{"id":645,"date":"2013-02-19T12:35:18","date_gmt":"2013-02-19T19:35:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/ices\/?p=645"},"modified":"2013-05-28T15:57:25","modified_gmt":"2013-05-28T22:57:25","slug":"a-call-to-review-standardized-testing-in-canada","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/ices\/2013\/02\/19\/a-call-to-review-standardized-testing-in-canada\/","title":{"rendered":"A Call to Review Standardized Testing in Canada"},"content":{"rendered":"

REAL ACCOUNTABILITY OR AN ILLUSION OF SUCCESS?: A CALL TO REVIEW STANDARDIZED TESTING IN CANADA<\/a><\/h3>\n

OTTAWA, ON\u00a0(February 16, 2013) \u2013 The Action Canada Task Force on Standardized Testing<\/a> has just released a report analyzing the place of standardized testing as an accountability measure in Canadian K-12 education systems, using Ontario as a case study focus. \u201cA review of standardized testing in this province and others is not only timely \u2013 it\u2019s urgently needed,\u201d says S\u00e9bastien Despr\u00e9s, a 2012-2013 Action Canada Fellow and co-author of the report. Despr\u00e9s explains that when standardized testing was established in Ontario two decades ago, the Royal Commission which recommended the creation of the province\u2019s\u00a0Education Quality and Accountability Office<\/a> (EQAO) and the adoption of standardized testing in the province had also recommended that a five-year review be undertaken. Almost twenty years later, this review has yet to be done. Despr\u00e9s concludes, \u201cAs things stand, the current testing system may or may not be facilitating the achievement of the education system\u2019s range of objectives. A review of this accountability measure should be a top priority.\u201d<\/p>\n

Teaching is often said to be \u201cthe second most private act in which adults engage\u201d (Dufour 1991) since it tends to take place behind closed doors, away from the view of many stakeholders. In its essence, however, teaching is a public and political act, and is fundamental to the continuing development of a citizenry that drives Canada\u2019s global competitiveness and social and economic prosperity. Recognizing the importance of education, many jurisdictions have turned to standardized testing as a means of ensuring accountability for results. In some circles, this measure has become controversial, as stakeholders \u2013 and the public as a whole \u2013 are polarized as to whether standardized testing is an appropriate way of evaluating students and the overall effectiveness of education systems in light of their objectives and curricula.<\/p>\n

S\u00e9bastien Despr\u00e9s, a lecturer in Anthropology and Geography at Memorial University of Newfoundland, explains that standardized testing regimes are costly and time-consuming enterprises that can have an important impact on the classroom experience. \u201cWe know that not all students are motivated by marks and academic achievement. We also know that when these things are prioritized over others, instruction can become boring, and kids become disengaged.\u201d The report also explores how standardized testing can impact teaching as a profession, and echoes earlier studies that show how an over-emphasis on test scores can diminish teachers\u2019 role in determining the content and methods of instruction, casting teachers as efficiency experts who carry out instruction determined by someone else.<\/p>\n

Standardized testing can also shift attention away from the presentation of the full breadth of a given province\u2019s prescribed curriculum, to a narrowed focus on what they measure: literacy and numeracy. This is recognized by the EQAO, who in a recent report highlighted that \u201cWhat gets measured gets attention.\u201d Task Force member Marie-Jos\u00e9e Parent arranged for specially-commissioned artwork by Montreal artist Jos\u00e9e Pedneault and a short animated film featuring drawings from Winnipeg artist Ben Clarkson to accompany the report, a nod to the damaging effect that standardized testing regimes can have on the teaching of the arts, creativity, collaboration, critical thinking, and a list of other skills and competencies prescribed by provincial curricula. \u201cRecognizing that the means by which we strive to make our education systems transparent necessarily have an impact on these systems is a good first step in a bold direction,\u201d says Despr\u00e9s, \u201cand we are hopeful that this recognition will go a long way in occasioning a change in priorities from a focus on test scores to a focus on the ultimate purposes of education.\u201d<\/p>\n

To view the report in its entirety, visit:\u00a0<\/strong>http:\/\/www.testingillusion.ca<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0Task Force Twitter feed<\/a><\/strong>
\n\u00a0Task Force Facebook page<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

REAL ACCOUNTABILITY OR AN ILLUSION OF SUCCESS?: A CALL TO REVIEW STANDARDIZED TESTING IN CANADA OTTAWA, ON\u00a0(February 16, 2013) \u2013 The Action Canada Task Force on Standardized Testing has just released a report analyzing the place of standardized testing as … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1527,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2262,364,2273,4069,148],"tags":[1063374,1063358],"class_list":["post-645","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-k-12-issues","category-research","category-students","category-teachers","category-testing","tag-k-12-issues","tag-testing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/ices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/645","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/ices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/ices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/ices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1527"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/ices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=645"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/ices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/645\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":702,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/ices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/645\/revisions\/702"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/ices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=645"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/ices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=645"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/ices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=645"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}