Waterloo school board wants to pause EQAO testing, saying students are stressed enough

Trustees with the Waterloo Region District School Board want Ontario to pause Education Quality and Accountability Office (EQAO)testing for another year, citing the stress the exams would place on students and teachers during an already difficult year.

Trustees voted unanimously at a committee meeting this week to write a letter to the province on the matter, and raise the issue at an upcoming teleconference with the minister of education.

"Students are suffering from the constant changes you're in class, you're not in class, the changes in your schedule within the day," said board chair Scott Piatkowski.

"It's been a demanding time, and we need to recognize that the value of whatever data might be gained through doing the testing this year, we think is really outweighed by the negative impacts of running the testing."

The EQAO tests were on hiatus last year, butset to return for the 2021-2022 school year. Before the pandemic, the tests were donein the spring for elementary students and at various times throughout the year for high schoolers, board staff said in a report to trustees.

The Grade 9 math test has already been delayed in the first semester, the report said. Some schools in the public board administered the Ontario Secondary School Literacy Test (OSSLT)in the fall, though the province has waived the literacy requirement for students graduating in 2022.

A spokesperson for EQAO said assessments are set to go ahead this year, with primary and junior assessments planned for May.

'A very challenging year'

Jim Fare teaches Grade 9 math online at Cameron Heights Collegiate. Heagrees with the idea of pausing the tests.

"It's been a very challenging year, and none of the kids have gotten through everything that they normally would have," said Fare.

"Add, on top of that, the fact that they changed the curriculum for Grade 9 this year. It just makes the whole thing very uncertain."

Kelly Gallagher-Mackay is more measured in her assessment of the board's motion.

Gallagher-Mackay, who studies educational inequality at Wilfrid Laurier University, said Ontario has fallen behind international standards when it comes to monitoring how students' education has been disrupted by the pandemic.

Holding EQAO tests this year wouldn't necessarily solve that problem, she said, but there needs to be a greater focus at all levels of the education system on tracking and comparing how students are doing at a broad level.

"As parents, as people concerned about the impact of the COVID pandemic and ongoing inequalities, we should be saying, 'Well, what data are you going to give us to better understand what's going on in our schools during COVID?'" said Gallagher-Mackay, an assistant professor in the university's liberal arts faculty.

One option, she said, could be to aggregate data from reading comprehension tests and other assessment tools that teachers already use.

In response to questions about the board's motion, a spokesperson for Education Minister Stephen Lecce said the province has modernized EQAO assessments"by digitizing tests so that assessment of math and language skills can occur."

This will ensure the province canmeasure progress and "make data-driven decisions" to improve student performance, the spokesperson said.

"While EQAO assessment started earlier this year with 140,000 students completing their assessment already, our government will continue to invest and support learning in reading and mathematics, along with significant funding to support student mental health," she said.