Eighty-four per cent of parents of school-aged children in Canada support standardized testing to understand how their child and their child's school are performing in reading, writing and mathematics, according to a new Leger poll commissioned for the Fraser Institute, an independent, non-partisan Canadian public policy think-tank.
"Parents in Canada overwhelmingly support standardized testing as a way of fairly and objectively measuring their child's academic progress and the education their child is receiving, despite ongoing efforts by some groups to diminish or even eliminate testing," said Paige MacPherson, associate director of education policy at the Fraser Institute and author of Strong Parental Support for Standardized Testing across Canada.
The poll surveyed 1,204 parents of school-aged children (ages 5-17) enrolled in public and independent schools across Canada. It finds that overall support for standardized testing amongst parents was 84 per cent, with 44 per cent of parents strongly supporting standardized testing. Only 4 per cent strongly opposed it.
Nationwide, support was highest among parents who were new to Canada, with 92 per cent of immigrant parents supporting testing.
"Advocacy opposing standardized testing long pre-dates the COVID-19 pandemic, especially in provinces such as Ontario and B.C.," said MacPherson.
"It is important for government policymakers and educators to understand how strongly parents value and support standardized testing for their children and their children's schools, so that the provinces' testing is prioritized and improved moving forward."
