EQAO’s Assessments of Reading, Writing and Mathematics, Primary and Junior Divisions are curriculum-based standards-referenced large-scale assessments. They measure student learning of the knowledge and skills that are defined in the expectations in The Ontario Curriculum, Grades 1–8: Language (2023) and The Ontario Curriculum, Grades 1–8: Mathematics (2020).
For more details on the assessments, scoring, and the Individual Student Report refer to the Assessments of Reading, Writing and Mathematics, Primary Division Framework, and the Assessments of Reading, Writing and Mathematics, Junior Division Framework.
NOTE
Grade 3 and Grade 6 students do not have to complete the assessments at the same time. Teachers can administer the assessment to small or large groups of students or individual students in the same class at different times during the administration window.
Duration of sessions and stages
The table below illustrates the suggested allotted time for each operational session and stage of the assessments. Additional time can be provided to all students.
For the 2023-2024 assessment, the sessions of the language component contain operational questions which count toward a student’s final result. The sessions in the language component also contain field-test questions that are embedded in the assessment. These questions are not used in determining a student’s final result.
| LANGUAGE | MATHEMATICS |
|---|---|
| Session A – Reading 25 minutes | Stage 1 30 minutes |
| Session B – Writing 35 minutes | Stage 2 30 minutes |
| Session C – Reading 35 minutes | Stage 3 30 minutes |
| Session D – Reading or Writing 35 minutes | Stage 4 30 minutes |
IMPORTANT
Each session or stage must be completed in one continuous sitting. Supervised breaks are permitted during the administration of a session or stage. These may include water, stretch and washroom breaks.
Order of sessions and stages
Within the operational assessment, students must complete the language sessions in the order in which they are presented and the mathematics stages in the order in which they are presented. Teachers can interchange between the stages and sessions if they wish. For example, students can complete all the language sessions and then all the mathematics stages OR the sessions and stages interchanged in any order (e.g., Session A, Stage 1, Session B, Stage 2, Session C, Stage 3, Session D, Stage 4).
REMINDER
Students in a class do not need to complete the assessment in the same order.
Teachers can also choose to interchange between the sample test and operational assessment. For example, students can complete all language sessions in the sample test and operational assessment and then return to the sample test to complete all the mathematics stages in the sample test and operational assessment.
For these cases, the pause feature can be used to pause the operational assessment and return to the sample test. Refer to Switching between the sample test and operational assessment section for more information on this feature.
NOTE
Students in the same class can only access either the sample test OR the operational assessment at any one time.