NationStates Jolt Archive

I know this will mean NOTHING to most of you, however to the small number of you people living in Ontario...

What's your opinion on the OSSLT? Is it a successful provincial initiative? Why? Sources?

I'm mostly asking because for an upcoming debate at my school =/, the topic is "The OSSLT is a successful provincial initiative"... and I don't know which side I'm going to be on, so I'd like to get points for both =/.

Thanks.

I'm not convinced that a standardized literacy test is really very useful at all. Especially one like this... I mean, you take the test, and the only information you get back is whether you passed or failed. That's bullshit. If someone has a literacy problem and performs badly on the test, shouldn't he get feedback from the test so he can see (And so can his teachers) where the problem might lie? The test offers no real remedy for those who have problems; if they fail the test... they have to re-take it. How does that help? Nevermind the mind-numbing simplicity of the test; if you can pass an English or History course, you should be able to pass the literacy test, so why even bother? There's no improvement caused by it, the results of the are not acted on in any useful way that I'm aware of, and the amount of effort that goes into making them out and keeping them secure (The answers were posted on the internet a couple years back) just simply isn't worthwhile.
(I was one of those who took the test the first year it was implemented.... bullshit.)

fortunately, i was just ahead of the double cohort so i didn't have to take such a pointless test.

i think it's stupid... i mean, if someone can't read, how the hell would they pass highschool in the first place. if anything, you should test the kids as they're learning to read to make sure that they're reading and find out where they're having problems instead of giving them a test long after you're stopped teaching them basic literacy.