The union representing Ontario’s elementary teachers is calling on the province to put a temporary hold on standardized testing because teachers believe the process focuses on scores, not a balanced approach to learning.
At the annual meeting of the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario, president Sam Hammond called for a two-year moratorium on Grade 3 and Grade 6 math and literacy tests administered by the Education Quality and Accountability Office, an arm’s length agency of the Ministry of Education, in order to allow for public consultation.
“This government is spending in excess of $100-million dollars on EQAO testing and the literacy and numeracy education bureaucracy,” he said.
“We’re saying that money could be much more wisely spent and we’re asking the government to listen to our concerns.”
The union commissioned Environics Research Group to conduct eight focus groups with teachers from across the province. Many teachers said that standardized testing switched the agenda in their classrooms from learning to attaining higher scores, forcing them to abandon other elements of a balanced curriculum.
The students “are starting to think of school as a series of hoops to jump through - creativity and self-confidence falling off,” said one teacher who participated.
There is a growing backlash against the standardized tests including the EQAO, said Annie Kidder, the executive director of a parent advocacy group, People for Education, who supports the idea of sample testing rather than blanket-testing all students.
“You get much more important information from your individual child and their teacher than you do from test scores,” she said. “...It is time to re-evaluate how we use the EQAO and what we’re testing.”
Supporters of standardized testing argue that they provide an important measure of school and school board performance and keep teachers and school administrators accountable.
The teachers interviewed for the ETFO’s report acknowledge that test results can be helpful in driving schools to improve their achievement and in helping teachers plan their lessons and curriculum.
Katia Collette, a spokeswoman for the EQAO, said that the cost of the tests is low, and easily justified.
“For only $17 a student, EQAO operates the provincial testing program to determine how well students across the province are satisfying the reading, writing and math expectations of the curriculum at key stages in their education,” she said.
“The testing results provide powerful information that contributes to accountability in the publicly funded school system and generates data that educators use to improve programs for all students.”
