Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This is a return to an oral question asked by Mr. Lewis on February 27th with regard to student achievement rates.

Last spring, NWT students participated in the reading and writing assessment conducted as part of the Canada-wide student achievement indicators program.

Over 75 per cent of 13 year olds and over 60 per cent of 16 year olds in the NWT achieved acceptable or higher levels of results in the writing assessment. Overall, these writing results were about 15 per cent below Canadian student outcomes. Half of the students who took part in the reading assessment achieved an acceptable level. However, most of the students are achieving below the national percentage of 72 per cent in reading.

A second assessment in reading and writing will take place again in about three years. This year our students will be participating in a science assessment as part of the Canada student achievement indicators program.