Do we really need it?
The straight out question - where do you stand on EQAO and standardized testing in general?
My Response
Now there's a can of worms. I guess the best place to start is to say that in principle, I believe in accountability. I think it is with the best of intentions that the government wants to ensure that students have access to the same quality of education at all schools across the province. But, in reality, there are so many other factors at play here beyond accountability. The first consideration is the fact that standardized tests are just that, standardized. They are only valid and reliable for those groups that share characteristics with the population that was used in the initial test and standards development phase. Similarly, comparative analysis between different schools is tantamount to comparing apples and oranges as the student profile from school to school varies considerably as a reflection of geography, socio-economic status, cultural background, language status, academic program and many other factors. Â
Beyond the basic underlying biases that may exist in these tests are the differences between schools in terms of the approach taken toward them. For example, in the elementary school that my children attended, these tests were seen as very important by the administration - teachers actually spent classroom time teaching children how to take the test. In my opinion, that is not the best use of valuable classroom time. My children are not going to school to demonstrate to the government that they have wonderful teachers who can prepare them very well for a standardized test. Moreover, this type of training the monkeys mentality could and would serve to further skew the results of the comparisons if there are any systematic differences between schools in this regard. (By the way, my children's school shone in their EQAO performance.)
I think we have to be mindful of the potential biases in the system and perhaps further exploration of the impact of those biases may be warranted to ensure that we are actually making meaningful and unbiased comparisons. I am, however, enough of a realist to accept that accountability measures are part of our times. We are not likely to do away with these tests or something akin to them despite the fact that more meaningful accountability could happen at a local level through means such as peer review which would not only provide a means of assessment of teaching efficacy but also provide constructive and useful feedback to teachers at all phases of their careers.