Page 99 - Growing Success: Assessment, Evaluation and Reporting in Ontario Schools. First Edition, Covering Grades 1 to 12. 2010

APPENDIX 1 | large–scale assessments
93
APPENDIX 1: LARGE–SCALE ASSESSMENTS
• identify the need for targeted interventions and supports and provide them where required;
• identify the need for and make decisions about capacity building and specific instructional practices;
• celebrate successes.
The Ontario provincial assessments include all students and therefore provide data for individual students, schools, and boards, as well as the province as a whole. Such extensive data could not
be obtained by testing only samples of students. The provincial assessments provide a snapshot of students’ achievement and are only one measure of students’ overall achievement. Provincial test results should be considered together with the wealth of information collected by teachers over the years through classroom assessment and evaluation. Together, EQAO assessments and classroom assessment and evaluation constitute a comprehensive profile of student learning.
In the case of the Primary Division (Grades 1–3) and the Junior Division (Grades 4–6) assessments, the test results are not incorporated into grades recorded on students’ elementary provincial report cards.
In the case of the Grade 9 mathematics assessment, teachers are given the option of marking all or a portion of their students’ work on the assessment and incorporating the marks in their determination of the students’ final grades for the mathematics courses.
In the case of the OSSLT, students who pass the test meet the literacy graduation requirement, which is one of thirty-two (32) requirements for the Ontario Secondary School Diploma.
The results of the provincial assessments should not be used to rank schools or school boards. Rankings tell us nothing about why the scores are high or low. Further, they invite simplistic and misleading comparisons that ignore the particular circumstances affecting achievement in each school and school board. Rankings tend to distract educators and the public from addressing the critical issue of how to improve learning for all students.
National and International Large-scale Assessments
Sample groups of Ontario students often participate in national and international large-scale assessments. These include the following.
NATIONAL LARGE-SCALE ASSESSMENT
The Pan-Canadian Assessment Program (PCAP), developed by the Council of Ministers of Education, Canada (CMEC), is the current national large-scale assessment. PCAP is administered every three years to assess the reading, mathematics, and science knowledge and skills of Grade 8 students across the country.
APPENDIX 1