Simcoe County public schools to postpone EQAO Grade 9 math test

The Simcoe County District School Board has decided to postpone the EQAO Grade 9 math test that’s scheduled for this month.

The school board’s announcement comes a day after Ontario’s education minister, Stephen Lecce, said local boards will make their own decisions about whether they’ll proceed with the EQAO Grade 9 math assessment, which is scheduled to start next week.

Simcoe County’s school board says it doesn’t feel there’d be adequate supervision or support in place for students to take the test, especially those with special education needs, due to the job action by OSSTF members, who would normally administer the assessment.

If high schools don’t administer the test this month, students will still need to take it in June 2020, Lecce said.

“Board staff would then work through the logistics of administering of administering such an assessment, as this would pose significant challenges for both school staff and Grade 9 students who are not studying math in semester two.”

On Wednesday, Harvey Bischof, president of OSSTF, told the Canadian Press that his members will still be teaching, evaluating students and talking to parents about student progress.

“All of the important factors of student learning will continue to go on in classrooms and the postponement of a standardized test really doesn’t have any negative impact on any individual kid,” Bischof said.

“EQAO isn’t about learning, it’s about assessment and those are very different things.”

The Simcoe County school board said more information will be provided as it becomes available.

— With files from The Canadian Press