The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

erustees review samples fromn standa rdized religion test By Tim Foran METROLAND WEST MEDIA GROUP standardized te Grade 7 studeni with a pilot laut it What's the best way to measure the effec- The boards tiveness of a religion class without trying to experts bas pro Spin a number to a student's faith? the test, which S That was the question discussed recently year. Sby Halton Catholic school board trustees The first pat during a review of sample questions for a and matching mi ::0k Seig yond Numlioers VfleSoaabîe Rate - Check IS First! I V 1111%Satisation Sufaranteedl st that will be rolled out to ts across the region beginning rsch at some schools May 12. srorking group of curriculum posed a two-part structure to aras mandated by trustees lat -ts, standard multiple choice question sections, would * Corporation # USA & Estate Laurier Medical Building e 6-497 Laurier Ave. (at Ontario St. S.) 905-875-3726 e Head Office: 1-866-829-9433 Mississauga wwwtaxwids. com assess knowledge of basic terminology and biblical. stories. Sample questions reviewed by trustees included asking of which Jewish holiday was the Last Supper a part, and matching the correct definition to the word 'incarnation.' The second parts would consist of written responses to, a text. The sample article reviewed by trustees was a 2007 newspaper article about Hamilton teenager and Ontario junior Citizen of the Year Maddison Babineau. Suffering from a rare formn of bone cancer, Babineau passed up on an offer of a trip to Disneyland or shopping spree from the Children's Wish Foundation, instead asking for assistance in her fundraising efforts to build a school for poverty stricken children in Africa. Babineau died a few months after the article ran. The first sample question asks students to describe how Babineaus life was a sacrifice in the Christian sense of the word. The second asks them to compare Babineaus story to that of an individual in the Bible, and to organize their thoughts under three sub- headings. It was this open answer part of the assess- ment that elicited concern from Oakville trustee Anthony Danko, who said asking for subjective responses to a newspaper article seemed to be measuning faith, something trustees bave clearly stated shouldn't be the purpose of the standardized test. "Our position has been quite clear tbat we don't see that (measuring faith) as a goal or see that as a possibility," Director of Education Michael Pautler responded to Danko. The assessment practice in Ontario does- n't only test knowledge, but also looks at application of knowledge and critical think- ing, Rick MacDonald, the boards superin- tendent of curriculum services, said later on. One of the objectives of the boards Grade 7 religion curriculum is to allow students to reflect on the compontents of the Apostles Creed and apply these to their daily experi- ences, according to the boards website. Oakville Student Trustee Chelsea Gray took the opposite position of Danko. The St. Thomas Aquinas high school stu- dent questioned the multiple choice and matching questions portion of the test, which she felt to be designed for "textbook Catholica" radier tban those who put their knowledge into action. Danko also expressed concern the sample questions were not specific to the Catholic faith, but were simply about Christianity He noted the boards vision describes itself as a "distinctively Catholic" model learning com- munity "We believe in seripture and tradi- tion, flot just scnipture. I No final decisions were made by trustees during the review of the sample assessment. An update, taking into account the opinions expressed by trustees, will corne forward in the future before the test is administered. A list of sample questions can be found at www.hcdsb.org/news/2010%2001/100119ful L.pdf. Tim Foran can be reached at tforan@milton- canadianchampion.com. CIILDR!NIS FITNE$Sl TAX CREDIT A non-refundable tax oredit of Up to *7510h11d.