The following information was distributed to parents by the Algoma District School Board regarding the cancellation of EQAO math assessments for this month:
Yesterday, the Minister of Education announced that the decision to administer the Grade 9 EQAO math assessment for semester 1 would be left to the discretion of individual school boards. Students in the Algoma District School Board will not be participating in the EQAO Grade 9 math assessment this month.
The Education Quality and Accountability Office (EQAO) is an independent provincial agency, funded by the Government of Ontario. EQAO’s mandate is to conduct province-wide tests at key points in a student’s education and report the results to educators, parents and the public. EQAO measures students’ achievement, at a point in time, in reading, writing and mathematics, in relation to the Ontario Curriculum expectations. Normally, all Ontario students who are enrolled in a Grade 9 applied or academic mathematics course would be required to take the Grade 9 EQAO math assessment.
Teachers have been teaching the math curriculum throughout semester one, supporting and preparing students for the EQAO math assessment. However, due to job action, OSSTF teachers and educational support workers will not participate in EQAO preparation or testing. This includes the administration and marking of the test. The labour sanctions also make it difficult to implement the accommodations that many students require in order to be successful on the test. Such accommodations include scribing, the reading of questions and access to specialized versions of the testing materials. In ADSB schools, access to these types of accommodations are provided by both teachers and support workers.
Teachers will continue to work through the completion of the Grade 9 mathematics curriculum as semester one comes to an end. Historically, in ADSB, a student’s performance on the Grade 9 EQAO math assessment has been included as part of the student’s final grade for the 30 per cent final evaluation, which is considered when determining the overall final mark in the course. However, given that this will not be possible this semester, teachers will develop the entire 30per cent final evaluation (which will not include the EQAO Assessment), which will allow students an opportunity to demonstrate comprehensive achievement of the overall expectations of the course.
In his statement on Jan. 8, the Minister of Education said that students who do not take the EQAO Grade 9 math assessment in January will need to take the test in June. At this time, there is concern that a make-up test would pose significant challenges to both school staff and Grade 9 students who are not studying math in semester two, thus we will continue to share our concerns with the Ministry on this matter before communicating a final decision in the near future.
Thank you for your understanding.