HomeMy WebLinkAboutDon’t count on Wynne to fix schools EDITORIAL - EDITORIAL: - 04/26/2018 - EDITORIAL: - 04/26/20184/27/2018 EDITORIAL: Don't count on Wynne to fix schools I Ottawa Sun
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EDITORIAL: Don't count on Wynne to fix
schools
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Published:
April 26, 2018
Updated:
April 26, 2018 6:58 PM EDT
Filed Under:
Ottawa Sun > Opinion >
Editorials
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EDITORIAL:
March for Life
deserves more respect from
the city
01'-�",1 `11I is
WARMINGTON: Mourners
share their pain at memorials
Pope John Paul II School students Ava Fobister (left) and Brianna Herbacz (right) write down
surface area measurements during a math lesson on Friday, Jan. 13. The Kenora Catholic
District School Board said it is working on an action plan for mathematics based on EQAO test
results from 2016/17. FILE PHOTO ORG XMIT: POS1701151429242346 SunMedia
It's become standard operating procedure for Premier Kathleen
Wynne's government.
)X�i14,r, Last fall, Ontario's Education Quality and Accountability Office
IN
GOLDSTEIN: reported — and this is nothing new — that too many students are
Suzuki and failing standardized tests in the province's elementary and high
free speech? Don't make us
laugh schools.
Of) Au1 :"'Y SM11 Only half of Grade 6 students met the provincial standard in math and
BONOKOSKI: only 44% of Grade 9 students in applied math.
Justin
Tru deau's costly Statue of
Liberty impersonation
http://ottawasun.com/opi nion/ed itorials/ed itorial-dont-count-on-wynne-to-fix-schools/wcm/7a8278c7-18a 1-430e-ab98-fO3fc2de0aa5
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4/27/2018
EDITORIAL: Don't count on Wynne to fix schools I Ottawa Sun
Meanwhile, only 44% of Grade 9 students in the applied stream met
the provincial literacy standard.
Faced with these numbers, the Wynne government ordered up a new
study, titled "Ontario: A Learning Province;' which has now reported
back that — surprise! — standardized testing is overrated.
It recommends scrapping it for Grades 3 and 9 and downgrading it in
Grade 6.
Plus, high school students would no longer have to pass a literacy test
to graduate and parents would no longer be able to use test results to
compare schools.
That would make Ontario's teacher unions happy since they oppose
standardized testing and the independent method it provides for
evaluating how well teachers are doing their jobs.
While Wynne isn't planning to move on these recommendations
before the June 7 election, it's clear if the Liberals are re-elected,
standardized tests will be on their way out, replaced with something
much more vague and of little help in evaluating teachers, schools,
and how children are performing academically compared to their
peers.
Ditto if the NDP win, as party leader Andrea Horwath has already said
in response to the report that she'd scrap standardized testing and
put more money into frontline resources.
A spokesman for Progressive Conservative leader Doug Ford said his
party would improve standardized testing to make it work better for
students, teachers and parents.
Fair enough. But how?
Certainly improving the testing system is valid — for example, making
it more accessible to Indigenous students, as Wynne's panel
suggests.
But what the Liberals and NDP are clearly headed toward is a less
rigorous system of testing.
And that raises two obvious questions, among the oldest issues in
public education.
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4/27/2018
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EDITORIAL: Don't count on Wynne to fix schools i Ottawa Sun
That is, how can you fix something if you don't know what's broken or
where it's broken, because you've scrapped a major method of finding
out?
And when has ignoring a problem ever made it go away?
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ANDREA'HORWATH' KATHLEEN WYNNE' ONTARIO ELECTION'
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