Vancouver Sun Blogs: 2008 April 29
It is, of course, only a snapshot, but I was surprised by B.C.'s performance in the latest national test of reading, math and science. Our 13-year-olds scored below the Canadian mean, while Quebec, Alberta and Ontario continued to rank above.
Quebec and Alberta are often Canada's top performers in national and international standardized tests, but B.C. isn't usually far behind. Perhaps this was a blip.
Quebec students were best in reading and math while the Albertans were tops in science. Ontario was close behind. The test, called the Pan-Canadian Assessment Program, was administered last year to 30,000 students in public and private schools across the country.
Overall, the results were good, with 88 per cent of all students reading at expected levels. But the results from Quebec were several percentage points higher.
Why? Here's an interesting explanation from Kelly Lamrock, chair of the Council of Ministers of Education Canada, which administered the test:
"Quebec has a formidable record of having invested aggressively in early childhood education and interventions when kids struggle early," he said.
Canwest News Service quotes him further as saying Quebec is "ahead of the curve" and may now be seeing returns. Read the full story here.
This raises the bar for B.C. in its bid to become the most literate jurisdiction in North America by 2015.
To no one's surprise, the study also found that girls are stronger readers than boys. Lamrock is quoted as saying it's now probably safe to call that gender gap a trend.
Indeed.
