Alberta Education announced March 16 that diploma exam weighting would be reduced from 50 per cent to 30 per cent – resulting in classroom assessment accounting for 70 per cent of a student’s yearly assessment.
Rocky View Schools (RVS) Board of Trustees chair Colleen Munro said the decision was a “win” for students.
“From our perspective, the reweighting of the diploma exams more accurately reflects the work that the students have been doing throughout the year, rather than that pressure-cooker style,” she said.
Students in Alberta write diploma exams for core courses in Grade 12, including language arts, social studies, mathematics and sciences. Springbank High School principal Pam Davidson said the change would positively reflect the different kinds of learning students do on a yearly basis.
“I think 70 per cent being attributed to the day-in-day-out (learning) - there’s a lot of different kinds of assessment that can occur,” she said. “You can’t necessarily capture that in exams.”
Alberta Education made the decision in response to requests last fall from school boards in the province, including RVS. Munro said the board had been working in the background on getting diploma exams reweighted for some time.
“We supported 70 (per cent) and 30 (per cent). It’s a good weighting. On the other side of the coin, there are always places in your life where you’ll have to be measured and be able to perform,” she said. “We have to prepare students for life beyond school, too. Seventy-30 is a fair weighting.”
Cochrane High School acting principal Shirley Pepper said that the change would put more value on the work students do in the classroom.
“I’m delighted. I think it’s a great decision. I think it really alleviates some of the students’ stress and anxiety,” she said. “It really (also) supports our work as educators (but still) gives us that really good assessment.”
The first round of diploma exams that utilize the new weighting will take place in November.
