COVID-19 response

Learn about returning to school for the 2020-21 school year.

Overview

Student Learning Assessments (SLAs) are digital tests administered at the beginning of the school year in Grade 3. They assess outcomes related to literacy and numeracy in language arts and mathematics in Alberta’s current Grade 2 provincial programs of study.

SLAs contain 4 components:

  • Literacy – Digital questions
  • Literacy – Performance task
  • Numeracy – Digital questions
  • Numeracy – Performance task

The purposes of the SLAs are to:

  • improve student learning
  • help parents and teachers identify student strengths and areas for growth

SLA results are not publicly reported and are not part of the Alberta Education Accountability Pillar.

School authorities may select which schools will administer the assessments for the 2020-21 school year.

School authorities can also choose if all or some of their schools or classes within a school will participate, and to what degree participation takes place.

Important dates

School authorities that wish to participate in 2020-21 can preview and administer the SLAs from mid-August to the end of October 2020, in their language of instruction.

Grade 3 Francophone and French Immersion students only take the assessment written in French. These students may take the English Literacy Assessment any time after the administration of the French assessments.

All SLA digital questions and performance tasks will also be available for re-administration during the entire school year.

Resources

Instructional videos

The images of the technical requirements and the Help Desk have not been recently updated. Updated information for both of these can be found on the web page.

How to access the teacher dashboard

Teachers learn how to set up an account and access the teacher dashboard for the Grade 3 SLA.

How to use the teacher dashboard

Teachers learn how to set up their class list, start the SLA, monitor for technical issues, and access performance task materials.

Promising practices

Teachers learn about simple solutions to common issues, including student access, devices and much more.

SLA application

Teachers and administrators can use the SLA application to:

  • access the teacher dashboard
  • administer the SLA
  • find practice questions, released digital questions and performance tasks

Technical and administrative support

Contact the SLA Workforce Development Help Desk for technical assistance with the SLA application or with questions about how to administer SLAs.

The Alberta Regional Professional Development Consortia (ARPDC) provides in-person or online supports for teachers and administrators accessing the Grade 3 SLA.

How to find SLA results

Student results for digital questions are available within 24 hours of a teacher submitting them for marking.

Schools do not report performance task results to the government. Educators use the results to help make decisions to benefit student learning.

Educators

Educators can use the teacher dashboard in the SLA application to find and print reports.

Sample reports (PDF, 4.3 MB) provide an overview of the print version of the individual student report, class report and superintendent report. The online interactive reports on the Teacher Dashboard provide the ability to filter information.

Superintendents

Superintendents can use the SLA application’s teacher dashboard to access an additional report that gives an overview of school performance in their school authority.

Parents

School authorities are expected to share student results directly with parents.

We encourage parents and guardians to speak with teachers to understand their child’s result reports.

Provincial assessment programs, including SLAs, are meant to complement, not replace, day-to-day teacher observations and classroom assessment. They are sources of information that must be interpreted, used and communicated within the context of regular and continuous assessment by classroom teachers.

Contact

Connect with the SLA Workforce Development Help Desk:

Phone: 780-427-5318
Toll free: 310-0000 before the phone number (in Alberta)
Email: wfdhelpdesk@gov.ab.ca

Connect with Student Learning Assessments and Provincial Achievement Testing:

Nicole Lamarre, Director, Student Learning Assessments and Provincial Achievement Testing and French Assessment
Hours: 8:15 am to 4:30 pm (open Monday to Friday, closed statutory holidays)
Phone: 780-427-6204
Toll free: 310-0000 before the phone number (in Alberta)
Fax: 780-422-4200
Email: nicole.lamarre@gov.ab.ca

Address:
Alberta Education
6th Floor, 44 Capital Boulevard
10044 108 Street
Edmonton, Alberta  T5J 5E6