Teacher-based reactivity to provincial large-scale assessment in Canada

Centralized testing is an integral part of public school education in many countries around the world. Policy-makers often have high expectations that accountability-based evaluation will inspire teachers and students to perform their best. Using the ten provinces of Canada as examples, this study examined if teachers do react to these large-scale tests, and in what ways. Results showed that teachers are quite reactive to assessment data across all the provinces, although the degree and types of instructional changes differed. More generally accepted instructional changes are correlated to positive attitudes about testing, the sharing of data, division-level supports, perceived pressure, and age. Teaching to the test, which denotes less generally accepted instructional practices, is more common and correlated with the return of more kinds of data, perceived pressure on teachers, and teaching at higher grade levels.