ELEMENTARY TEACHERS' FEDERATION OF ONTARIO
ETFO calls for end to EQAO, redirection of funding to classrooms

With the release of the Education Quality & Accountability Office (EQAO) results, the education minister is once again reinforcing reliance on standardized testing, continuing the Ford government's pattern of disregarding the expertise of frontline educators who know what students truly need. The Elementary Teachers' Federation of Ontario (ETFO) maintains its call to end this costly testing program and to redirect the millions spent on EQAO into classrooms by investing in smaller class sizes and supports that genuinely enhance student learning and well-being.

"Educators are struggling with large class sizes, increasing workloads, and rising violence in schools, yet the Ford government remains incomprehensibly fixated on meaningless EQAO results," says ETFO President David Mastin. "Moreover, Minister Calandra's deep dive' delay raises serious questions. If EQAO is supposed to operate as an arms-length, independent agency, why is the minister intervening in decisions around the release of its results?"

Although standardized tests are supposed to help identify inequities in the education system, research has found that EQAO has not closed the achievement gap along racial and socioeconomic lines. Instead, EQAO assessments shift accountability from the government's chronic underfunding of public education to educators, placing blame where it should not be.

ETFO has long advocated against standardized testing in favour of educator-led assessment alternatives. Classroom-based assessments by educators support well-being and are the best source of information about student progress. Educators use their professional judgement to choose the most appropriate assessment methods to ensure meaningful information is gathered to improve student learning. This assessment process, by expert educators, tracks progress over time, ensuring that the whole child is honoured.

Genuine learning is driven by students' natural curiosity and educators' ability to harness it in the classroom. It is impossible for arbitrary and artificial tools like EQAO to measure and attach a meaningful number to the quality of students' original thoughts and personal growth.