This Blog will discuss politics, government, corruption, police, S.I.U., courts, education, min. of attorney general, min. of labour, v.o.i.c.e. and other current and past events of interest to concerned citizens. In the "About me" section to the right and down I have included the names of persons whom I have tremendous respect for. Their influence on me however has been primarily environmental (and personal) and this is therefore a disclaimer that all words posted on this Blog/Website are mine and I alone am responsible for them. I say this with the greatest respect and affection to my friends.

Monday, June 5, 2017

EQAO TESTING. DOES IT HAVE VALUE?



First off I would suggest that the author of the article in today's Waterloo Region Record titled "EQAO testing provides little to no real value" has a huge obstacle to overcome. That obstacle is literally decades of educators, school boards , teachers unions etc. telling us in no uncertain terms as to how professional they are and that children are their first priority. As a parent who has gone through the education wars I know that those comments are puffery wrapped in heavy duty bullcrap. Yes some teachers are indeed professionals in every sense of the word. They stand out from their peers not by awards, higher pay, more job security or greater respect within the educational community. The greater respect within the parental community I would agree with. This is a part of the problem. All their on the job feedback is essentially positive, most especially that coming from their union.

If you listen to their unions, no teacher has ever misbehaved, goofed off or taken self-serving educational shortcuts. Teachers indeed never make mistakes and frankly that just becomes a little too thick. Teachers are human and they have problems and crises in their lives that they need to deal with. Some of these are going to impact their on the job efforts and results. It's the teachers whose on the job efforts and results are routinely poor that have given the rest a bad name.

This opinion by Ken Durkacz a retired educator, seems to be just so much of the same. He claims that EQAO test results don't tell us anything that classroom teachers don't already know. That may well be true but that's not the point. Accountability is necessary in every and all professions and or jobs. Maybe your fellow teachers know that your students are behind everyone else's. Unfortunately they are prevented by union rules and self-preservation not to pass the word around. Included not to pass it around to those in authority. That is what EQAO tests hopefully shine a spotlight on. That is those teachers who consistently are allowing their students to fall behind the norm.

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