A writer from the Fraser Institute extols the virtues of standardized testing as Saskatchewan is set to introduce the widespread practice next year.
Saskatchewan holds a dubious distinction — it’s the only province with no provincial standardized tests. Fortunately, it will soon relinquish that title.
Newly appointed Education Minister Everett Hindley recently announced that starting next school year, students in grades 5 and 9 will participate in annual standardized math assessments, while students in grades 4, 7 and 10 will write English language arts (ELA) assessments.
According to Hindley, these assessments will help schools get back to teaching the basics.
PISA equates a 20-point decline to one grade level, which means Saskatchewan students are now more than two grade levels behind in math and reading where they were 20 years ago. And Saskatchewan’s scores rank near the bottom among Canada provinces.
Unfortunately, the PISA tests are administered only once every three years to just one age cohort (15-year-olds). While this international assessment can be used to highlight general trends, PISA lacks the necessary precision to identify specific solutions in Saskatchewan schools.
That’s why provincial standardized testing is so valuable.
By having Saskatchewan students write standardized tests every year in the core subjects and at the same grade levels, the provincial government can track patterns and identify schools that are struggling.
This makes it possible to target additional training and support to schools that need help. Far from leaving underperforming schools behind, standardized testing makes it easier to help these schools improve.
In addition, it’s important to balance teacher autonomy with mandated academic standards set by the province.
Teacher-created assessment ensures teachers can account for individual student needs when designing and evaluating assignments, but standardized testing introduces an objective measurement tool that makes it possible to determine whether provincial curriculum standards have been met.
Simply put, both teacher-created tests and standardized tests are equally important tools used to assess student academic progress. Just as it would be a mistake to abolish all teacher-created tests, it’s also a mistake when a province chooses not to administer any standardized tests.
Both types of assessment are needed to provide a complete picture of how students are doing in school.
Of course, this is not the first time the Saskatchewan government has announced a plan to implement standardized testing. Back in 2013, then-education minister Russ Marchuk stated his intention to have all grades 4 to 12 students write annual standardized tests in math, science, ELA and social studies.
Unfortunately, Marchuk and his government faced an onslaught of criticism from the education establishment.
Professors wrote letters decrying standardized testing for its alleged bias against minority students, while the Saskatchewan Teachers’ Federation said standardized tests would undermine teacher autonomy. In the face of this pressure, the government kiboshed the plan.
To ensure the same thing doesn’t happen in 2025, Minister Hindley must forcefully rebut the usual arguments made against standardized testing.
For example, instead of conceding that standardized tests are biased, Hindley should go on the offensive and explain why standardized tests are less biased than teacher-created tests.
As for the argument that standardized tests undermine teacher autonomy, Hindley can correctly note that standardized tools are used in a variety of professions, from medicine to law.
No one seriously thinks that standardized eye charts undermine an optometrist’s ability to do a proper eye exam, nor is the professionalism of judges thrown into doubt when they rely on established case precedents in their rulings.
Another longstanding argument is that standardized testing encourages teachers to “teach to the test.”
Michael Zwaagstra is a public high school teacher and a senior fellow at the Fraser Institute.
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