Provincial Assessment

Provincial AssessmentClassroom Assessment and ReportingNational and International Assessment

Provincial assessments provide a snapshot of student performance in key areas and, over time, can help to monitor key outcomes of B.C.’s education system. Provincial assessments will continue to be rigorous and based on learning standards to evaluate student achievement, Core Competencies, and literacy and numeracy skills.

Provincial assessment in B.C. includes the Foundation Skills Assessment at Grades 4 and 7 and the graduation assessments in literacy and numeracy. 

Foundation Skills Assessment

The Foundation Skills Assessment (FSA) is a Grade 4 and 7 assessments of reading, writing, and numeracy skills. Because FSA is an important indicator of future achievement, all students are expected to take part in the assessment.
 
The assessment builds on the recommendations of the Advisory Group on Provincial Assessment. 
 
Following those recommendations, a working group of teachers, administrators and measurement experts provided a general design for the new assessments. Teams of educators have been working since December 2015 to develop the new assessment and prepare assessment questions for field testing.
 
In the fall of 2016, the assessment questions items were field-tested in 43 schools and nearly 4,000 students participated. The new Foundation Skills Assessment was implemented in October 2017.
 
Learn more about the new Foundation Skills Assessment.

Graduation Assessments

Graduation assessments are changing to align with the new curriculum. As part of the updated graduation requirements, students in the B.C. Graduation Program will have to complete two provincial assessments. They will focus on the demonstration and application of numeracy and literacy.

  • The Graduation Numeracy Assessment was implemented in the 2017/18 school year.
  • The Graduation Literacy Assessment will be implemented in the 2019/20 school year. 
  • The Language Arts 12 exams will be phased out as the Literacy Assessment is introduced. Until the Literacy Assessment is fully implemented in the 2019/20 school year, the Language Arts 12 exams will remain in place and will continue to be 40% of the final, blended mark for Language Arts 12 courses. 
  • Students graduating in the 2018/19 school year will take a Language Arts 12 course and associated provincial exam to satisfy graduation requirements for the B.C. Graduation Program.

Learn more about the new Graduation Assessments.

Capstone Project

As part of graduation requirements, students will complete a capstone project through their Career Life Connections course. A capstone project, also known as a culminating project or experience, or senior exhibition, is a project that allows students to demonstrate their learning using an area(s) of interest as the basis for the project. In Career Life Connections, students will design, assemble, and present a capstone project to an audience to demonstrate personal learning and achievement, growth in the core competencies, and a reflection on the post-graduation plan. For more detail see the Career Education Curriculum and detail on the Capstone Project.

Supporting Information