Public school students? attainment levels have not risen in the past 13 years despite the introduction of new tests, according to the Shadow Education Minister.

Neville Darrell told the House of Assembly yesterday that the Terra Nova test which pupils now sit annually were not producing better results than the California Achievement test which students sat in the early 1990s.

He said his party did not begrudge the amount included in this year?s Budget for education and development this year ? more than $114 million. But he said they did want to know whether the tax payer was getting value for money for the rising costs.

?It?s unwise and perhaps a little irresponsible not to reflect on the money we spend and the kind of results we have secured thus far,? said Mr. Darrell. ?The real question is what are we getting for the money we are investing in education??

The Terra Nova test allows the Government to compare Bermuda?s students with pupils in the US. Mr. Darrell said that for the last three years the test results were below the 50 percent norm in the US.

He said the ?output measures? produced in public schools were ?incredibly conservative?. He added that the gains made over the years in tests for reading and maths were so small as to be ?in many ways, insignificant?.

Mr. Darrell had dug out an audit document from an assessment carried out in the Island?s public schools in 1996.

It revealed that pupils? test scores in 1993, 1994, 1995 and 1996 for reading and mathematics changed very little from year to year and are remarkably similar to the marks being attained today.

?What we are measuring today isn?t really different to what we were measuring back as early as 1993,? said Mr. Darrell. ?Back in 199 the budget for public education was $45.5m.

?We are now paying $114 million in the current allocation to, essentially, get the same output measures we were getting back in 1993.

?That?s a difference of about $70 million for the same output measures that we were getting on the California Achievement test.?

He added: ?There?s a very compelling argument to be made that the output measures in the public school system haven?t changed in all this time.?

Mr. Darrell said the audit highlighted a number of failings in the school system and the curriculum which he believed still existed.

He said the assessors recommended a four-year education plan, which the UBP was urging the Government to consider introducing now.

?There are some substantial challenges that have to be overcome,? he said. ?We need to have the courage to look at some very different issues.?

Earlier, Education Minister Terry Lister told the House that the Ministry was introducing an updated version of the Terra Nova test this year.

From next year all students will be compulsorily tested on science and social studies, as well as English language arts and mathematics.