MACMILLAN Decolonizing Educational Assessment: Ontario Elementary Students and the EQAO

This book examines the history of standardized testing in Ontario leading to the current context and its impact on racialized identities, particularly on Grade 3 students, parents, and educators. Using a theoretical argument supplemented with statistical trends, the author illuminates how EQAO tests are culturally and racially biased and promote a Eurocentric curriculum and way of life privileging white students and those from higher socio-economic status. This book spurs readers to further question the use of EQAO standardized testing and challenges us to consider alternative models which serve the needs of all students.  Review   Review “There is no question that we will always want to know how well our students are doing in school, but are standardized tests the way to find out? Through this work, using his experiences as a student and teacher, Eizadirad invites us to seriously consider the relevance and impact of EQAO as an assessment tool especially for Grade 3 students. His insights and recommendations are important if we are to make the assessment process responsive to the various needs and expectations of our culturally diverse student population.” (Carl E. James, Jean Augustine Chair in Education, Community, and Diaspora, York University, Canada)  “Eizadirad provides both a powerful and convincing indictment of standardized testing, revealing the ways in which tests serve as ideological weapons of accountability and social reproduction, and the means by which educational officials weaponize such tests, rendering the test-taking process more detrimental, especially for racialized communities of twenty-first century learners. This study is an important contribution to the literature on testing, offering decolonizing pedagogical approaches that directly challenge the structural violence within our school system and the wider social relations in which such violence is embedded.” (Peter McLaren, Distinguished Professor in Critical Studies, Attallah College of Educational Studies at Chapman University, USA)  “This book is a must read for school educators, field practitioners and policy makers. Bringing students and parents’ voices to the contested debate on the effectiveness of standardised testing, Eizadirad offers a solid critique of evaluation procedures and assessment measures of schools in Ontario, pointing readers to the challenges and possibilities of the educational futurity for contemporary learners.” (George J. Sefa Dei, Professor of Social Justice Education and Director of Centre for Integrative Anti-Racism Studies, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE) at the University of Toronto, Canada)  “In this book, Eizadirad illustrates how, across international contexts, high-stakes testing and the systems of accountability built around them consistently serve to not only control teaching and learning, but also as a tool of colonization, racism, and white supremacy that undermines the education of minoritized students.” (Wayne Au, Professor of Educational Studies, University of Washington Bothell, USA)  Review   From the Back Cover This book examines the history of standardized testing in Ontario leading to the current context and its impact on racialized identities, particularly on Grade 3 students, parents, and educators. Using a theoretical argument supplemented with statistical trends, the author illuminates how EQAO tests are culturally and racially biased and promote a Eurocentric curriculum and way of life privileging white students and those from higher socio-economic status. This book spurs readers to further question the use of EQAO standardized testing and challenges us to consider alternative models which serve the needs of all students.  About the Author Ardavan Eizadirad holds a PhD from the Department of Curriculum, Teaching, and Learning at Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE) at the Un