Education Quality and Accountability Office (EQAO)

EQAO is an arm’s length government agency that contributes to the quality and accountability of Ontario’s publicly funded education system for K-12. Their provincial tests assess students’ literacy (reading and writing) and math skills at key points in their education. Their personalized reports help support individual student learning and provide school boards with detailed reports about their students’ achievement, as well as contextual, attitudinal and behavioural information from questionnaires. These data are used to improve school programming and classroom instruction. EQAO also has an active research program that investigates factors that influence student achievement, school effectiveness and best assessment practices. The Assessment of Reading, Writing and Mathematics is done for students in grade 3, grade 6, and grade 9. They also provide the Ontario Secondary School Literacy Test (OSSLT), which measures whether students are meeting the minimum standard for literacy across al