Education Minister Paul Calandra says he will release standardized testing results next week, after holding them back from publication to study them.
Education Quality and Accountability Office (EQAO) results are generally published sometime toward the end of September and offer a snapshot of numeracy and literacy in the province.
Calandra, however, has held back the publication, saying he needed to understand the impact across the province rather than simply posting them and moving on.
On Monday, the minister said he would release those results next week and would not “apologize” for how he had handled them.
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“I am releasing them this week to the school boards, as is typical, under embargo, and more broadly we’ll release them next week,” Calandra said. “I wanted to take a really deep dive on what we’re seeing.”
He said he may consider changes to how the tests are administered in Ontario, but isn’t planning to eliminate them entirely.
“First and foremost, I wanted to look at the results,” he said. “The people of Ontario pay a lot of money for this standardized testing.”
Calandra suggested his desire to do a “very deep dive” into the results meant he hadn’t released them when they typically go out.
Opposition politicians have said Calandra should be able to release the results as well, claiming the delay is to reduce the impact of potentially poor scores.
NDP Leader Marit Stiles says there is a place for the research EQAO does, but she believes it is being politicized by the Progressive Conservative government.
Ontario Liberal Leader John Fraser said there was no reason not to release them on time and then study the results.
“The test was taken, kids worked hard at it, teachers worked to get the kids ready, parents worked hard,” he said. “We can walk and chew gum. They can get the test results, and the minister can look at them.”
— With a file from The Canadian Press
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