Foundation Skills Assessments: what are they and why are teachers concerned about them? And why is the Delta Teachers’ Association (DTA) sharing their thoughts with Delta’s parents?
The FSA is a province-wide standardized test given to all grade 4 and 7 students in B.C. It’s not a required part of the B.C. curriculum, nor does it lead to increased supports for individual students. And it does not affect your child’s report card.
Why are teachers concerned about the use of FSAs in their classrooms? For a number of reasons.
These tests take away valuable class time to administer and to prepare students to take them. To be clear, the FSAs do not help students learn, especially not now, during a pandemic. And standardized testing creates anxiety for students.
Do they need that right now? The results of these tests do not translate into additional resources for students, teachers or schools. The detailed results are not available to parents or teachers who might be able to extract some meaning or useful information.
As far as a comparative snapshot, amongst grade 4 or 7 students, parents could ask the highly qualified classroom teacher, a professional with a five-plus-year university degree.
The DTA recently sent out letters regarding the FSA to teachers of grades 4 and 7 in Delta, these letters to go home to parents of grade 4 and 7 students.
The withdrawal letter/form is agreed to by both B.C. Teachers Federation (BCTF) and BC Public School Employers' Association through a protocol agreement.
Both sides acknowledge that parents have the choice as to whether their child writes or not. It is not just the BCTF’s opinion that a kid can be withdrawn — it is the case that both organizations understand and support this. And no, a child should not be asked to “just stay home” during the test. They are still entitled to attend school in the same way as if a parent does not give permission for attendance of field trip or a PE activity.
To clarify the position of teachers, teachers are not opposed to thorough, authentic assessment. That is what teachers do every day in their classrooms.
The Delta School District has shared with the DTA their reasons for participating in the FSAs. There is value in data that can come from a system wide check, and the DTA is not opposed to such a check, however, the FSAs in their current form and in how their data is used, compromises the very integrity of the data by sharing it with the Fraser Institute. The data is used to pit schools or neighbourhoods against one another, which benefits no-one. This is not what the data should be used for and until the whole program of the FSA is re-visited by the Ministry of Education, it remains a problem.
What about your role in this? We are asking parents and the public to read about the FSAs (at: bctf.ca/fsa) and why it needs to change.
We encourage parents to make thoughtful decisions about their child’s participation in the test.
