I’m going to spare you the bulk of my ranting about standardized testing. It’s a complete waste of class time when teachers already don’t have nearly enough instructional hours to get through the curriculum and it’s not representative of how schools have assessed learning and teaching for at least a decade. And I’ll stop there. 

If you’d like to know more, here’s what the provincial government has to say about Foundation Skills Assessments (FSAs), and here’s what the teachers union has to say about them. 

What really irks me is not the squandered hours – I’m not the least bit concerned about The Clairebarian’s academic opportunities and success – but a note from the North Vancouver School District that, unlike past years, parents were not allowed to opt their children out of writing them. Like the majority of kids in our min-maxed schools, Claire’s in a split class, meaning there’s no inconvenience at all to anyone if she doesn’t sit the test, which is not part of the school curriculum. At least, that’s what I would have presented to the administration of her school had they bothered to reply to my multiple outreaches. 

This necessitated a financial decision, and I think resulted in a strong learning opportunity, which is why I’m inclined to share our experience. The most convenient, and least expensive, path forward would have been to simply show up regardless of feelings about the FSAs. The negative of that path is that choosing to go along with something I don’t agree with out of personal convenience is not really a lesson I want to impart. 

So, in October, I booked off a few mornings and instead of writing tests Claire laced two bicycle wheels, edited all of the photos for my first look piece on Nukeproof’s Scout hardtail, visited her Gramma, and spent time drawing and reading. It was wonderful. It honestly makes me feel we should skip school more often. 

And I thought I’d put this out there now for my friends here in BC who have children going into Grade 4 or Grade 7 in the next couple of years. If you’re all for FSAs or don’t give a shit either way, then all the power to you. But if you’re concerned about testing anxiety or simply don’t want to support the collection of data that’s used for a variety of things other than improving public schools, or at least curious enough to read up on it, then here’s your prompt to make alternative plans for the days in question. 

If you need help with those spoke calculations drop me an e-mail. 

Cheers,