Madness

 It is that time of year again – no, not New Year or end of semester.  It is FSA madness time again.  Teachers know the tests are a waste of classroom time, often invalid, and frequently stressful for students. 

We have been frustrated by this district’s insistence on having all students write and their apparent disregard for parent’s request that their child be withdrawn from the FSAs.   It would be easy for us to decide to let the issue be resolved at the provincial level, and during the last election, that seemed it might be possible. However, no agreement has been reached to assess students provincially in a random manner – a method to ensure the Ministry get the information it needs regarding students/curriculum.  Many districts respect parent requests – Vancouver students do not have to write the FSAs, for example.  Their Board has realized that the FSA test does little more than indicate social status, and has very little to do with the individual student’s abilities or needs.

We have been told that tests will happen at schools in this District from Jan 13 to Feb 21.  The BCTF has asked us once again to take a stand on the FSA testing madness.  We will be placing an ad in the paper advising parents to withdraw their child from the test.  We will be providing each grade 4 and grade 7 teacher with an envelope containing the same advice.  Teachers can choose to send the envelope home or not.  We will also advise teachers that should a parent want to withdraw their child and the parent lets the teacher know the principal is not allowing the withdrawal, the parent’s concern should go to the District Parent Advisory Committee.  (This committee often provides assistance when parents have concerns or conflicts at school.)