The Ontario Curriculum Documents: a Focus on Accountability
In Ontario, the Ministry of Education has delineated expectations by grade and by subject, (the "whats"). Each curriculum guide (with the exception of The Kindergarten Program) also has an Achievement Level page to assist the teacher to determine how well the student understands a particular concept, communicates and applies that understanding and uses the related thinking skills. Expectations should be interpreted to address both product and process.
In the classroom, students and teachers are developing rubrics, checklists, observation guides, etc. to help them understand the expectations of quality work. Again, primary teachers must consider Vygotsky's Zone of Proximal Development, and with the student and parents, try to set realistic expectations for the student.
The Ontario Curriculum - Exemplars - Grades 1-8: Writing, 1999.
These writing tasks are examples of a teacher-controlled activity where learning to write by focussing on elements of writing is emphasized. The primary level writing tasks used for the exemplars are descriptive, narrative and letter writing. Story planners are used in all the activities and since this is a part of the Grade 3 Assessment, we owe it to our students to demonstrate their use. In many cases, it is more developmentally appropriate to use story planners in the context of modelled and shared writing. Moreover, it is important to remember that in addition to descriptive, narrative and letter writing, primary students also engage in, either independently or in a supportive context, writing that is expressive, informative, persuasive and poetic.
Provincial Assessment and Curriculum
The present provincial tests in language and mathematics at the end of the primary division
attempt to use a performance-based philosophy, by designing learning tasks associated with a common theme. Teachers, unable to assist students in customary ways, provide scaffolding by ensuring that their own units of study incorporate similar tasks to those of the provincial tests. However, teachers continue to provide a balanced and wide range of learning activities over the school year rather than practising a selected few for the test. Accommodation for developmental, emotional and intellectual differences among the students is an ongoing concern.
In interpreting the results of the testing, teachers consider several factors:
• the study units may not based on the children's interests and experiences;
• the attempts to standardize the testing conditions may seem unnatural and even inhibiting in the primary environment;
• assessment within a short period of time does not give as accurate a picture as assessment collected over time;
• the classroom program may need to be assessed;
• the teacher questionnaire gives good direction for effective program strategies.
