High school students continue to improve in public exams

Newfoundland and Labrador�s high school students have registered overall performance gains in public exam courses.

"High school students in our province are making the grade in public exams," said Tom Hedderson, Minister of Education. "The results are in, and, in general, students performed better in 2005 than in 2004. The overall pass rate for all high school courses was 91 per cent and it was 90 per cent for public examination courses. This compares with 90 per cent and 89 per cent in 2004, respectively"

There is evidence of a pattern of improved results, said the minister. "We are encouraged that students continue to show progress in most high school subjects. Since public exams were reintroduced in 2001, there has been a general trend of improved learning in Newfoundland and Labrador. Educators throughout the province, who work so hard to promote learning, can be justifiably proud of their students� achievement."

Eleven courses had public exams. Exams were held in Biology, Chemistry, Earth Systems, English, Mathematics, Physics, World Geography, and World History (English and French). The most notable improvements were in Earth Systems and Mathematics where the percentage of passes increased substantially. Student performance in most other subjects was comparable to last year with average marks in the range of +/-2 per cent.

The public exam figures are not the only data that indicate the academic performance of Newfoundland and Labrador students is improving. The 2004 School Achievement Indicators Program (SAIP) science assessment results, which were released this past June, showed our province= s 16-year-olds are performing at the Canadian average in science. In 2003, the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) showed tremendous gains for Newfoundland and Labrador�s students, on both a national and international level.

Media contact: Alex Marland, Communications, (709) 729-0048, 690-6047

The following table presents the percentage of passes and average marks for shared high school evaluation courses for 2002-3, 2003-04 and 2004-05.

These data reflect final results based on shared evaluation, whereby final marks are calculated based on a blend of the school mark for the year (50% of calculation) and the mark in the public examinations (50% of calculation). This method of evaluation recognizes achievement in other aspects of student learning that is more appropriately assessed at the classroom level.

2005 07 15                          2:45 p.m.