A new report revealed that only half of Grade 10 public school students in B.C. met proficiency standards in math during the 2021/22 school year. The report from the Fraser Institute also noted that participation rates in the province-wide assessments have significantly declined.
In the 2021/2022 school year, only 77.7 percent of students participated in the testing and of those who took the test, just 48.2 percent met the provincial standard. This is in contrast to 100 percent participation in the 2015/2016 school year with a 62.4 percent success rate in meeting the provincial standard.
Fraser Institute associate director of education policy, Paige MacPherson, expressed concern, stating that student achievement has declined since the testing has essentially been dismantled by major changes implemented by the B.C. government.
Although participation in the literacy portion of the testing was slightly higher at 82.9 percent, proficiency also decreased from 80.5 percent to 76.4 percent.
The report emphasized that enforcing participation in province-wide testing is essential so that school administrators and teachers can better understand how B.C. students and schools are doing academically.
The report highlighted the fact that while the testing has changed due to a provincial government shift from math and English exams to numeracy and literacy assessments, both types of testing can effectively demonstrate how academically proficient Grade 10 students are in both core subjects.
Furthermore, the report found that independent schools in the province had higher shares of proficient students in both math and literacy. Although Grade 10 students at independent schools also saw a dip in their math scores, they still scored significantly higher than their public school peers. However, while the literacy scores for independent students improved modestly, it was noted that B.C. student performance has been declining, as evidenced by weakening performance on international tests and provincial assessments.
These findings align with results from the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) test, which showed a significant decline in test scores for Canadian students, particularly in math. This was attributed, at least in part, to school shutdowns and out-of-class learning during the COVID-19 pandemic.