Deal lets teachers send anti-test pamphlets home with students; Compromise over controversial FSA exams avoids arbitration

from the Vancouver Sun, Tue Dec 22 2009 (Westcoast News), Janet Steffenhagen

A campaign against standardized tests in B.C. public schools is expected to intensify in January as a result of a deal between the B.C. Teachers' Federation and school employers that allows teachers to send three union pamphlets home with students and hand them to parents on school grounds.

The agreement marks a surprising compromise between two parties that have been feuding for years over what union materials teachers are allowed to distribute. That battle heats up around this time of the year in the lead-up to the annual Foundation Skills Assessment (FSA), which tests Grade 4 and 7 students in reading, writing and math.

Those tests are scheduled for Jan. 18 to Feb. 26.

"Common sense prevailed," BCTF vice-president Susan Lambert said of the deal with the B.C. Public School Employers' Association. The deal lasts for one year and effectively ends eight union grievances against districts that had tried recently to stop teachers from disseminating BCTF materials because of alleged inaccuracies.

"I think the process of going to fruitless arbitration and losing . . . over and over again was too costly for them," she added.

The employers' association, which represents boards of education in labour matters, described the agreement as a practical solution to eliminate conflict in districts and end the grievances. "It's an attempt to formalize what the rules are," said chief executive officer Hugh Finlayson, noting there have been many years of litigation over the issue.

Approved for distribution are pamphlets titled What Parents Need to Know, What Parents Need to Know: Foundation Skills Assessment (FSA) and Testing? You Bet. Teachers will now decide if they want to distribute them or send them home with students in the required sealed envelopes.

The pamphlets argue that standardized tests force teachers to narrow instruction and "teach to the test," cause anxiety for students and do little to improve achievement. But the main reason the union objects to the FSA is because the results are used by the Fraser Institute every year to rank elementary schools.

The Education Ministry insists the tests are not optional. But the BCTF campaign has drawn down participation rates in recent years -- especially in Vancouver, where one in three students did not write the FSA last year.

The BCTF plans to extend its anti-FSA message in early 2010 with newspaper and radio advertisements in Punjabi, Cantonese and Mandarin for the first time in order to reach ethnic groups that are believed to be more supportive of standardized tests.

Arbitrators have ruled that teachers have a right to engage in political discussions with parents on educational issues. Lambert said they also have a responsibility to inform parents of their professional concerns about testing.

The BCTF is calling for a two-year moratorium on the FSA and provincial exams to allow stakeholders to discuss better ways of assessment and accountability.