Student Assessment Results Should Drive Change in School System - AG
For release September 29 - As student success slips in math and literacy, Nova Scotia needs to apply the results of its annual provincial assessments to make changes in the delivery of its billion-dollar education system, says Auditor General Kim Adair.
“Given the significant public resources invested every year, it is important the Department has reliable information to monitor student achievement and applies it to support evidence-based decision-making,” the Auditor General says in a new report released today.
The Province spends approximately $2.5 billion annually on public education for more than 133,000 students through the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development, Regional Centres for Education, and the Conseil scolaire acadien provincial.
Each year, the Department conducts standardized student assessments in Grades 3, 6 and 8. While assessments don’t count towards a student’s final grade, they do provide the department with a consistent measurement of student achievement.
Provincial assessment results over the past four years show persistent challenges with writing, and math outcomes have consistently declined as students move through elementary to junior high. In contrast, reading results have remained relatively stable.
The Department estimates it spent $700,000 in 2024-25 to administer and mark more than 75,000 provincial assessments. In addition to the four school days for students to write assessments, it takes the Department several months to process and analyze the results before they’re shared with the schools and publicly released.
“The Department invests significant resources to conduct, maintain and mark provincial assessments, which further supports that results should be used to enact change,” Adair said.
While a policy outlines the clear purpose for conducting provincial assessments to monitor and evaluate student achievement, there are no targets or goals for student performance in reading, writing, and mathematics.
“The Department does not have measurable targets for provincial assessment results and could also not demonstrate how it used these results to inform its decisions,” said the AG.
For example, there’s no clear link between assessment results and the allocation of literacy and math support coaches or to the professional development offered to teachers.
As a result of the audit, the report makes 11 recommendations to strengthen the connection between provincial assessment results and actions taken at the Department, regional and school levels by clearly demonstrating the relationship between provincial assessment results and the corresponding actions implemented to address them, including:
- regularly reviewing assessment results at the provincial level;
- using trends to identify necessary actions and expected outcomes; and
- evaluating the effectiveness of the actions.
“These recommendations will help the Department set goals and targets for student performance in reading, writing and mathematics that are clearly informed by the provincial student assessments,” says the Auditor General.