ABSTRACT
Since 1976, each spring, as the earth prepares to renew itself, Grades 4, 7, and 10 teachers across British Columbia, Canada, have been required to administer the Foundational Skills Assessment (FSA) in their classrooms. Currently, the FSA is one of a number of mandated assessments, initiated either locally or provincially, that tie into the Accountability Contracts between the ministry of education and the school districts and provide direction for the development of School Improvement Plans (British Columbia Ministry of Education, 2002). Over time, the FSA, if not the entire superstructure of accountability, has become a sore spot in the relations between teachers and the government. The government defends the FSA on the grounds that it provides useful information about student achievement in reading, writing, and math, while teachers argue that it provides at best a fragment of a snapshot of these programs and as such is a waste of time and money. The debate on the FSA drones on, usually spilling over into the airwaves and providing political theater for talk-show audiences.
