Ontario education minister firm on standardized testing

TORONTO – The Ontario government will not back down on administrating standardized tests for public elementary school students despite a call from the provincial teachers union for a two-year moratorium.

"It has worked and we will continue to do it," vowed Ontario education minister Leona Dombrowsky Tuesday at the annual meeting of the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario (ETFO) in Toronto.

The union, which represents 76,000 teachers and education workers, asked Monday for the Education Quality and Accountability Office (EQAO) tests, given to students in grades 3 and 6, be postponed until further consultation on their benefits can be established.

The union argued that the costs to administer the tests, pegged at $100 million, are too high, and if they were halted, the money saved could go toward other educational initiatives.

During an address to nearly 600 union delegates, Dombrowsky, a former school trustee, shot down the idea of a moratorium, calling the tests "informative" and arguing that they provide the province with much-needed data.

"A moratorium on testing is not part of our plan," she said as jeers were heard throughout the crowd. "These results allow us to drive resources into our classes."

Dombrowsky said the Liberal government has always viewed education as a top priority, particularly with the introduction of new programs, such as all-day kindergarten, which will come into effect in September and the launch of a bullying-awareness campaign.

In the last few years, 11,400 new teachers have been hired despite declining student enrolment. EQAO is an example of one of these initiatives, she said.

"The data is showing that students are more successful. Test scores have gone up. Graduation rates have gone up," Dombrowsky told reporters following the speech. "The point that is really important is that parents very much value the information that the provincial testing provides to them. It enables them to understand where there are strengths, where there are weaknesses, how we support them and their children to be successful in school."

The teachers accused Dombrowsky of trying too hard to please parents and forgetting about listening to the expertise provided by trained educators.

Teacher Tim Hall said standardized testing has created larger gaps between students who excel in school and those who struggle to keep up.

"EQAO does not level the playing field," said Hall, a physical education teacher for kindergarten to Grade 3 students in a remote community north of North Bay, Ont. "All it does is take a small snapshot of data that absolutely has no bearing whatsoever in the real education of these children."

The union also argued that the tests’ emphasis on literacy and math leave behind other important subjects such as science, history, social studies and the arts. The tests have been administered since 1996.

A report done by the union found that the pressure is too great on Grade 3 students who are compelled to take the tests and that they are detrimental to students with special needs, English-as-a-second-language students, those with different cultural backgrounds and students with behavioural issues or learning disabilities.

With a file from the Ottawa Citizen