• đź’­ What Teachers Believe

    • The Foundation Skills Assessment (FSA) is not useful for students, families, or teachers.

    • Teachers already use a wide range of meaningful assessments — both formal and informal — to measure student progress and meet individual learning needs.

    • Ongoing classroom assessment allows teachers to adapt lessons and lets students demonstrate learning in many different ways.

    • The FSA does not reflect the diverse learning needs of students in B.C. schools.

    • It is not a reliable measure of an individual child’s progress — and was never designed for that purpose.

    • Teachers believe in better, fairer models of provincial assessment that protect student data and actually support learning.

    đź“š What the Research Says

    Research shows that effective classroom assessment, not standardized testing, best supports meaningful learning.

    • Large-scale testing can actually get in the way of authentic learning.

    • Students often focus on “What’s on the test?” instead of developing a deep understanding of the subject.

    • Many students start to believe they “can’t succeed” and disengage from learning altogether.

    • Teachers end up spending more time “teaching to the test” than nurturing real curiosity and comprehension.

    ✊ What You Can Do

    • Parents have a choice. You can ask your school principal to withdraw your child from the FSA. The Ministry of Education and Child Care has guidelines for exemptions — including a withdrawal form available at bctf.ca/fsa.

    • Talk to your child’s teacher about how they assess learning every day — through projects, conversations, and personalized feedback.

    • Join the conversation with other parents about the impact of standardized testing and how we can better support authentic learning for all students.

    đź’¬ A Thought to Remember

    “Sometimes, the most brilliant and intelligent minds do not shine in standardized tests because they do not have standardized minds.”
    — Diane Ravitch, Education Historian & Policy Analyst

    🧭 The Bottom Line

    Standardized tests like the FSA don’t tell the full story of student learning. They measure a moment, not a journey.


    Teachers believe in assessment that inspires growth, not stress — and in classrooms where every student’s unique strengths can shine.