FSAs can be useful, but only when done right

DEAR EDITOR:

Re: “FSAs should not be used to rank schools,” by Kevin Epp (Courier, Jan. 8).

Ranking schools and teachers based on Foundation Skills Assessment tests would be fair and useful if it was done correctly. Instead of doing one test, we should be doing two tests. One at the start of the year and one at the end of the year. That’s because the most important metric is how much the students have improved. This would largely remove the economic, and other factors that teachers blame for poor results, that are beyond their control.

As for claiming these tests are a waste of time, I’m sure over the course of a school year there is lots of wasted time that could be put to this meaningful testing. Having before-and-after testing would clearly demonstrate which schools and teachers are making the biggest difference and ratings based on these tests would be fair and useful.

After all, whether someone scores high or low on a single test isn’t what’s important; only how much a student has improved is important.

SteenPetersen,Nanaimo