Pan-Canadian Assessment Program PCAP 2013

Through the CMEC Secretariat, the Council serves as the organization in which ministries and departments of education undertake cooperatively the activities, projects, and initiatives of particular interest to all jurisdictions.1. [...] One of the activities on which they cooperate is the development and implementation of pan-Canadian testing based on contemporary research and best practices in the assessment of student achievement in core subjects. [...] Teachers provide students with guidance regarding expectations, both before completing their assignments in the form of rubrics, and after the work is accomplished in the form of feedback; however, only the use of rubrics is positively associated with achievement. [...] Each subject framework provided a blueprint with its table of specifications describing the sub-domains of each subject area, the types and length of texts and questions, the range of difficulty, and the distribution of questions assessing each specific curriculum expectation. [...] The competencies are interwoven throughout the sub-domains of the science assessment because they encompass the means by which students respond to the demands of a particular challenge.