Editor:
Full marks for the April 15 editorial (“FSA rankings show big wins and challenges”) in admonishing School District No. 46 superintendent Patrick Bocking for his dismissive appraisal of the Fraser Institute’s FSA-based ranking as “simply silly.” He is remiss in failing to address seriously the negative effects that the province-wide Foundations Skills Assessment imposes on our schools.
Even by criteria of standardized testing, FSA is a flawed design. Of more serious concern is the realization that the deployment of standardized testing adds significantly to the incidence of anxiety and depression among young children. This kind of pressure is not warranted. In Finland, where children start school at a later age than here, the culture of testing is avoided, and teachers have more autonomy in the creation and delivery of relevant curriculum. Yet Finland has a highly literate and technologically savvy population. Not surprisingly, the system of education in Finland is well regarded worldwide. Briefly stated, there is no established causal connection between standardized testing like FSA and the advancement of literacy.
Rather than downplaying FSA as “simply silly,” it is time to highlight how the Fraser Institute, a prominent ideologically driven right-wing think-tank, influences educational policy, curriculum design, teaching practices and learning processes. This tendency, discernible in the U.K., U.S. and elsewhere, is reshaping our public schools in preparation for outsourcing (at public expense and for profit) to the private sector. Meanwhile, if left unchallenged, a centrally devised curriculum legitimized by a system of standardized tests serves to deskill teachers and undermine job security as class sizes increase.
FSA trappings aside, congratulations to Halfmoon Bay Elementary School for its exemplary work in classroom and community-based settings.
Michael Collins, Halfmoon Bay
