October 23, 1996
(Education)

Minister announces high school evaluation policy for 1996-97

Roger Grimes, Minister of Education, announced today that the evaluation process for senior high school students for the school year 1996-97 will be determined in accordance with the student evaluation policy of each school board. The schools will provide final marks to the Department of Education and the department will issue a student transcript. There will be no public examinations, however, a scholarship examination will be offered.

Post-secondary institutions base entrance requirements on student transcripts issued by the Department of Education. The department has discussed this matter with the post-secondary sector and does not anticipate any difficulties with entrance to post-secondary institutions provided students meet the entrance requirements.

The minister notes that a number of provinces in Canada such as Ontario, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island do not have public examinations. In a number of other provinces, public examinations are provided in a limited number of subjects.

Newfoundland and Labrador became a member of the Atlantic Provinces Education Foundation (APEF) in 1995 and is involved in the development of common curriculum and common testing in the core subject areas of Mathematics, the Sciences and Language Arts, which leaves open the possibility of common examinations in the future.

The minister notes that teachers in Newfoundland and Labrador are among the most highly qualified in the country and well equipped to evaluate the progress of students during the transition leading to common testing in Atlantic Canada in core subject areas.

Contact: Carl Cooper, Director of Communications, (709) 729-5040 or (709) 729-0048.