The Foundation Skills Assessment (FSA) is an annual province-wide assessment of all B.C. students’ academic skills in grades 4 and 7, and provides parents, teachers, schools, school districts and the Ministry of Education with important information on how well students are progressing in the foundation skills of Reading, Writing, and Numeracy.
The Foundation Skills Assessment is only one of many indicators of how a child is doing in relation to skills, competencies and content embedded in B.C.’s transformed curriculum that now as of the 2019-20 school year is fully implemented from K-12, with the most important measures being those described on your child’s report card. The FSA provides a snapshot of student achievement at a specific point in time. The FSA will include written and online tests. Multiple choice questions for numeracy and reading will be online and held in the school computer lab with the written component completed in the classroom.
The Ministry of Education expects all children in Grades 4 & 7 to write the FSA, and exceptions are only approved under the following:
- Students who learn in a manner significantly different from provincial curricular standards, and that is documented in their Individualized Learning Plan (IEP).
- English Language Learners who are not yet proficient in reading, writing, or numeracy in the English Language.
- Students experiencing extenuating circumstances, for example a family emergency or lengthy illness.
School principals will determine which students may be excused from participating in the FSA based upon the criteria above. If you have any questions, please let speak with your school principal.
For more information on Foundation Skills Assessments, please use the following link to lead you to the B.C. Ministry of Education website.