AIMS Director of education policy, Robert Laurie, examines the relationship between teacher assigned marks and provincial examination results for math in this AIMS Education Commentary, Setting them up to fail? Excellent school marks don’t necessarily lead to excellent exam marks. He shows that significant grade inflation is present in New Brunswick and in Newfoundland and Labrador high schools and is all too often accompanied by lower than average results on provincial math examinations.
Setting them up to fail? shows a clear link between grade inflation and student performance on provincial exams, that link raises many urgent questions. AIMS acting president Charles Cirtwill elaborated:
“It is time for the education establishment to set the record straight. The unfortunate relationship between high grade inflation and low exam marks is too strong to ignore. Are teachers overcompensating for poor preparation and poor performance on provincial exams? Or are expectations so low that kids are not being prepared to meet a fair, reasonable and objective assessment?”
To read the complete Commentary, click here.
