Mental math exams expanded to Grade 9
Put down that calculator, teens — a new mental math component is part of the Grade 9 provincial achievement test (PAT) this year.
“The kids are all freaking out about that already,” Education Minister David Eggen told the government’s families and communities committee Wednesday.
Following Eggen’s move last year to add 15 calculator-free questions to the Grade 6 standardized test in math, Grade 9 students this year will plow through 20 numerical questions in 20 minutes.
A bulletin for teachers said that time is flexible, though — students can have 40 minutes to finish if they want, and the teacher can allot up to 30 more minutes at their discretion. The no-calculator portion will be worth 20 per cent of the exam mark.
Grade 9 students can use a calculator for the second part of the math PAT, which includes 32 multiple choice questions and eight written answers.
Eggen said Wednesday he introduced a mental math component last year to the Grade 6 exam knowing students may struggle — and they did. One-third of Alberta sixth graders failed the mental math portion of the exam.
How does he expect ninth graders to fare this year?
“I’m braced for the unknown,” Eggen said in an interview.
Eggen tweaked the K-9 math curriculum in 2016 in response to public concerns the math skills of students were weakening.
He also announced a new $2,000 bursary for teachers taking postsecondary training to bolster their math teaching skills.
In November 2018, some written questions and answers will return to Grade 12 math diploma exams, which are currently all multiplechoice questions.
Although mental math tests for ninth graders are a good thing, high-stakes exams are not, said Greg Jeffery, president of the Alberta Teachers’ Association.
The current rewriting of the K-12 curriculum in all subjects is an opportunity to rework provincial exams, he said. Sample-based tests could provide enough public assurance, he said.
On Wednesday, while a legislative committee questioned Eggen about his ministry’s 2018-19 budget, he said provincial exams will have to be reworked to match the new curriculum.
ECP education critic Mark Smith implored Eggen to bring back PATs in Grade 3, saying schools don’t have “any real data” from standardized tests until after Grade 6, when students are half-done school. Grade 3 PATs ended in 2014.
Grade 3 teachers today have the option to use provincial “student learning assessments” (SLAs) near the beginning of the school year to check up on students’ literacy and numeracy skills, and help them identify areas where students need improvement. This year, 22 per cent of eligible Grade 3 students wrote the English literacy SLA, and 21 per cent wrote the numeracy SLA, according to ministry data.
Eggen said people working on curriculum development and ministry assessment experts will propose how standardized tests should look once the new curriculum is in place.
Changing the structure of standardized tests in grades 6, 9 and 12 is possible, but not likely, he said.
“You have to work between these two issues — the professional integrity and choices that teachers make in a classroom, and my responsibility as minister is to provide public assurance,” Eggen said.