Grade 4 and 5 Alberta students will take standardized math and literacy tests starting this academic year, the provincial government is set to announce on Wednesday. The change is an expansion of the testing program the province implemented for Kindergarten to Grade 3 in 2024 and legislated in 2025. “The primary reason to do this is to catch older students who may be falling behind before learning gaps widen and become even more prolonged in their academic lives,” Education and Childcare Minister Demetrios Nicolaides told CTV News Edmonton in an interview ahead of the 9 a.m. news conference in Calgary. He called Grade 4 a pivotal moment in primary education, when students transition from “learning to read to reading to learn” and said it’s important to identify anyone struggling to keep up at that time. According to the province, after two years of screenings, the percentage of students in Calgary’s public school system who are struggling to read has dropped from 32 per cent to 10 per cent. In the Fort Vermilion School Division, the number dropped from roughly 50 per cent to 20 per cent. The government did not provide data for all school divisions. However, it said about one third or more of all Alberta students who required additional support after being tested in math and reading in the fall of 2025 no longer needed extra help. In total, the Alberta government will spend $20 million on screenings and related supports in 2026-27. The Grade 4 and 5 tests will be delivered to whole classes to save teachers time, the province said. Schools will be required to share results with guardians as well as the education ministry, and provide support as identified by the screenings. The government will publish its first annual report on the matter in 2027 or 2028. Nicolaides described screenings as a 15-minute assessment of a student’s reading level, their vocabulary, and their math abilities. He said they can predict whether a child will have more difficulty in the future 80 per cent of the time. This is a developing news story. More to come… With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Evan Kenny
