The three Rs ain't enough for schoolkids, according to the union representing 76,000 of Ontario's public school teachers and education workers.
The Elementary Teachers Federation of Ontario (ETFO) is calling for the province to place a two-year moratorium on its testing of students in grades 3 and 6 in reading, writing and mathematics.
The union, which is meeting in Toronto the week of Aug. 16, said the province's standardized testing in its current form is an expensive exercise, "that is failing students and forcing teachers to abandon key parts of a balanced education for too much of the school year."
Subjects such as science, history, social studies and the arts are being "sidelined" so teachers can prepare young students for the tests, which measure literacy and numeracy, stated ETFO President Sarah Hammond in a press release issued Monday, Aug. 16.
A two-year freeze on testing would allow for public consultation on the "uses, value and impact of the testing regime," the ETFO explained.
Both the grade 3 and 6 tests are administered by the Education Quality and Accountability Office (EQAO), an independent provincial agency created in 1996. The EQAO also tests Grade 9 students in mathematics and delivers the Ontario Secondary School Literacy Test to Grade 10 students.
"A moratorium on EQAO testing is not part of the ministry's plan," Minister of Education Leona Dombrowsky stated in an email sent from her spokesperson Tuesday, Aug. 17. "Provincial assessments provide us with an important snapshot of student achievement at a particular point in time. Provincial testing came into effect because the public wanted an independent body to assess their children's progress, and it provides the ministry with important information around how we can drive resources to better support students."
While the EQAO develops and delivers the tests, two other areas within the Ministry of Education are responsible for using the results to work with school boards to improve student achievement: the Literacy and Numeracy Secretariat (grades JK to 6), created in 2004, and the Student Success/Learning-to-18 division (grades 7 to 12). The two units came together last year to form the Student Achievement Division.
"It (EQAO testing) was originally set up to test the system as a whole, but now it is driving what gets taught in the classroom," stated Hammond.
What's wrong with that, asked Trustee John Campbell, past chair of the Toronto District School Board and a member of its program and school services committee, which deals with education matters.
"It's through these yardsticks of EQAO (test results) that we are able to readily identify children who are in need of extra help," explained Campbell, the trustee for Etobicoke Centre, in an interview Tuesday. "And we do know that as a result of some of the testing and some of the extra work that we do in the schools, some of the very intensive work that's done in the schools, that we are raising and improving students performance."
Campbell said he would not support a moratorium on EQAO testing though he would support a review of the program. Committee colleague, St. Paul's Trustee Josh Matlow, provided the same opinion on Twitter Tuesday. The other three members of the committee, trustees Cathy Dandy (Toronto-Danforth), Maria Rodrigues (Davenport) and chair Michael Coteau (Don Valley East), could not be reached for comment as of press time.
"I have a great deal of respect for the teachers' viewpoint and certainly it's not one we have not heard in the past," said Campbell. "But I think that school boards need to be held accountable for students' performance and EQAO, at this point in time, has been the measure by which boards are evaluated for improving student performance. And I guess I would encourage the teachers federation to come up with a proposal under which school boards could be evaluated more effectively for improving student learning."
Campbell admitted he's not a pedagogical expert, but said he believes literacy and numeracy are important foundations for further learning.
"If you're going to understand social sciences and history, if you're going to be able to interpret and comprehend what's being taught, you have to have literacy skills," Campbell suggested.
"The higher proportion of kids that end up leaving school or dropping out, a sizeable percentage of those kids are not successful at math in grade 9," he added.
Ministry says student achievement increasing
The Ministry of Education has also previously highlighted what it considers to be the success of its focus on literacy and numeracy.
"In six years, student achievement has increased from 56 to 67 per cent of students reaching level 3 (the provincial standard) in the grade 3 and 6 EQAO tests, the achievement gaps for English language learners and students with special needs has (sic) been reduced, and the percentage of Ontario elementary schools in which fewer than 50 per cent of students were meeting provincial expectations has been reduced from 19 to less than 5 per cent," the Ministry stated in the Auditor General's 2009 report. "Ontario's high school graduation rate has increased from 68 to 77 per cent of students graduating within five years."
According to the EQAO's last annual report, the improvement of students over the past dozen years has been dramatic:
- From 1996-97 to 2008-09, the percentage of grade 3 students meeting or surpassing the provincial standard increased by 11 points in reading, 29 points in writing, and 37 points in mathematics.
- From 1998-99 to 2008-09, the percentage of grade 6 students meeting or surpassing the standard has increased by 21 points in reading, 19 points in writing, and 17 points in mathematics.
Between 60 to 70 percent of Ontario's grade 3 and 6 students reached at least the provincial standard in the three areas, which is equivalent to a B average, according to the most recently available results. In 2004, the Province set a target for 75 per cent of all grade 6 students to meet or exceed its standard by 2008, a goal which was not met despite the improvements.
Reaching that target will be "a challenging undertaking," the Auditor General stated in the 2009 report. In its audit of the Literacy and Numeracy Secretariat, it states more and better analysis is required to assess the effectiveness of various programs in improving student outcomes, to ensure funding from the Secretariat is directed to the initiatives that provide the most benefit. The Secretariat had a budget of $75.4 million in 2008/09, of which $62.1 million went into programs and $13.28 million into administration.
The EQAO had a budget of $32 million the same year. However, the Auditor General stated in its report it found, "the EQAO had developed a good budgeting process to help control costs and had reduced its annual expenditures by over 20 per cent during the past five years while delivering substantially the same service."
The EQAO's annual report states its per student costs are $17 annually compared to the $10,221 per student the Ministry of Education provides school boards for program operating funding. Almost 90 per cent of parents "consider the provincial testing program important", the report added, citing a 2009-10 research study conducted by the EQAO.
However, the ETFO said the government is better off eliminating both the EQAO testing and Literacy and Numeracy Secretariat and spending the $100 million-plus it gives the two bodies more wisely.
The union also expressed concern real estate companies are using the EQAO results to rank schools and neighbourhoods. Test results for individual schools and school boards are searchable through the EQAO's website, www.eqao.com.
However, data specific to areas of Toronto has become the norm in recent years. The website for Toronto police provides maps outlining where shootings, homicides and other crimes are reported to have taken place in the city. The City of Toronto's demographics division also provides an online searchable map of the city where people can view Statistics Canada census data for 140 neighbourhoods, including information on language, ethnicity, immigration, income and poverty.
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A report on the 2008-09 EQAO Grade 3 and 6 Test results for the :
Toronto District School Board can be found here.
Toronto Catholic District School Board can be found here.