Professional Responsibilities for Private Schools

This section describes the professional responsibilities that must be adhered to by all individuals involved in the administration of the OSSLT.

EQAO relies on school administrators in partnership with teachers to ensure all EQAO assessments are administered in accordance with EQAO policies and administration guidelines. The responsibilities of school administrators and all individuals involved in the assessments are outlined in the Professional Responsibilities, which are available in the user guide and are listed below. This section covers information about professional responsibilities for public schools.
The Professional Responsibilities must be attested to in the e-assessment system and followed by all individuals involved in the administration of the test. If a breach of the Professional Responsibilities occurs, the EQAO will investigate. If the results of an investigation determine that the breach impacted the reliability and/or validity of the results, student and/or school results may be withheld from reporting.

Responsibilities of School Administrators

This section outlines the key professional responsibilities of school administrators for the administration of the Assessments of Reading, Writing and Mathematics, Primary and Junior Divisions, the Grade 9 Assessment of Mathematics and the Ontario Secondary School Literacy Test (OSSLT).

School administrators are responsible for ensuring that

• they and the teachers and invigilators administering the assessments, as well as scribes, school staff or any person performing activities related to the administration of the assessment, have read and will adhere to the guidelines and instructions in this user guide.
• they access the EQAO webinars and self-guided modules.
• they and the teachers, invigilators, school staff, scribes or any person performing activities related to the administration of the assessment have received training for both administering the assessment and using the e-assessment system prior to administering the assessments.
• all technical requirements have been reviewed, agreed to and implemented as required by EQAO.
• complete and accurate information for each student eligible to participate in the assessments, including those writing with accommodations or a special provision, as well as those identified as English language learners, is provided to EQAO through the e-assessment system.
• student accommodations are consistent with the permitted accommodations in this user guide.
• the schedule, locations and any other assessment details are determined prior to the start of the administration of the assessment and permit each student to work independently of every other student and comply with the EQAO requirements set out in this user guide.
• there is no deviation from EQAO guidelines and instructions without explicit written direction from EQAO.
• any breach or suspected breach of security of the assessment is reported to EQAO immediately.
• students are aware that if a response to a question on an assessment or questionnaire is deemed offensive, the school administrator may be notified.
• all student data is validated in the system after the completion of the administration of the assessments.

Responsibilities of All Individuals Involved in the Administration of the Assessment

This section outlines the key professional responsibilities of all individuals involved in the administration of the assessments, including school administrators and teachers, before, during and after the administration of the Assessments of Reading, Writing and Mathematics, Primary and Junior Divisions, the Grade 9 Assessment of Mathematics and the Ontario Secondary School Literacy Test (OSSLT).

Before, during and after the assessment:

All individuals involved in activities related to the assessments (e.g., students taking the assessments; teachers, invigilators, school staff, scribes or any person performing activities related to the administration of the assessment) must not, in whole or in part, copy, save, reproduce, distribute, publish or post to the Internet (including social media), or anywhere else, any assessment materials, including but not limited to photographs of the assessments or descriptions of the assessments’ content (including but not limited to questions, instructions, images and examples).

Before the administration of the assessments:

• Assessment questions and passages must not be accessed prior to the administration of the first assessment session.
• Only individuals involved in the administration of the assessment may have access to the computers or devices on which the assessment will be taken.

During and after the administration of the assessments:

• Only individuals directly involved in the administration of an assessment (e.g., teachers, invigilators, school staff, scribes or any person performing activities related to the administration of the assessment) may enter the assessment room and may have access to the computers or devices on which the assessment will be taken.
• Scribes may have access to the student’s assessment and the e-assessment system only during the administration of the assessment.
• Students must be supervised at all times during the administration of the assessment. This includes students with accommodations and students who are permitted additional time to complete the assessment.
• Prior to, during or after the administration of the assessments, no one may use information from the assessment to provide instruction on any concept or item being tested.
• During the assessment, no one may explain, define, translate or provide examples of reading vocabulary or writing terminology to students, including those with accommodations.
• During the assessment, nothing may be said or done to influence student responses. At no point during or after the assessment may anything be said or done to encourage or influence students to alter or revise their responses.
• No cellphones, audio- or video-recording devices, or e-mail or text-messaging devices are allowed into the assessment room. Exceptions may apply in accordance with EQAO guidelines.
• No one may read, review or correct student work during the administration of the assessment. This includes copying, rewriting, editing or altering student work in any way.
• Each session must be completed in one continuous sitting. A session may not be interrupted by lunch or by any other school programming. A session may include water, stretch and washroom breaks.
• Any circumstances that may affect the scoring of student work or may have affected the validity of any student performance (e.g., a discussion between two students during the assessment) must be documented and reported to EQAO through the mechanisms outlined in this user guide.
• Teachers are responsible for ensuring that responses that were scribed are entered into the e-assessment system.
  • Responses to primary- or junior-division open-response language items on paper must be scanned and uploaded to the e-assessment system using the steps outlined in this user guide.
  • Responses to large-print primary- or junior-division open-response language items must be transcribed in the e-assessment system (not scanned) using the steps outlined in this user guide.