Principals and vice-principals in School District 47 are disagreeing with recent comments from the BC Principals’ and Vice-Principals’ Association president about eliminating Foundation Skills Assessment (FSA) testing.
Jameel Aziz said, in an interview with the Vancouver Sun, that the controversy surrounding the standardized tests has resulted in low levels of participation in many districts, compromising the usefulness of the testing. He added that the FSA should be replaced “with another standardized measure that does not have the political baggage or rhetoric around it.”
In Powell River, where participation rates are relatively high, this reason for scrapping the tests does not necessarily apply, said Jamie Burt, president of the Powell River branch of the association and principal at Grief Point Elementary School. Burt said Aziz’s comments surprised the local association and that they disagree that FSA testing is no longer useful.
Members of the local association still believe that FSA testing is one useful tool among many, said Burt. The testing helps schools to see if student achievement is improving over time and to pinpoint trends in performance in schools and the district as a whole.
“It helps determine if our kids are learning the vital skills they need in school and on life,” said Burt. “We do caution it though and we’ve said that all along. It’s just one way we do that.”
Burt understands that the provincial contingent may be reflecting the opinions of the majority of its members, but feels that that does not include the local association here in Powell River. Burt said that surveys are often given to the provincial association’s roughly 2,200 members but beyond that there was little consultation before Aziz made his comments.
Using the tests to rank schools and districts, or to judge teachers, is a misuse of the tests, said Burt, as is using them as a formative assessment. Burt said the function of the tests can be easily misinterpreted but he feels that high participation rates in the district means the testing is still statistically useful here as one tool among many in determining education levels.
FSA testing is an annual provincial assessment of skills in reading comprehension, writing and numeracy, according to the ministry of education website. Grades four and seven students are tested every year to help “the province, school districts, schools and school planning councils evaluate how well students are achieving basic skills, and make plans to improve school achievements.”
