(source: Saskatchewan Ministry of Education)

Opportunity to Learn (OTL) is a relatively new concept in educational assessment and measurement. In broad terms, OTL is an attempt to account for the numerous factors that influence student academic outcomes.

Student academic achievement is affected not only by aptitude but also by context. The school and the home as well as the student’s ability and general attitude toward learning all have a significant impact on the development of skills, attitudes, and values in any academic discipline. In other words, since a student’s opportunity to learn is so critical to his or her academic success, we must include an assessment of OTL in any provincial assessment of learning.

Saskatchewan’s Ministry of Education recognizes the pivotal role of context in academic outcomes by including an assessment of students’ OTL as part of the annual Assessment for Learning program. According to Ministry documents, Fundamental to the Assessment for Learning program is a recognition of shared responsibility for student achievement. Both indirect interaction with students (e.g., grants, funding structures) and direct interaction with students (i.e., readiness related, classroom related, and support related [both in school and at home]) affect student achievement.

Regardless of the particular academic discipline being assessed, students complete both a subject-specific assessment and a questionnaire designed to measure their opportunity to learn that subject. Results are reported according to students’ Opportunity to Learn math, reading, and writing.