“THE FIRST YEAR, THEY CRIED” - HOW TEACHERS ADDRESS TEST STRESS

Oct 15, 2026

Grade 3 teachers in Ontario administer the Primary Assessment of Reading, Writing and Mathematics, and this study examines how four teachers framed and addressed the test stress experienced by some students. Using Schön’s frame metaphor, the analysis contrasts teachers’ views of the problem—students’ perceptions, preparation, teacher attitudes, and the developmental appropriateness of administration instructions—with policy makers’ focus on the test as a confidence-building solution. Teachers’ strategies varied depending on their framing and their belief about strictly following test instructions.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages14

Reading Time35 min

AccessFree to download

Frame Analysis

“A Test is Born”

EQAO, Assessment Design, and Administration Instructions

“THE FIRST YEAR, THEY CRIED”: HOW TEACHERS ADDRESS TEST STRESS* Ruth A. Childs and Lina Fung, OISE, University of Toronto Grade 3 teachers in Ontario must administer the Primary Assessment of Reading, Writing and Mathematics to their students. In this study, we analyze how four teachers framed and addressed the problem of the stress some of their students experienced when sitting the test. The teachers framed the problem in different ways: as related to students‟ perceptions ofthe test, students‟ preparation for the test, teachers ‟ attitudes about the test, or the developmental appropriateness of the test administration instructions. Their approaches to addressing the problem were related to how they framed the problem and whether they believed the test administration instructions must be strictly followed. We believe it is important for educational policy makers and test developers to understand the problem of test stress and to engage teachers in finding ways to address it. For three days each May, Grade 3 teachers in Ontario administer the Primary Assessment of Reading, Writing and Mathematics to their students. In this article, we use Schön‟s (1983) metaphor of frames or frameworks to investigate the genesis of the test and how four teachers understand and address the problem of test stress for their students. We contrast policy makers‟ focus on the test as a solution to the problem of low public confidence in publicly-funded education with the teachers‟ focus on the problem of stress caused by the test. * Based in part on a paper presented at the annual meeting of the International Test Commission, Liverpool, UK, July 2008 . We gratefully acknowledge the teachers who participated in this research and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada‟s support of this research. Thank you to Madison Aitken, Susan Elgie, Monique Herbert, Vesna Milenkovic, Anita Ram, Linda Umezawa, and Yunmei Xu for their contributions to the data collection and analysis. Frame Analysis In The Reflective Practitioner, Donald Schön (1983) describes how professionals define problems. In particular, the frame on which their understanding of a problem rests determines“the decision to be made, the ends to be achieved, the means which may be chosen”(p. 40) . The frame affects the professional‟s decisions. As Schön puts it,“their frames determine their strategies of attention and thereby set the directions in which they will try to change the situation, the values which will shape their practice”(p. 309) . In his 1994 book with Rein, Frame Reflection, Schön explores the effects of frames. If frames are the “underlying structures of belief, perception, and appreciation”(p. 23), then when individuals or groups frame the same problem differently, agreement on acceptable actions will be particularly difficult to reach. Comparing the frames that individuals or groups use for a problem can provide invaluable insights into the reasons for different decisions. Indeed, frame analysis and its variants have been applied to problems in a wide range of disciplines (Benford & Snow, 2000). However, that frames are rarely explicit makes the comparison of frames among individuals or groups especially difficult. Often, frames must be inferred from what individuals or groups say about their beliefs and perceptions or, when that fails, inferred from their decisions. ATest is Born In 1993, Ontario‟s Lieutenant Governor established a Royal Commission on Learning to answer, among other questions, How should students be evaluated?, How should student progress be reported?, How should schools and programs be evaluated?, and To whom should progress be reported and for what purpose? Nineteen months later, the Commission issued its report, titled “For the Love of Learning.” In that report, they recommended Ontario develop large-scale assessments, citing “the public‟s need for some measure of basic student achievement that is applied in th

FAQs

What is the main focus of the study about Grade 3 assessment stress?

The study analyzes how four Grade 3 teachers framed and addressed stress students experienced when sitting the Primary Assessment of Reading, Writing and Mathematics.

How does frame analysis help explain differences in teachers’ responses?

Using Schön’s metaphor, the study argues that different frames lead to different strategies and make it harder to agree on acceptable actions when the same problem is understood differently.

What aspects can teachers frame as the source of test stress?

Teachers framed test stress in several ways: it related to students’ perceptions of the test, their preparation, teachers’ attitudes about the test, or the developmental appropriateness of the administration instructions.

Oct 15, 2026

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