On Friday the province announced it is winding down the Grade 12 provincial examination program at the end of August 2025 as work continues to develop a province-wide student assessment program.
The province said in a press release that discontinuing provincial exams will create a more equitable system for Grade 12 students. Saskatchewan is currently the only province where some students are required to write provincial examinations in certain Grade 12 subjects while others are not. In the 2023-24 school year, only 25 per cent of students needed to complete a provincial exam.
The Saskatchewan Rivers School Division board of education and Saskatchewan Rivers Students for Change (SRSC) have both advocated for the discontinuation of the departmental exams.
Director of education Neil Finch said that the division is pleased with this development.
“We are happy to see this change because it levels the playing field for all Grade 12 students,” Finch said in a statement emailed to the Herald. “In our division, some students had to write provincial exams while others did not. The Saskatchewan Rivers student representatives wrote to the Ministry in 2023 addressing these inequities, and their voices have been heard. We support moving to a more consistent and meaningful way of assessing students.”
In 2022 the SRSC wrote a letter to then Education Minister Dustin Duncan advocating this change.
Educaiton Minister Everett Hindley said in a press release that they made the decision after receiving feedback received from school board trustees, teachers, and families across the province.
“We are pleased that work continues on developing a Saskatchewan Student Assessment program that will help our schools and government in improving student success,” he added.
Adults and home-based learners will be able to enroll in Grade 12 courses through the Saskatchewan Distance Learning Centre or applicable post-secondary institutions to earn Grade 12 credits.
“School boards welcome this announcement and appreciate that the government has listened to feedback on this matter,” Saskatchewan School Boards Association (SSBA) President Shawn Davidson said in a release.
“Our membership passed resolutions in 2011 and again in 2021 that called for the elimination of provincial examinations for Grade 12 students. This is an important shift toward more meaningful assessment practices that take the needs of individual students into account while maintaining curricular integrity.”
According to the province, the Ministry of Education continues to collaborate with education partners on the Saskatchewan Student Assessment program (SSA) announced in November 2024.
When implemented, SSA will provide parents, students and teachers a snapshot of student performance in Grades 5 and 9 mathematics and Grades 4, 7 and 10 English language arts as well as a common understanding of what it means to be at grade level. The SSA program is being developed as part of the Provincial Education Plan.
The goals of the SSA program are to provide a fair and objective measure of how students are doing, help guide instruction and assist schools, school systems and government in improving student achievement.
michael.oleksyn@paherald.sk.ca
