Perceptions of a National Achievement Assessment Program

Abstract

The School Achievement Indicators Program (SAIP) has been collecting data across Canada on 13- and 16-year-old student achievement in mathematics, in science, and in reading and writing since 1993. In 1999, it completed its second assessment cycle and was reviewed in Spring 2000. The review design included a survey of officials from all the school boards/districts that participated in the science assessment program held in 1999. The results of this study show that this stakeholder views as the most pressing issue for SAIP to succeed in its mandate, the need for development in four areas: a) Increased teacher and student motivation to participate wholeheartedly in the program; b) Effective dissemination options; c) Leadership through innovation in teaching and in assessment practices despite high accountability orientation; and d) Cost-effective, yet rigorous means of providing both snapshot information and longitudinal means of comparisons. Although universally appealing, such approaches have yet to be supported by sound educational theory and methodology.