A new report released by the Pan-Canadian Assessment Program says Albertan boys in grade 8 are reading at a lower level than students in other provinces.
The assessment released Tuesday comes from from a PCAP survey assessing the skills of Canadian students in three learning areas – science, reading and math.
“For French-language schools and for boys in reading, there was a significant negative change between 2010 and 2013,” the report said.
According to the report, the average score for Grade 8 boys in Alberta (485) is nine points lower than the Canadian average (494).
Female grade 8 students, on the other hand, were found to be reading at a level “statistically similar” to the Canadian average.
Overall, Ontario students scored the highest on the survey, with tests results significantly higher than the 2013 Canadian averages.
The report does not seek to explain the reasons behind the declining reading levels among grade 8 boys in Alberta, as it only looked at students’ abilities – not how students across Canada are taught.
Results show grade 8 students above average in Science, steady in Math
There is good news for Alberta students in other areas, though. Both male and female Grade 8 students performed “significantly better” than the Canadian average in science testing.
The emphasis of this year’s Pan-Canadian Assessment Program was science, focusing specifically on nature of science, life science, physical and earth science.
“Students in Alberta achieve significantly higher scores in all four sub-domains compared to the Canadian means,” the report said.
In total, students from more than 1,500 schools participated in the spring 2013 survey.
This is the third time Alberta schools have participated in the study.
