Mandatory screening of elementary students holds no value for children and is actually harmful to them, suggests data from a recent ATA study.
In early 2025, the ATA surveyed more than 1,400 elementary teachers on a number of topics, including the mandatory numeracy and literacy screening that took place in the fall of 2024.
A large majority of study respondents, 73 per cent, reported that the testing had a negative impact on students’ emotional well-being due to high levels of anxiety and stress their students experienced.
“Students crying, having panic attacks, hitting themselves—declaring that they are stupid,” is how one respondent summarized their students’ experiences with the screening tests.
“Timed tests have brought my Grade 1 and 2 classes to tears,” wrote another study participant. “They are stressed and crack under pressure.”
Study participants felt that negative impacts were most pronounced among vulnerable students, such as those who were English-language learners (ELLs) and those exhibiting other exceptionalities.
“ELL learners that are benchmark 1–3 often get emotional because they do not understand English and feel lost,” wrote one study participant.
“For students with complexities, these assessments are stressful and disheartening. It feels impossible and unfair,” wrote another.
Developmentally inappropriate
Another common complaint, expressed by 71 per cent of respondents, was that the screeners were developmentally inappropriate because they tested students on concepts that they hadn’t yet learned or were too young to comprehend.
“Some of the questions are asking about the number 205. [Students] barely know the number 10. Not fair,” noted one respondent.
“The numeracy test especially is absolutely ridiculous and age-inappropriate,” reported another teacher. “I had seven Grade 1 students crying because they were ‘not smart’ and couldn’t do it.”
The study included a random sample of 1,400 teachers, a robust sample size that suggests the results are representative of elementary teachers provincewide, said study author Phil McRae, the ATA’s associate coordinator of research.
“When I hear a teacher say my students are crying, having panic attacks, hitting themselves, declaring that they’re stupid, who wants a mandatory test to do that? Nobody,” McRae said.
Low value
Furthermore, 75 per cent of study participants reported that repeating the tests throughout the year has no value for student learning.
“I find that the mark the students go in with for testing is exactly the same coming out. It’s a waste of time,” wrote one respondent.
“The tests do not accurately assess most students,” wrote another.
McRae said results of the study have been shared with Alberta Education in the hope of prompting significant change going forward. ❚
In their own words
Comments submitted by study respondents.
“Students feel judged based on these scores and use them to rank themselves.”
“We work hard to build up student confidence, then we force them to write tests on outcomes they haven’t fully covered, and any confidence we have built is destroyed.”
“Students who do poorly have poor self-worth when it is not their fault.”
The full ATA pulse survey report is available online.
