A CASE STUDY

BY
BROOKE WIENS

SREEDEVI RAJASEKHARAN

SAMREEN SHAH
 I am a single mother with two children. My older one has Cerebral Palsy and is in high school and the younger

one is in grade 3, having anxiety attacks as her EQAO is approaching and that’s the talk in her class. When my older

child was in elementary school his principal was eager enough to not let him sit for the EQAO as soon as I mentioned

my concerns with his developing condition. I later came to know that removing children who will not perform very well

in the EQAO is considered a better option so it doesn’t affect the school ranking negatively. This broke my heart and I

decided to look deeper into to

decided thelook
standardized testing
deeper into and do something
the standardized testingabout it.something
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 On top of everything, my daughter keeps complaining of stomach ache and is having sleepless nights due to

anxiety caused by teachers always talking about EQAO, practicing past papers and giving homework like never before

focusing only on literacy and numeracy leaving all other subjects for a couple of weeks, till the test is done.

The confusing news that I just received through a friend was that there’s a job opening at the Education Quality

and Accountability Office in Toronto, paying well and she forwarded my resume to her friend in HR and they are going

to interview me as a formality, and the job is almost confirmed.

I know I really need the money for my children yet I stand against the standardized testing to the point of contributing

an article in the magazine of the Elementary Teachers Federation of Ontario (ETFO VOICE) to eliminate EQAO. What do

I do?

I am a parent and a teacher and believe in building professional relationships with students, parents and other

staff. I wanted to talk to other parents about the EQAO and find out whether it was only me who felt strongly against

this standardized testing or there were others who shared my opinion. Surprisingly I found out that a majority of

parents strongly stand against the EQAO testing to such a point where, my mind interpreted EQAO as Evil Questions

Attacking Ontario instead of what it really stands for, which is Education Quality and Accountability Office.
 I am not against testing or accountability but this form of standardized testing where all aspects of a child’s development

are ignored and only their literacy and numeracy is tested, the tests are often short-answer and multiple choice, and thus biased

towards certain kinds of learning; the information produced is often used inappropriately; and it may encourage undesirable

behaviors (RCL 1994). I have stood against it. I have contributed an article in the magazine of the Elementary Teachers Federation of

Ontario (ETFO VOICE) to eliminate EQAO. Every teacher who teaches grade 3, 6 or grade 9 is pressurized to teach to the testing,

during those months of hardcore preparation all other subjects are set aside focusing only on English and Math.
 Parents who come from other countries, take these tests seriously and pressurize their children to practice past papers available

online, until they find out that the EQAO results impact the school ranking not much to do with their child on an individual level

unlike the CCAT (Criteria Cognitive Aptitude Test).

As a parent and educator, I advocate for an ongoing assessment of students that regulates their creativity, critical thinking,

communication and collaboration identified as required skills for the 21st century. (Azevedo, 2016). This pandemic has made us

realize the importance of technology in education, therefore schools must be given autonomy and revisit how students are

evaluated. (Depta, 2016). One suggestion for evaluations can be to create gaming quizzes too and in this era of inclusiveness adapt

the assessments according to children’s needs.