Results are out on elementary school tests, but teachers suggest sending them to the shredder.
The provincial government has released the findings of the Foundational Skills Assessment. It looks at student achievement in reading, writing and numeracy in Grades 4 and 7.
“Parents should pay little or no attention to the results,” said Kevin Bader, president of the Vernon Teachers Association.
“The results are from a very stressful set of tests taken over several days. At the best, it’s a one-time snapshot assessment.”
Bader says teachers are more focused on day-to-day assessments over a period of time instead of on how a student does on one particular day or with one test.
“Teachers are not against tests. FSAs are long and unreasonable and we would hope the government would work with us on a random sampling assessment.”
Education Minister George Abbott disagrees with the teachers on FSAs.
“They give parents, teachers, school districts and schools a snapshot of how students are doing in the core skills of reading, writing and numeracy,” said the Shuswap MLA.
“Parents want this information, and I believe the more information parents have, the better able they are to support and help to improve the learning of their children.”
For the Vernon School District, the FSA show 60 per cent of Grade 4 students were meeting expectations in reading while there were eight per cent exceeding expectations. For writing, it was 61 per cent meeting and 16 per cent exceeding while it was 61 per cent meeting numeracy expectations and six per cent exceeding.
In Grade 7, 57 per cent were meeting reading expectations and there were nine per cent exceeding. For writing, it was 67 per cent meeting expectations and eight per cent exceeding and 55 per cent meeting expectations in numeracy and four per cent exceeding.
In the North Okanagan-Shuswap School District, FSA results show 58 per cent of Grade 4 students were meeting reading expectations while there were seven per cent exceeding. There was 64 per cent meeting and three per cent exceeding for writing, and 62 per cent meeting and five per cent exceeding in numeracy.
In Grade 7, 49 per cent of students were meeting expectations in reading and seven per cent were exceeding.
There was 66 per cent of students meeting and three per cent exceeding in writing and 47 per cent meeting and 14 per cent exceeding in numeracy.
