LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
- May 01, 2007
Letter to Editor;
Dear Parents
Grade 4 and 7 students in BC take a series of tests from the Ministry of Education in reading, writing and mathematics called the Foundation Skills Assessment. The teachers of John Allison Elementary would like to express to you our concerns regarding the FSA testing which will take place May 7-18.
As professionals, we do not object to assessment of students constantly assessing, through a variety of methods, the progress of your children and communicating this to you. However, we have serious concerns regarding the FSA tests.
These tests consume a significant amount of valuable instructional time and do not truly measure what we are teaching. For example, while we might be teaching literacy, neither the content nor the marking of the FSA tests accurately reflects your child's progress in that area.
Many students become highly stressed by the FSA tests. The time devoted to preparing for them, as well as administering them, gives the tests an aura of importance, which troubles many younger students. Performance often suffers as a result, and their confidence is shaken.
The FSA tests are an inappropriate yardstick that measures school against school, class against class, and student against student, regardless of the circumstances. The results are questionable and unreliable as indicators of achievement. The tests are quite simply unfair.
If you have a student in elementary school, it is your right to exclude your child from writing the tests. Not writing will not affect your child's marks or progress. We urge you to give the issue careful consideration. If you wish to exercise your right, write a note to the Principal of your child's school excusing your child from all three Foundation Skills Assessment (FSA) tests. If you have any questions please don't hesitate to give your child's teacher a call at the school. He or she would be happy to discuss the issue with you.
Yours in concern,
Teachers of John Allison Elementary
To The Editor;
The headline in the April 24th News Leader: 'Council Reacts to Critics,' was probably for my benefit after writing a letter to the editor regarding Town Council and EDO Michael McLaughlin.
Council was upset and Mayor McLean offended because I insinuated that they didn't seem to have their priorities in order. I stand by my assessment that the two major needs in our town are new businesses or industries that pay decent wages so that the younger generation and their families will reside comfortably in this region, and the need for revitalized local health services which equates mainly to the enhancement of our Princeton General Hospital.
Councilor Manion mentions the steps taken that will hopefully pave the way for the future, such as putting water at the airport and industrial park and improving the town square. I still have a problem. It has been many years since the industrial park land was acquired, and yet it is still vacant. How much money will the park need before it is ready for new tenants and what sort of time frame are we looking at? It would help if our EDO could inform us whether he has a list of businesses or industries suitable for our area, and, if so how many have been contacted? Maybe he can explain his procedure for attracting such businesses.
It seems to me that there is a communication problem between Town Council and the citizenry. Comprehensive information doesn't seem to be relayed to the voting public. Possibly I'm ill informed, but what are the details regarding present ownership of the airport and what sort of responsibility, financial or otherwise (clearing runways year round for instance), are we to be harnessed with to have a fully operational facility?
In this town during much of the nineties, there was perpetual talk of Princeton needing to diversify in case the mine closed. The mine was lost, but nothing took its place. A similar thought must be going through many minds concerning the Weyerhaeuser operation. Will we be prepared if the unspeakable happens? We can't afford to lose more young working people from lack of opportunity.
In my previous letter I never intended to suggest that Mayor McLean or the Councilors were lazy. I'm sure they are a hard working team having the best interest of the town in mind. Possibly, some of them are even dedicated. The gist of my argument was to state that priorities needed to be listed and focused upon, and I believed this wasn't happening as well as it could be.
More people in this area should be making their views known in no uncertain terms. We all should be capable of taking a little heat now and again. If my views are lacking or off target, sock it to me.
- Monty Raine, Princeton
To The Editor;
Dear Parents,
Parents of students in Grades 4 and 7 may be aware of the government's bureaucratic Foundation Skills Assessment (FSAs) plan. These tests are administered over a two-week period in May. The results are unfortunately used by the privately funded Fraser Institute to rank schools. Parents are sent their child's results the following school year.
We are concerned about FSAs for the following reasons:
- Valuable time is taken away from teaching a rich curriculum and is instead used to 'teach to the test.' More and more school districts expect teachers to prepare their students for the FSAs in order to achieve better results. Teachers and parents know the good work going on in schools to benefit their students cannot be measured by a standardized test.
- The cost of administering FSA tests to Grade 4 and 7 students every year is very high. This money could be better spent providing textbooks for all Grade K-12 students or decreasing class sizes to allow for more individualized instruction.
- The government does not provide additional resources to schools whose rankings are low thereby making the process futile, and hindering real efforts to improve student progress.
We are not alone in our thinking. UBC Dean of Education Rob Tierney, and SFU Dean of Education Paul Shaker, have spoken out on the futility, unfairness, and harm of standardized testing such as the FSAs. Shaker says, "It's unprecedented that you can see such a simplistic kind of ranking used to such an extent."
We believe in authentic assessment. We believe:
- a wide variety of assessment tools such as quizzes, homework, tests, reports, and oral presentations are examples of real and authentic assessment that truly measure student progress.
- reporting to parents formally through report cards, and informally through meetings and conversations, is the best way to report on student progress.
- in a fully funded quality public education where every student can fulfill their individual promise and aspirations.
Finally, consider this. Countries who properly fund public education, and who do not focus on standardized testing, traditionally rank in the top 10 internationally. Finland and Sweden are examples of two of the top-ranking countries according to the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) tests which are appropriately administered on random sample basis.
Compare this to countries who use standardized tests as a way of measuring student progress. The United States stresses standardized testing and punishes poorer performing schools (in some jurisdictions) by taking away funding. It traditionally ranks around 35th in the world.
We ask: why would our provincial government follow the United States model, which is failing its public education system and thereby its students, rather than a successful model like Finland's?
- Princeton Secondary School Teachers
To The Editor;
Dear Parents:
Large-scale testing is bad for students.
Teachers are concerned that FSA tests are having a negative effect on student learning and that the results are being misused. The FSA test results are not used to determine which schools need more support and resources.
The most obvious use of the results is to provide the Fraser Institute with the opportunity to devise a contrived ranking system for our schools. It is a sad commentary on the priorities of the government that more is spent annually on FSA testing at the Grades 4 and 7 levels than on textbooks for the whole K12 public school system.
According to the research, common negative effects of large-scale testing include:
- loss of instructional time to practice tests,
- narrowing of the curriculum and instructional methods by teachers who are under pressure to have their students do well on the tests,
- less successful students concluding that they are unable to succeed and reducing their effort to learn,
- inappropriately generalizing test results to overall value or intelligence.
Research shows that, in contrast to the negative effects of external tests like FSA, effective classroom assessment can improve students' learning substantially and helps low achievers the most.
Prior to large-scale testing in the UK there was no correlation between self-esteem and academic achievement. After the introduction of large-scale testing, low-achieving students had lower self-esteem than higher-achieving students did.
The results of the FSA test are currently being abused. The Fraser Institute purports to be able to rank schools based on FSA results. The media reports the Fraser Institute rankings as if they represent valid conclusions.
The results are frequently reported without enough information to tell if they are meaningful. Often schools do not have an adequate number of students writing the test to be a reliable sampling. The FSA results are not reliable for half of the elementary schools in the province.
If the participation rate goes down but the results go up, it is not a valid comparison. The FSA tests are not an accurate measure of our students, or our schools, and the results are misused.
We want parents to know that FSA testing can have negative effects on their children, especially children struggling with academics. Policies related to student participation in FSA tests have not changed.
The process for parents to request that their children be excused from FSA tests has not changed. As in previous years, parents can write letters to principals requesting that their children be excused from the assessment. Our children deserve to be supported and educated at school, not undermined by ill conceived forms of accountability.
- Teachers of Vermilion Forks Elementary
Dear Editor,
Thank you to my many friends, supporters, and members of Princeton's business community who have helped in my efforts to raise funds in the annual MS Walk.
The MS Walk in Penticton was a successful event. People of all ages gathered on a beautiful, sunny day to take another step towards finding a cure for Multiple Sclerosis. Susan and I were pleased to be joined by our friends Myrna, Raelene and her mother Charlotte, my parents, and a team of surprise visitors from Vernon, our friends Brenda, Brian, Rick, and Gary.
My goals in participating in the MS Walk are to raise awareness of this often debilitating, life altering disease, to be part of a support network for others with MS, and to raise funds to help find a cure for MS. Canada has one of the highest incidents of MS in the world and is a leader in research to find a cure for MS.
The MS Society of Canada commits almost $7 million annually towards MS research and also provides services and programs to enhance the quality of life for the estimated 75,000 Canadians affected by MS.
The MS Society raises eighty-six percent of its funds through special events such as the MS Walk and independent donations.
Money raised in the South Okanagan Similkameen MS Walk stays in the South Okanagan-Similkameen to support local programs and services, and allows us to provide a contribution to our national research program; and only funds donated through our local office in Penticton are targeted specifically for use by the South Okanagan-Similkameen Chapter. So, when possible, try to donate locally.
I am blessed with a wonderful network of friends and a supportive family, and am very fortunate to live in this caring community. Thank you for your support.
A cure is only a step away.
Yours truly,
- Ken Carlson, Princeton
