I am pleased to inform the House of two more reports on student performance, a report of primary mathematics achievement and a report of basic skills upon entering high school. The results are very promising. These reports, like the results of the Third International Assessment of Mathematics and Science released recently, show that the students in our schools are slowly but surely moving towards our explicit goal of reaching world class standards.

The results of the math testing done at the end of Grade 3 in the last school year show the students at the end of primary school have achieved most of the objectives of the mathematics program. The provincial average for the total test was 81.6 per cent. This score indicates improvement over the 1993 testing when the provincial average was 74.3 per cent.

The results of the high school assessment of basic skills in reading, vocabularly, language skills, mathematics and work study skills showed that our provincial composite score was equal to the Canadian average. The Canadian Test of Basic Skills is a regular testing program of the Department of Education which measures achievement of our students at the beginning of Grades 4, 7 and 10 and at the end of high school on an annual rotating basis. It shows how approximately 8,000 Grade 10 students who wrote the test performed in a number of basic skills compared to that of the Canadian average.

The results of both assessments showed a considerable range of achievement between school districts and schools. For the Grade 3 Mathematics test there was no difference in the performance of boys and girls. On the Canadian Test of Basic Skills, girls tended to perform better than boys with the greatest difference in language arts skills in Grade 10. Urban students scored consistently higher than rural students on these tests, but these differences were much more pronounced at the Grade 10 level.

Accountability to the public of this province is a top priority of government, and we will continue to monitor achievement with the intent of determining where resources need to be targeted to improve learning of all students.

1996 12 13   9:20 a.m.