Large-scale externally mandated exit exams are common in many education systems. Exit exams are considered medium stakes when exam scores are blended with school-awarded marks to determine a final course grade. This study examined the effects of policy decisions regarding the weighting of exam and school-awarded marks when calculating a student's…

Many school systems ask teachers to assess and report upon aspects of student performance beyond academic achievement. In Ontario, K-12 teachers assess a common set of six Learning Skills and Work Habits. How well teachers are able to undertake these assessments is not well studied. This study examines Grade 9 and 12 report card data from two…

The assessment of physical literacy is vital and challenging for researchers and practitioners. Passport for Life is a Canadian global practitioner-based, formative, criterion-referenced assessment of physical literacy that is recorded in an online program. Students complete eight assessments divided across four broad categories of physical…

We identify the effect of individual high school principals on graduation rates and English exam scores using an administrative data set of grade 12 students in BC Canada. Many principals were rotated across schools by districts, permitting isolation of the effect of principals from the effect of schools. We estimate the variance of the…

Using generalizability theory, this study examined both the rating variability and reliability of English as a second language (ESL) students' writing in two provincial examinations in Canada. This article discusses expected and unexpected similarities and differences related to rating variability and reliability between the two testing programs.…

The relationship between musical training and general intellectual capacity as well as academic achievement has been discussed in numerous contexts. In our study, we examined the relationship between participation and achievement in music and achievement in academic courses, based on data from three consecutive British Columbia student cohorts.…

This annual report combines the November, January, April, June, and August provincial results in diploma examination courses in the Alberta (Canada) schools. The graphs, tables, and text describe student performance for the entire school year. The report is designed to assist school personnel in identifying patterns of students' achievement in the…

A study examined whether Canadian twelfth grade students' papers would rate differently when they were written in different modes and whether there are significant differences between global (modified holistic) scores and rhetorical effectiveness (modified primary trait) scores for the same papers. Fifty students wrote on two transactional topics…

The Grade 12 Diploma Examination Program, an integral part of high school diploma requirements, is intended to develop and maintain excellence in educational standards through certification of academic achievement. It consists of course-specific examinations that are based on the prescribed Program of Studies for Senior High Schools for the…

This annual report combines the November, January, April, June, and August provincial results in diploma examination courses in Alberta, Canada. The graphs, tables, and text describe student performance for the entire school year. The report is designed to assist school personnel in identifying patterns of student achievement in Alberta and…

Province-wide results from the Diploma Examinations Program of the Alberta (Canada) schools are presented for the three examinations of the entire 1991-92 school year (January, June, and August). The annual report also provides summaries of results by gender, for population subgroups, and for achievement-over-time studies. School marks,…

Results of the Alberta, Canada Grade 12 Diploma Examinations Program are presented for the January 1985 test administration. All twelfth grade students are required to pass at least one of these tests in order to receive a high school diploma. Some students also receive course credit by passing the appropriate examination. Examinations are…