School board in Mississauga, Brampton cancels Grade 9 math testing

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Published January 19, 2022 at 8:12 pm

Mississauga and Brampton teens who are taking Grade 9 math in the Peel District School Board will not have to write the EQAO provincial exam.

On Wednesday night (Jan. 19), Wards 9 & 10 trustee Nokha Dahroub wrote a tweet saying that PDSB will “cancel #EQAO (Education Quality and Accountability Office) Math testing for grade 9 students enrolled in Math during Semester 1.”

Dahroub added, “This is certainly in the best interest of students.”

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, Ontario tested grade 3, 6 and 9 students on math proficiency every year, and a Grade 10 literacy test was also a requirement to receive a secondary school diploma. The requirements were waived during the 2020-21 school year. The literacy test requirement has been waived for students who are graduating in 2022, although some school boards have conducted it.

A new Grade 9 math curriculum was introduced for this school year as educators and pupils entered what has become a third consecutive year with disrupted learning. COVID-19 restrictions have also dictated that learning formats have been in flux.

Most recently, students had eight days of remote learning due to Ontario returning to a ‘modified Stage 2’ in its reopening. Schools in PDSB and the Dufferin-Peel Catholic School Board only returned to in-person learning on Jan. 19, more than one month after the end of pre-Christmas classes.

The provincial government can ultimately decide to waive the EQAO Grade 9 math test or Grade 10 literacy test requirement for a cohort (one grade) of students who have suffered from education loss. Just this week, the Waterloo Region public board wrote to the province asking for EQAO testing to be suspended for this year, saying students have had sufficient stress already due to the pandemic.

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