Weight of diploma exams lowered, rapid COVID test kits being provided to select school groups

The Alberta government is providing students in the province with supports that will look to help those who have struggled with learning through the pandemic.

Education Minister Adriana LaGrange made the announcement during a live update on Wednesday afternoon.

WATCH: Education Minister Adriana LaGrange provides an update on further supports for students in Alberta. 

In May, Premier Jason Kenney announced $45 million would be made available to school authorities to address learning disruptions caused by the pandemic.

The province says, as part of Alberta’s recovery plan, that funding will be distributed at a rate of $490 per student for literacy or numeracy supports.

“Some students may qualify for both, and therefore, the school authority would receive $980 per student.

“This funding will allow schools to increase supports to improve writing, reading and numeracy skills for younger students who had fallen behind during the pandemic,” said LaGrange.

The Education Minister says this funding will supplement supports offered to students, by introducing new programming, enhancing or extending existing supports.

“This could mean increasing the intensity of programming for students, including moving to small groups, or one on one supports, and hiring additional staff.”

She says the initial focus of the programming will be on students in grades two and three this fall, with targeted supports for students in grade one starting Feb. 2022.

“With this funding in grades two and three, approximately 38,000 students will be receiving literacy programming and approximately 25,000 will receive numeracy programming, recognizing, as I said earlier, that some students would qualify for both supports,” said LaGrange.

Diploma exam changes

A significant change coming for those in grade 12 will be weighting changes to diploma exams.

LaGrange says she has heard the concerns from students about transitioning from online to in-person learning and wants to ease some of that stress.

“In recognition of the circumstances, the weight of the grade 12 diploma exams will be lowered to 10 per cent for this school year.

“This change will give students the crucial exam writing experience they need if they choose to go into post-secondary, while recognizing the impact the pandemic has had on their learning.”

LaGrange says she has sent a letter to the province’s post-secondary schools to advise them of the change and encourage them to consider the effects of the pandemic on students who would be applying for post-secondary education.

For clarification, LaGrange says this is only for diploma exams and provincial achievement tests will remain unchanged.

Rapid testing for students 

Rapid test kits are going to be provided to students who are unable to receive a COVID-19 vaccine.

Schools with students from kindergarten to grade six who are in outbreak status will begin receiving rapid test kits to help identify people without symptoms.

LaGrange says the program will be optional and free.

If a student or staff member wants to take part, they will be given 10 rapid test kits to take home and will be required to test twice weekly for five weeks.