by Brad Salzberg

CAP

July 7, 2022

The Toronto District School Board (TDSB), Canada’s largest, has stated it intends to “decolonize” assessment practices during the forthcoming school year.

A document obtained by True North News claims that decolonization of student assessments, equity anti-oppression and anti-racism are at the core of student learning and achievement.”

Associate director of student well-being Andrew Gold told teachers that during the next school year, final exams will only be part of a collection of course-end evaluations:

“Final exams are not meant to be the sole and/or predominant method of evaluation experienced by students,” said Gold.

According to the mandate, the nature of the transformation is rooted in something described as “tenets of culturally responsive pedagogy and decolonization” to identify alternative methods to evaluate students beyond traditional exams. Away from the academic spotlight can be found disturbing historical precedents for the behaviour of the TDSB.

The history of communist China evokes parallels with the state of public education in Canada. In specific terms, we speak of the Cultural Revolution, socio-political movement spanning from 1966 until Chairman Mao Tse Tung’s death in 1976.

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