Alberta has no deal with Nunavut, spokesperson says

PATRICIA D’SOUZA

The Alberta government has no deal in place with the Iqaluit District Education Authority to supply standardized tests to Nunavut students, a spokesperson for Alberta Learning said in an interview last month.

“Our understanding is there has been no agreement,” said Mark Cooper, a communications representative for Alberta Learning, the province’s education department. “We know nothing about that. It’s not the case.”

Furthermore, Cooper said it is unlikely the provincial government would strike a deal with a parents’ association like the IDEA. While Alberta provides standardized testing and evaluation for the Northwest Territories, that arrangement is between governments.

The Nunavut government isn’t prepared to enter into such an arrangement said Naullaq Arnaquq, the assistant deputy minister for the Nunavut department of education.

“All standardized tests have to be approved [by the GN],” she said. “[The IDEA] can’t give unauthorized tests.”

David Lloyd, the manager of evaluation frameworks for the department of education, concurred. “No, [standardized testing cannot proceed] not without the minister’s approval,” he said. “That’s the issue.”

And until the department completes a draft policy for testing and evaluation this spring, the GN won’t be administering standardized tests either.

However, Arnaquq added, the department is currently examining the tests administered in different Canadian jurisdictions and hopes to create a method of evaluation suitable for Nunavut students — in English and Inuktitut.

“We need to review the tests. Our staff are doing that,” she said.
She said that administering Alberta’s stringent test would be unfair to Iqaluit students.

“It wouldn’t be fair to the students or staff in the English stream.”
She repeated the department’s message that they’re not saying no to standardized testing.

“We want to do testing. The teachers need that,” she said. “As a department we have to give that kind of direction. That’s our role.”

The IDEA voted last month to implement standardized testing to Grade 3, 6 and 9 students in the English stream.

It was the culmination of four years of work for IDEA members, who believed that the Alberta government would provide the tests for free.

In an interview in early February, Kathy Smith, the chair of the IDEA said the group would go ahead with its plans until someone in government said stop.

“We have not received permission. We haven’t been told not to [implement standardized testing]. We’ll leave it at that,” she said.

Smith was on holiday this week and couldn’t be reached for comment. Jeannie Eeseemailie, the vice-chair of the IDEA, refused to comment.