliability – if it measures consistently; Usability – if it requires a minimum of time, energy and money to administer.