Currently a literacy and assessment consultant, Beth Critchley Charlton’s professional career in education spans five decades. She holds a Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) in Sociology from Dalhousie University, a Bachelor of Education (B.Ed.) from Acadia University, and a Master of Arts (M.A.) in Literacy Education from Mount Saint Vincent University in Nova Scotia.
Beth shares her career journey in education, beginning in the 1970s as a special education teacher focused on students with learning challenges, and later transitioning to working with gifted and talented students. She took a break for several years to raise her children, but continued writing about child-focused early learning and school assessment practices for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) Radio and various Nova Scotia print news outlets. After returning to teaching, she became a resource teacher and Reading Recovery teacher, experiences that significantly influenced her teaching philosophy by emphasizing students’ achievements and abilities rather than their deficits.
Building on these foundational experiences, Beth became a Literacy and Assessment Consultant for the Halifax Regional School Board and the Nova Scotia Department of Education. In this role, she provided technical advice to local school and school board teams across the province in the development and implementation of various literacy and assessment initiatives at the primary, elementary, and secondary levels.
Her professional career culminated in her appointment as Assistant Professor of Education and Assessment at Mount Saint Vincent University, where she taught numerous graduate and undergraduate courses, with an emphasis on student-responsive and equitable language arts pedagogy and fair assessment practices. Since 2016, she has represented English-speaking Canada (via the Council of Ministers of Education, Canada) on the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement’s (IEA) Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) as a scoring leader.
Beth is currently a self-employed literacy and assessment consultant involved in a variety of initiatives. She highlights her work with the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS), where she serves as a technical advisor on projects with various Ministries of Education, focusing on curriculum and assessment development. She also collaborates with Nova Scotia’s Mi’kmaw Kina’matnewey department to develop culturally relevant literacy assessment practices. Beth emphasizes the importance of working collaboratively with local educators and respecting the local context of the communities she serves.
Among other educational projects, Beth discusses her involvement with Nova Scotia Community College’s entry assessment for applicants with non-traditional educational pathways. In 2020, Beth co-founded Beyond the Apple, which supports professional learning communities through videotaped conversations by providing access to resources focused on practical, research-based support for educators. In the future, she plans to enhance the site with shorter written content and new video formats.
Beth is a freelance writer and the author or co-author of several publications on research related to national and international assessments for the CMEC, as well as on student engagement, literacy instruction, equitable assessment strategies, and learn-to-read books for publishing firms such as Scholastic Canada and Pembroke/Stenhouse Publishers.
Through her experience with provincial, national, and international assessments, Beth affirms the importance of adherence to fair assessment practices. She also appreciates the value of large-scale assessments that provide data/information (particularly through student, teacher, and school questionnaires) to inform instruction. Beth emphasizes the importance of using data beyond numbers and charts to interpret patterns and trends in education, guided by the mission of “every student succeeds” and a commitment to individual student success.
Beth also considers the role of artificial intelligence (AI) in large-scale assessments, highlighting its potential as a tool for item development, automatic item generation, and scoring. She underscores the necessity of human oversight and careful vetting of AI systems to ensure accuracy and preserve the purpose(s) and outcomes of assessments.
Reflecting on her career contributions to date, Beth is particularly proud of her collaborative work with educators across Canada and within the OECS to develop and implement equitable literacy assessments and to use assessment results to inform instruction. She also highlights her involvement in Nova Scotia’s Early Language Learning Literacy project, which provided classroom teachers with the opportunity to experience the entire process of assessment development, administration, scoring, and use of assessment results to inform classroom instruction.
Beth derives great satisfaction from her contributions in the education field. Beyond her professional work, she enjoys “puttering” in the garden, walking and enjoying nature, traveling both locally and internationally, and a new pastime: learning to play the ukulele. Please feel free to contact Beth at: bethccharlton@gmail.com.
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