During Times of COVID-19: Reporting and Representing Refugees in PISA and Education Quality and Accountability Office Assessments

• In Event: Migrants, Refugees in an International Context

Abstract

This paper examines the recent pandemic and magnification of educational inequities for refugee students. It examines the representation of refugee students in current literature in the context of large scale assessment data both nationally (PISA) and internationally (EQAO); and highlights how refugees are included (e.g., defined and categorized) in these assessments, how data sets accurately represent refugee populations (e.g., exclusion criteria), and the impacts of such exclusion (e.g. school programming or resource support allocation). The results expose the wide exclusion of refugee students from these examinations resulting in underrepresentation within data that ultimately: (a) informs systemic improvement planning and resource allocation; (b) informs teacher practice and programming; (c) assess students and impact course or graduation outcomes.

Authors

• Jennifer L. Hancock Montgomery, University of Toronto

• Jo-Anna Pluchino, University of Toronto

• Divij Chuttoorgoon, OISE/University of Toronto

• Neelofar Ahmed, University of Toronto