Employer beware -- this Nova Scotia Grade 12 graduate is illiterate
Brian Flinn
Southam Newspapers; Halifax Daily News
Wednesday, September 25, 2002
ADVERTISEMENT
Some of the class of 2009 won't be able to read the fine print on their diplomas.
The Nova Scotia government plans to introduce standardized literacy tests for Grades 6, 9 and 12.
But it won't stop people from graduating if they fail the last one.
Deputy Education Minister Dennis Cochrane said some graduates will receive an "adjusted diploma" that alerts potential employers about their short-comings.
"They will graduate, but it will be a diploma that will indicate they haven't met the literacy requirement," Cochrane said Tuesday.
"It's buyer beware. Currently everyone gets the same diploma. What we're saying is that's not acceptable. There's got to be some differentiation."
Education Minister Jane Purves said prospective employers have a right to know if a graduate can read, and the only way to find out now is by obtaining a transcript.
Purves said it's unreasonable to expect everyone will be literate. The best the system can probably do is limit illiterate graduates to two or three per cent of the total. The tests are part of a new education plan called Learning for Life the government released Tuesday.
Liberal Leader Danny Graham called the document "an awful idea. It sets up a situation where people are graduating with education light."
Bill Estabrooks, a former teacher and the NDP education critic, said the tests are biased against kids weak in one area.
"They're going to put the little asterisk beside their names. That's discriminatory," he said.
Purves defended the new diplomas, which will be handed out by 2009.
"We may aim for perfection but it would not be realistic to say we can achieve it," she said.
The minister said the diplomas were part of her larger effort to use tests to improve the basic reading, writing and arithmetic skills of children in the province.
The minister also announced that starting next September parents will receive standard, provincewide report cards that include a graded mark for elementary students and a number for high school students.
Next year, the province will begin testing children's literacy in Grade 6 and if they fail the children will receive added attention from resource teachers before they go to high school.
If the students fail the Grade 9 test they will be given the chance to repeat the test in Grades 10, 11 and 12.
Facebook
Twitter