Getting rid of EQAO

[Frank Loreto]

Any feelings about doing away with EQAO? This has become a monster tail wagging the dog of education. If the Ministry is looking to save money (given these lean days) then eliminating EQAO would be a good place to start

[Beth Doubt]

2 Comments re "the beauty of a standardized Curriculum, and whether the test tells whether the curriculum is being mastered"
- My child moved schools in Grade 6. As a result, taking Science as an example, she had two units that she did not get at all--one because that teacher at the receiving school decided to skip it, the other because the unit had been taught at the receiving school earlier, and was to be taught at her previous school later. Also she got one unit twice--for obvious reasons. So much for standardized curricula. But I guess nothing is perfect.
- In terms of "measuring the curriculum", at the first school, for most of the year the math lesson was spilling over the math block and often took up 1/2 of the French (Immersion) block as well. When she got to the new school, she was quite behind in terms of french grammar. (Ah! but we don't test anything but literacy and math--too bad.) Yes, reading and match are essential skills, but as a result she scored very well on the EQAO test -- so did the school. But she struggled with French grammar until she gave up French a couple of years later.
Personally I would have preferred a lower math mark that would have been more consistent with her normal math marks, and more emphasis on the French.

Catherine said:

As I understand it the test is designed to measure how well the curriculum is being mastered. If what's in the curriculum is being taught the test is doing its job. But you're right there are no guarantees that the curriculum is getting covered the same way in every part of the province. However, wasn't that the beauty of a standardized curriculum. Many teachers as well as parents wanted a standard common curriculum. I wish I'd had it when I was in Grade 13 because my family moved three times in that year, each time a different board and a different curriculum and set of exams. By June I was ready to quit school because the stress and difference in what was being taught from board to board was unbelievable.
As I said once before, eventually a testing mechanism would have had to be developed. If not EQAO another system, with it's own quirks.
The Level Lowdown is a paper written by an expert on the tests. Every parent in the province should have read it for better understanding.

[Beth Doubt]

Unfortunately, Annie, when I try to look at this link, I get the message "The article you are looking for is available to GlobePlus members or can be licensed."
Beth

Annie Kidder said:

Just to let you all know, you can click here to read the online conversation about EQAO testing that was hosted by the Globe and Mail on Friday. There were some interesting questions; and it was a neat experience to try to answer them all in an hour. It made me really glad I took typing in Grade 9. (Even though I only just passed)

[Tracey Tebbenham]

I have a son in Grade 3 and a very supportive teacher. We've just come up against what is probably the first in a long year of problems with the EQAO testing. As revision work leading up to the test our teacher sends home a Math Journal once a week with an EQAO example for the kids to try. Our son did the problem with what would have been a perfect score by the teacher, but according to the standard set by EQAO, would have had marks deducted. Why? And this is not a case of the teacher using incorrect teaching methods. It was explained that EQAO standards in Math questions do not allow for crossover terms from other subjects. In this case, it was the difference between using the directives "North, South, East, West versus Up, Down, Left, and Right. To me this is ridiculous. How can you expect a child in Grade three to leave his Social Studies brain at the door when doing a Math Mapping problem?
I see the year shaping up to be one of stress on me, my son and my teacher.
Having just returned from the 2009 EQAO Symposium in Toronto, I would like to quote the first keynote speaker of the conference, Wayne Hulley, who said, " Assessment doesn't change schools, behaviour does.".

[Cathy]

"Assessment doesn't change schools, behaviour does?"

I'll go one better Tracey, seeing as the goal of the EQAO isn't to "change schools". I'd suggest that schools can't improve unless there is willingness to do so. Part of that willingness is to what works and use it and get rid of methods that don't work...like the method the EQAO uses for assessment. The greatest myth of all is that the EQAO tests the student...it doesn't, it tests how well an educator has taught the curriculum, WHICH is(or should be) the basis of the test.

[Gay Stephenson]

Beth: About the article in the Globe... unfortunately links to that newspaper only work for about 7 days, and then you must pay for the articles :( It's different from the Star which allows you to view them for free as long as you have the link address.

This discussion continues to be "the great debate". We chose it as one of the themes for our conference this year, and I just wanted to let everyone know that there are some great resources posted (on both sides of the debate) on our conference website page at http://www.peopleforeducation.com/conference09/testingpanel

You can also watch the panelists present their points of view thanks to TVO who recorded their discussion at our conference and also hosted a debate about it. These are the panelists:

• Joel Westheimer, University of Ottawa, Professor of Education, co founder of Democratic Dialogue
• Marguerite Jackson, CEO, Education Quality and Accountability Office
• David Johnson, CD Howe, University of Wilfred Laurier
• Kathleen Devlin, Director, Policy and Public Affairs, Ontario Teachers’ Federation

Some of those links are posted on the main page here, but they are also available here on our website.