Editor:
The Foundation Skills Assessment (FSA) is a set of standardized provincial tests to assess math, reading and writing. Lucky participants observe this event in a variety of ways. All children in grades 4 and 7 write costly special tests they are told are very important, but don't count for class-work or report cards. Their lucky parents receive two special letters about the value of these tests, one pro and one con. If they disagree, too bad - no kid can miss the fun.
Then, in May, everyone gets to join in and enjoy the ranking of all schools across the province by the Fraser Institute. Predictably every year the results are essentially the same. At the top are a select group of boys and girls from two groups. One group goes to private schools largely free of the "special" students and cost a lot. The other group has parents with higher levels of education and big houses.
In Alberta, the premier recognized that Alberta, like B.C, is among the top performing jurisdictions in the world alongside Finland, Hong Kong and Korea. She decided to eliminate this annual event. The time and money saved in preparing for, and writing, these tests will be used by students and teachers for more useful activities.
Denis Fafard
Gibsons
