The following is a statement from the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario (ETFO) President David Mastin in response to Education Minister Paul Calandra withholding Education Quality & Accountability Office (EQAO) results, which are typically released at the end of September:

“The Minister’s decision to delay the release of EQAO results offers a long-overdue opportunity for the government to acknowledge what educators and researchers have been saying for years: EQAO is a flawed tool that does not accurately reflect student learning and achievement.

For decades, provincial governments have leaned on large-scale standards-based testing as the primary measure of student success. This narrow approach oversimplifies learning, dismisses well-being, ignores classroom realities, and overlooks the diverse skills, growth, and accomplishments that occur daily in Ontario schools.

At a time when class sizes are growing and supports are shrinking (even as student needs increase), reducing success to a narrow set of test scores is not only misleading, it is demoralizing. It dismisses the challenges faced by English language learners, students with special education needs, and those living in poverty, whose progress and achievements should not be reduced to a number on a spreadsheet.

The most accurate and meaningful assessments come from teachers themselves. Classroom-based assessments capture the full breadth of student learning in ways that EQAO results never can.

Instead of doubling down on an assessment system that has repeatedly failed to demonstrate or improve student learning, this delay should be used to reconsider EQAO’s value. Ontario needs evaluation practices rooted in equity, guided by classroom teachers, and reflective of real learning.

ETFO calls on Education Minister Paul Calandra to use this delay to eliminate the narrow and ineffective testing system that EQAO is. Students and families deserve better.”

ETFO represents approximately 84,000 members, including public elementary teachers, occasional teachers, designated early childhood educators, education support personnel, and professional support personnel. Visit BuildingBetterSchools.ca.