Students who successfully completed the Ontario Secondary School Literacy Test (OSSLT) online last week might still need to write it again in the spring.
But the Lambton Kent District School Board is trying to make sure that students who wrote it and passed, won't need to.
EQAO cancelled the online test last Thursday after an apparent cyberattack, but a number of students at the LKDSB were still able to complete the test despite province-wide technical issues.
LKDSB Director of Education Jim Costello says the students who finished it deserve to know how they did, so the board is asking the EQAO to assess the completed work and report the results back to the school board.
"I think it's very unfair to students if they don't hear how they did," says Costello. "I think that in terms of the ethics of assessment, that when you complete a test of any sort that you're entitled to feedback -- and we know from research that feedback is best delivered promptly."
Costello knows this is a stressful test for a lot of students -- especially because you're now required to pass the OSSLT in order to graduate.
"Because of that and the high stakes nature of it, I think it's even more important that they hear how they did," says Costello. "For those who submitted and passed it successfully, that's something they don't have to worry about for the rest of their high school career."
Costello says a number of schools in the Greater Toronto Area and the Niagara region were also able to complete the test online. He expects they will also be requesting that their results be reported back.