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Teacher feedback is vital to ensure appropriate changes are made
ATA News Staff
Teachers and administrators involved in the pilot administration of the Grade 3 Student Learning Assessment (SLA) program last fall are being invited to submit feedback to Alberta Education to inform revisions to the assessment's implementation. Alberta Education has posted a survey on its website (available at bit.ly/SLAsurvey) that states "there is significant opportunity to ensure that by the time the pilot process has concluded, the SLAs are ready for full-scale administration."
The SLAs are being implemented to help teachers and parents identify student strengths and areas for improvement at the beginning of the year and as a replacement for the Provincial Achievement Tests (PATs) that were conducted at the end of the school year. Nearly every school jurisdiction in the province participated in the pilot, which was conducted between Sept. 29 and Oct. 24.
Shortly after implementation began, teachers started expressing concerns related to technology and support, as well as the time required to plan, implement and mark the performance assessments. The Association...