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CANADA: School Achievement Indicators Program (SAIP) Context In 1989, The Council of Ministers of Education, Canada (CMEC) initiated the School Achievement Indicators Program (SAIP), the first-ever attempt to arrive at a consensus on the elements of a national assessment. The ministers decided to assess the achievement of 13-year-olds and 16-year-olds in reading, writing, and mathematics, with science added in September 1993. Ministers agreed to administer the same assessment instruments to both age groups in order to study the change in student knowledge and skills following additional years of instruction. SAIP is the result of a concerted effort by all Canadian jurisdictions and a perfect example of close collaboration between provinces and territories and the federal government through the federal department, Human Resources Development Canada and the information collected through SAIP assessments is being used by each province to set educational priorities and plan program improvements. Since curricula differ from one part of the country to another, comparing data on how students perform after being taught this diverse content is a complex and delicate task. Students across Canada, however, do learn many similar skills in reading, writing, mathematics, and science. SAIP assessments can help determine whether students attain similar levels of performance at about the same age. The specific questions posed by the SAIP assessments are: �How well do our students in Canada perform in the assessed subjects?� and �Does student achievement change after a few years of additional schooling?� SAIP pilots new assessment methods and strategies and delivers resources for use by educators and researchers, such as performance descriptors and criteria and item exemplars. SAIP provides jurisdictions with information on student performance as well as contextual information on the conditions of learning in schools, teachers� preferred classroom techniques, and students� attitudes toward their education. Objectives SAIP�s primary objective is to collect long-term student achievement data in various subjects, by age, first language, and gender and thereby providing information to help improve the school system nation-wide. Each stage of the program is implemented in a spirit of cooperation and consensus, as a concerted effort by all jurisdictions. Pedagogical Challenges In Canada, as in many other countries, increasing attention has been paid for a number of years to education systems and their performance. Do our schools prepare students appropriately to live in an age where economic competition is global in scale and where learning is a lifelong enterprise? Parents, the labor market and the business world as well as taxpayers (who finance education systems) are asking that question. Attempting to answer this question, ministries and departments of education have participated in a variety of studies. On the international level, through the Council of Ministers of Education, Canada (CMEC), jurisdictions have taken part in the International Education Indicators Program of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD); some have also participated individually in various achievement studies such as those of the International Assessment of Educational Progress (IAEP) organized by the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (lEA). In addition, in most provinces, ministries and departments have taken measures to assess students at different stages of their schooling. General Description SAIP offers a measure of comparability in student performance in three academic subjects. It includes an assessment of students� general knowledge of each subject as well as a practical task. The content of SAIP is not based on the specific curriculum of a given province or territory, but rather reflects the general knowledge and skills that 13- or 16-year-old students ought to possess, according to educators with expertise in each assessed subject. The assessment is administered in a representative sample of schools, and therefore offers a statistically valid measurement of student performance for all schools in participating jurisdictions. Development stages for each assessed subject: Participating Individuals and Institutions The ministries and departments of education in each province and territory participate in the overall management of the program. CMEC coordinates program implementation. Teachers in schools administer the assessment. Consultants, academic researchers, and organizations across the country take part in data collection and analysis. Budget & Financing The project is jointly financed by the federal government, through the federal department, Human Resources Development Canada, as well as by all provinces and territories. The budget is managed by the CMEC Secretariat. Strengths of the Program Lessons Learned Given that SAIP provides information on student performance over five performance levels, the program can be used to assess the performance of students in various age groups and at different skill levels. Future Challenges CMEC continually seeks to encourage researchers and jurisdictions to increase their use of assessment data files. Responding to the Challenges of the Summit The emphasis on improving quality, while simultaneously increasing participation and using new technologies are three of the ways that SAIP addresses the main educational challenges laid out in the Plan of Action for Education. Back to Eje 1 |