(Blog 5) Stephanie Webster

            Chapter 5 in the text examined the role of the curriculum in our Education system in Canada. As I have stated in a previous blog, I think that it is really interesting that in Canada education is under provincial and territorial jurisdiction and therefore “each province and territory has its own ministry of education that has an official curriculum guide for teachers to follow”(p.123).  This means that the “subject content of courses and the grades at which certain topics are addressed vary widely”(p.133). For this reason I can see why large scale assessment can be useful to ensure that the curriculum is being followed. A term that was new to me and that I found interesting is teaching to the test, which “focuses on teaching materials similar to those found on upcoming assessment-rather than engaging in innovative pedagogical ways to deliver curriculum”(p. 144). I can certainly see why teachers may find themselves in this situation if they are under a lot of pressure from parents and the school administration. I feel that knowing that there is standardized testing coming up would limit your creativity in the classroom if you are feeling as if you have to rush through material to make sure that it all gets covered. I was surprised to read that Alberta “which has the most extensive assessment system in the country, also has the lowest percentage of high school graduates progressing into post secondary institutions”(p.144). This certainly makes it look as if large-scale assessment is not all that beneficial, but I am wondering if there are other factors that may be influencing this trend.

Discussion: Do you think that as a teacher you would feel pressure knowing that your students would be participating in large-scale testing? How would this affect your teaching?