SSBA pleased with discontinuation of Grade 12 provincial exams

REGINA - Last week, the Saskatchewan government announced it would wind down the Grade 12 provincial examination program by August 2025.

Under the program, Grade 12 students with unaccredited teachers had to write exams administered by the Ministry of Education in core subjects, including math, English and more.

According to the government, 25 per cent of students in the grade wrote these exams for 2023-24.

"This was an unfair system," said Saskatchewan School Boards Association (SSBA) president Shawn Davidson.

Davidson noted that larger schools would have fully accredited teachers while smaller schools typically didn’t.

"These students were typically centred in rural and remote communities," he said.

Davidson acknowledged "there was a potential concern" with students writing exams which didn’t focus on what they learned in their course because teachers would focus more on different areas.

"There was more anecdotal evidence of some challenges around the quality of departmental examinations in assessing the knowledge of the students of the curriculum that had been delivered."

From Davidson’s understanding, Saskatchewan was the only province in Canada where students could take an exam from an accredited teacher or one provided by the Ministry of Education.

He alluded to the inequity this caused.

This change also affects adults and home-based learners.

Previously, "there was a model where a student or young adult could challenge what used to be called the departmental exam to get their credit in a specific course," he said.

With these new changes, said learners can now enroll in "Grade 12 courses through the Saskatchewan Distance Learning Centre or applicable post-secondary institutions to earn Grade 12 credits."

Statistics from the Saskatchewan Home Based Educators showed the province has over 5,000 students being home-schooled.

Those stats nearly doubled from only five years ago.

With the announcement, Davidson said he appreciates being able to work with the government to improve the education sector.

"The discontinuation of Provincial Exams, starting in September 2025, aligns with feedback that I have received directly from school board trustees, teachers and families all across this province," Education Minister Everett Hindley said in a news release on Friday.

This news aligns with the work Saskatchewan is doing for its Student Assessment program.

"When implemented, [the program] will provide parents, students and teachers a snapshot of student performance in Grades 5 and 9 mathematics and Grades 4, 7 and 10 English language arts."