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Courting parents: the annual battle over standardized tests

Why don't our teacher unions issue such pamphlets? Why don't our unions, entities with access to tons of money, follow the example of Colorado's grassroots Coalition for Better Education? Take a look.

The silence of our unions is an abomination.

By Janet Steffenhagen

Parents, get ready for the annual feud over the Foundation Skills Assessment (FSA) - tests of reading, writing and math delivered province-wide every year in Grades 4 and 7.

Schools are expected to administer the tests between Jan. 17 and Feb. 25 this year.

The B.C. Education Ministry has prepared a brochure advising parents why it thinks the tests are important. In summary, it says the tests help determine whether students are learning vital skills and improving over time, if there are any significant trends in schools, districts or across the province and how certain groups of students (such as aboriginals) are doing.

Meanwhile, the BCTF plans to distribute its own brochures in opposition to the tests, saying they are expensive, contribute nothing to learning, detract from more meaningful activities and lead to school rankings by the Fraser Institute. One of the brochures includes a form letter that parents can clip and send to the principal asking that their children be excused from the tests.

Find the BCTF brochures here.

The B.C. Confederation of Parent Advisory Councils (BCCPAC) has also developed an FSA information kit for parents. Find it here.

The union's campaign has been most successful in Vancouver, where last year 37 per cent of Grade 4 students and 39 per cent of Grade 7 students did not participate (likely invalidating the results). Province-wide, 19 per cent of B.C. students did not write the FSA, up from 12 per cent two years earlier.

Last year, there was an effort to bring all partner groups together to discuss assessment, but there's been no mention yet of progress.

— Janet Steffenhagen
Vancouver Sun
2011-01-07
http://communities.canada.com/vancouversun/blogs/reportcard/archive/2011/01/07/courting-parents-the-annual-battle-over-standardized-tests.aspx

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