Christy Clark is a lively talk-show host, no doubt about it . . . especially when she turns her attention to education, a subject she knows well given her experience as education minister.
I missed her Friday show on CKNW when she interviewed Susan Lambert, vice-president of the B.C. Teachers' Federation (BCTF), about the Foundation Skills Assessment (FSA). She challenged Lambert to produce evidence to back the union's claim that standardized tests have damaged the B.C. education system. The tests have been around for 10 years, but B.C. students continue to perform well in national and international tests, Clark noted.
Lambert wasn't able to point to results showing diminished performance but said science teachers and teacher-librarians have produced evidence that standardized tests are" wreaking havoc" on schools. Furthermore, she said students might be doing even better on international tests, if not for those FSAs...
