TORONTO -- The Toronto Catholic District School Board says that it won’t administer a new secondary school literacy test this spring, citing a desire not to put “undue pressure” on students amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
TCDSB Director of Education Dr. Brendan Browne announced the decision in a letter sent to parents on Friday.
He said that Ontario school boards were given the option to administer the new test to students in Grades 10 and 11 as part of a pilot project.
Browne, however, said that staff have concluded it is not in the best interest of students to do so this year, given the disruption that has been wrought by the pandemic.
“We recognize that the pandemic has presented varying challenges associated with mental health and anxiety among our students and school communities and we believe it is in the best interest of our students not to create further undue pressure as they work towards completion of the school year,” he said.
The decision by the TCDSB not to administer the standardized test this year comes one week after the Ontario Principal’s Council and the Catholic Principal’s Council of Ontario released a joint statement calling on the province to cancel the pilot for this year.
In his letter, Browne said that the board is focused on “maximizing classroom instruction time as much as possible to promote student success and wellbeing.”
He also said that administering the test may have led to “inequitable access” given the multiple learning streams – in-person, virtual – that currently exist.
“The decision not to administer the optional OSSLT is consistent with a number of school boards in Ontario,” he said.
The Toronto District School Board has not yet indicated whether it plans to go ahead with the test.
