Letters to the Editor

Re: EQAO (March 2010)

Your articles this month were a welcome sight. I and most of my colleagues agree so much with what you have  said. It’s  nice to see that we are not the only ones who think like that. We too see the stress on the kids’  faces;  the lack of fun in the school compared to 30 years ago (when I first started teaching) is so different. I had the opportunity of working two summers for EQAO as a marker (in the beginning years) – needless to  say, what a joke. As we were marking someone would come up and tell us, “You are marking too high” or “You  are marking  too low.” The amount of money spent there was unbelievable:  my salary (plus meals), the  supervisor,  those guys from the States with their computers, renting the building, the courier trucks lined up at  the door to collect all that paper (tons of it).

Too bad most people in administration  seem to think it’s the be all and end all (they honestly believe  these  results), even though I argue that the tests are not standardized and are never the same test each year. This makes them inaccurate. In any event, keep plugging the message out. People are starting to listen. I have asked for your pamphlets for  parents  regarding  EQAO and will hand them out at parent-teacher interviews.

Pierre Martel
 Ottawa-Carleton District School Board

ETFO’s pamphlet,  Talking  About Testing, is available free of charge from shopETFO.