Francophone Students Succeeding in Reading and Writing

The majority of Grade 6 students attending schools in the Acadian provincial school board -- Conseil scolaire acadien provincial -- are still performing well in reading and writing. The province's 2004 elementary literacy assessment shows positive results, with 84 per cent meeting expectations in reading and 65 per cent meeting expectations in writing.

"This assessment is important because it helps us identify students who are struggling early on," said Education Minister Jamie Muir. "That way the department, school board, schools and parents have the information they need to help these students get caught up."

After the initial assessment in 2003, the department made an investment of $1 million to help schools provide support for students who did not meet expectations.

"Support for students in reading and writing will continue to be a priority," said Mr. Muir.

Parents should get their children's results by Friday, March 11. Teachers and parents will then work together on plans for students who need more support to improve their reading, writing, or both. The support will continue as long as it is needed.

Guy LeBlanc, superintendent of Conseil scolaire acadien provincial, is pleased to see an improvement in this year's results. "We had identified certain problems in structure and content and we targeted those this year," said Mr. LeBlanc. "The new results have shown a significant improvement in these areas. This year, we will target writing, grammar and spelling."

Students attending schools in Conseil scolaire acadien provincial wrote an assessment based on the French language arts curriculum. Students attending schools in the other seven regional school boards wrote an assessment based on a separate English language arts curriculum. English and French results cannot be compared as they are not based on the same curriculum.

The elementary literacy assessment is part of the province's Learning for Life plan to help students succeed. Grade 6 students wrote the assessment in September 2004. It measures reading and writing skills that students develop in their first language by the end of Grade 5. Students read a variety of materials, including short stories, poetry, advertisement and information text, and answered questions on each. Students also wrote a letter and a story.

Results of the elementary literacy assessment for French students are available on the Department of Education's website at www.ednet.ns.ca . English students' results will be available at the end of March.