British Columbia’s education system is changing, so it only makes sense to modify the current standardized testing model of the Foundation Skills Assessment Test.
The British Columbian government wants to modernize the education system by making it more flexible and responsive to students
I do agree a test to helps determine what area schools and teachers need to work on is a good idea, however the current model isn’t
working. It’s widely known that students who come from wealthy families tend to do better in school than those who come from less fortunate families.
A report done by Moneysense magazine stated Prince Rupert’s unemployment rate was the second worst in Canada in the spring, which leads me to believe many of our school district’s children fall under the likely-to-not-do-as-well-as-wealthy-students umbrella.
Example of this?
The Fraser Institute uses results to rank schools in British Columbia, with private schools nearly always performing better than public.
Another problem with FSA testing is there’s little motivation for students to want to put all their efforts into the test. I remember being in Grade 7 and thinking if the test didn’t count as part of my final grade, why even bother?
It’s hard to motivate a child to care about performing at their greatest abilities on a test that doesn’t even count as part of their grade, but just a way for the government to see what areas schools need to work on.
One thing I keep hearing is “oh, of course teachers don’t like the current model, it shows when they’re not doing their job”.
How could the results reflect teachers’ abilities when there are so many other factors contributing to how students perform on the tests?