The fifth edition of the Canadian Achievement Test (Cat5) is the first web-based edition. This means that Cat5 is administered online using tablets or computers and teachers can receive reports as soon as they complete a subtest.
Schools may administer Cat5 at any or all grades anytime between March to November 2021.
get more informationCat5 provides curriculum-based language and mathematics assessments. There are separate mathematics assessments for WNCP and Ontario.
Teachers may test in the fall of 2021 to assess how well students learned the previous year’s curriculum (providing a great review for students), and/or they may test in the spring as part of a summative assessment.
Teachers can request reports showing the strengths and needs of each student as soon as students complete an assessment. (The teacher does not have to do any scoring; all scoring is automated in the system.) So there is no delay in the identification of content and process skills in need of remediation for particular students.
The study provides professional development for teachers. Teachers are provided a 30-minute training session and ongoing support in their use of the web-based assessment system. This helps teachers become more comfortable with using web-based assessment resources.
The web-based assessments are engaging to students and provide students with more experience using web-based assessment interfaces.
Participation in the Cat5 study provides schools and school jurisdictions the opportunity to try Cat5 at no cost. It can be used to pilot Cat5 to look at the test content and reports and get feedback from teachers regarding the user-friendliness and usefulness of the assessments and the capacity of schools to manage the technical requirements of the web-based assessment.