Ajax parents raise concerns over fairness of gifted assessment after final section cut short

A group of Ajax parents has raised concerns about the fairness of the CCAT7 gifted assessment, saying students received about half the allocated time for the final section.

According to the parents, the assessment ran over three days, with three sections each day and ten minutes per section. On the third day, after Sections 7 and 8, the teacher administering the assessment announced that the test was over and asked a student to collect the pencils. When another student pointed out that Section 9 had not been completed, students were told to return their pencils and continue — but by then, the parents say, about five minutes had been lost, leaving roughly five minutes instead of ten for the final section. Several students left five to seven questions unanswered or rushed through them, the parents say.

The parents say the teacher initially indicated students would be given an additional five minutes, but the next morning said she believed students had received the full ten minutes.

The parents have submitted a formal collective complaint, asking for an independent investigation, a chance for affected students to complete the final section with the full allocated time under proper supervision, assurance that no student will be disadvantaged in gifted-program eligibility, an explanation of why the additional time was withdrawn, and written findings and corrective action.

No students or parents are named in this story.