The Ministry of Education announced this week that the grade nine EQAO math assessments would be a local decision and that each board would have to decide if they could administer those tests.
Avon Maitland Superintendent of Education Jane Morris said the Avon Maitland Board decided they could not.
“We're not able to administer because not only are the Grade 9 OSSTF teachers not able to administer, but so are the support staff unable to assist with that, none of them were able to support students with the administration of the test.”
She said that includes all of their educational assistants, secretarial staff, technical and IT support so it was decided not to try and administer the tests without teachers and support staff.
“Students still need to complete what's called a culminating assessment, some kind of a final assessment, a final exam, or something like that. So those schools should be communicating directly to families to let them know what they need to do to finish up their course.”
Morris said the course ends at the end of January and the testing is expected to take place sometime during the last two weeks of the course.
