Time to get rid of EQAO

RE: NIAGARA STUDENTS EXCEEDING PROVINCIAL TESTING AVERAGES, SEPT. 19

For years the provincial government has spent multi-millions of dollars on using a sagging Education Quality and Accountability Office (EQAO) to justify the money that has been put into education in testing our students.

This supposedly “arms length” group has again proven, time after time, that this has been a bad deal for Ontario taxpayers. The recent math results from this year of Grade 6 students from across the province meeting their standard has dipped to 49 per cent, down another five per cent from last year.

Fortunately, our local scores in our schools have again risen far above this provincial result.

In the DSBN’s case, money has been directed to pay for additional training in math for over 900 teachers while continuing to provide math coaches in each school to support daily math classes. Better trained and supported staff provide better results.

This makes a world of sense.

However, this does not explain why the scores in math continue to dive across the rest of the province. Perhaps it is time that we finally do away with the EQAO.

Their tests do not provide our students with the confidence to move forward. Their tests do not make our staff better teachers.

On the contrary, countless hours are spent on “teaching to the test” while other subjects are left with declining time to teach their skills.

It is a tribute to our local staff that work hard to improve levels in math while maintaining a high standard of skills in other subjects.

Better training has proven to produce better results. Regardless, the EQAO has outlived its mandate.

If our premier really wants to find efficiencies, doing away with this snapshot test, and this agency, will save a billion taxpayer dollars in the long run and improve the morale in every school in this province.

Alex Bradnam,

St. Catharines