EQAO

Conference
December 4 and 5, 2006

For the past 10 years, the Education Quality and Accountability Office (EQAO) has been making an important contribution to Ontario's education system by measuring students' achievement in reading, writing and mathematics against the provincial curriculum standard.

EQAO's conference, Large-Scale Assessment: Supporting the Everyday Work of Schools, is bringing together key experts in large-scale assessment and leaders in Ontario's education system.

We invite you to experience this event via webcast and learn more about current thinking, innovation and best practices in this field.

We're very interested to know what you think of this webcast. Once you've viewed a session, please click on "Feedback" and share your thoughts with us.

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Our distinguished speakers are local, national and international leaders in the field of large-scale assessment. They include:
Additional Materials

Keynote Speakers
[Download] PDF


Resources

  • Working Together for Student Success
    [Download] PDF
  • Highlights of Provincial Results
    [Download] PDF
  • Ensuring Quality Assessments
    [Download] PDF
  • Success Stories for Improving Literacy
    [Download] PDF
  • EQAO Guide to School and Board Improvement Planning
    [Download] PDF
Monday, December 4, 2006
  • Marguerite Jackson, Chief Executive Officer, EQAO
    Conference Opening Address
 9:00 a.m.–9:15 a.m.
  • John Wright, Senior Vice-President and Managing Director of Canadian Public Affairs, Ipsos-Reid
    The Touchstones of Context

    Ensuring greater accountability and better quality in Ontario's publicly funded school system through testing is something that a large majority of Ontarians have supported for more than a decade. But in what context should we place these linear expressions of evaluation, so that they will help us interpret the "why", and not just the "what"? John Wright will tell us why context is important, why popular trends are deceiving, and what we should really be looking for when we want to understand what measures up today and what doesn't.
 9:15 a.m.–10:30 a.m.
  • Dr. Charles Pascal, Chair of the Board of Directors, EQAO
    Feedback: The Breakfast of Champions

    The key to learning - any learning - is the manner in which feedback is generated and used. EQAO's large-scale assessments of foundational reading, writing and mathematics skills generate important feedback about how students across this province are learning. And when this assessment feedback is used over time, along with other information collected by teachers in classrooms, it drives a culture of evidence-based decision-making and becomes a catalyst for improvements at all levels of Ontario's public education system. This cycle of learning is, in turn, reflected in increased student success in all three of these important skills.
 12:40 p.m.–1:00 p.m.
  • Dr. Mark Reckase, Professor of Measurement and Quantitative Methods, Michigan University
    Two Eyes Are Better Than One

    Dr. Reckase will discuss the conflicts that arise from differing views of the role of assessment, and suggest ways to reconcile those views. One view considers assessment to be a feedback tool, which determines strengths and weaknesses and guides instruction. A second view considers assessment's role as reporting the level of students' proficiency to the Ontario public. Building on each view can result in a better education system.
 1:15 p.m.–2:30 p.m.
Tuesday, December 5, 2006
  • Dr. Lorna M. Earl, Director of Aporia Consulting Ltd., Member, EQAO Board of Directors
    Making Large-Scale Assessment Work for Learning: Looking Forward

    Through this conference, EQAO hopes to build on the past and imagine some possibilities for the future. In this session, Lorna Earl will serve as a raconteur, pulling together the themes, possibilities and challenges that have emerged from the conference. She'll also suggest a number of ways in which Large-Scale Assessment supports the everyday work of schools and creates conditions for learning for all students.
10:30 a.m.–11:45 a.m.
  • Marguerite Jackson, Chief Executive Officer, EQAO
    Conference Closing Address
 11:50 a.m.–12:00 p.m.

We are excited about this opportunity to broaden our ongoing discussion about large-scale assessment, its benefits and its applications. We hope that you will join us online, and share your thoughts with us afterwards.

- French-language webcast -