on rele : : F : i

\ Editor: MARILYN JOHNSON

Tel. 980-0511

RAE Sos

HAVING A SWINGING TIME at the play area beside Maplewood farm, these girls squeal in delight as they go
round and round. (Terry Peters photo)

By OLGA RUSKIN

have mastered

Nearly half a

- att

West Vancouver
elementary students
have been _ placing
significantly. above the
Canadian: average on

the Canadian Tests of
_ Basic Skills in the past

years. They're again
writing the CTBS in.
May snd June and it
will show the students,
their teachers and
parents how well they
the
basic skills of
vocabulary, reading,
language, work-study
skills and mathematics
compared with
thousands of other

students across
Canada. -

But the main emphasis of
the test is to see how much

Plea

Sarteg daytign Cen
°

| hour of an

MEN oven

year ahead

they've learned. in the past
year, explains Bill Shk-
warok, coordinator of
learning assessment for the
West Vancouver School
District. co,

1

“It’s like a firm of auditors

checking. the books,” says.”
Shkwarok, of standardized
achievement tests.

~

A standardized test such -

as the CTBS is a sampling of
the student's” learning of
concepts and skills which he
is expected to have mastered
at his particular grade level.
The student’s achievement
on such a test can be
compared to. standards
established on thousands of
other students throughout
the country,

‘During the 1960's there
was a formal program of
standardized testing in West

CONTINUED ON PAGE C4

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