Why to bother? It is only a leak after all…

Yes… it is only a leak, yet a leak that will cost $1M to Canadian taxpayers… I am not sure they would be happy about this, provided that they would know of course. Unless someone lives in the Ottawa area, chances are they never heard about this leak… I actually did not!  Thanks to two former students of mine who informed me a few days ago… I do not recall having heard about this story on the news. And if they talked about it, it was not «à la une» as the «scandale des commandites» a couple of years ago.

Would it be that $1M is considered to be small change by the  Federal Government?… well… in the present economic recession, I would say that such a waste of money is rather ill-advised… $1M could certainly be spent on much more important things.

On May 16,  The Ottawa Citizen published a very interesting article on the costly leak… I have to say that I could not believe the attitude of «je m’en foutisme» that I felt throughout my reading. Not on the journalist’s part of course… he only wrote what the Public Service Commission’s president gave him to chew on.

 Besides the casual tone, I thought the whole story was quite confusing (or confused?… read the article and decide for yourself!). Apparently the contents of the reading comprehension and written expression tests were available to public servants who attended the same language school in Ottawa between 2006 and 2008. The Commission officials were told about the practice and actual tests similarities by someone who had taken the test in September 2007… I admit I have a problem with the choice of words here… are we talking about similarities or about same contents? Because all of the test samples public servants practice with on Campus Direct do have similarities with the actual tests… If an investigation were judged necessary and legal action against the school considered in that case, I assume we are talking about more than similarities, right?… Typical government speech!

In the article, it is written that both tests include 65 multiple-choice questions and candidates have 90 minutes to complete each of them… which is true now! Before October 2007, the written expression test included 55 multiple-choice questions and candidates were given 60 minutes to complete it… then, between October 2007 and June 2008, there was a new version including 80 multiple-choice questions and candidates had 110 minutes to complete it… Because of the high rate of failure, the PSC came up with a 65 question version in June 2008 and time was reduced to 90 minutes.

Therefore are we talking about similarities between the two (and possibly three) versions of the written test… or only the 55 question version?… Practice tests for the 80 question version arrived some time in the Spring of 2008 and there were only 2 paper samples… I remember when Dave practiced with Campus Direct before his test (last June): there were no samples online at the time… only 16 samples of the 55 question version. It is only in January of this year that we found out that there were four samples online (of which the two paper ones)… and, as far as I know, there are no samples of the 65 question version! And, most likely, there will be none since a new test is supposed to replace the present one some time this summer.

Are you confused now?… well… join the club! At the end of the article, there are excerpts from both the practice and the actual tests: those are identical though they talk about striking similarities!… Obviously this question comes from either the 80 question version or the 65 question version because this type of question was not part of the 55 question version.

I am pondering on the problem at hand here… if people who were tested between 2006 and 2008 had written expression tests presenting similarities with the actual ones to practice with, it is to say that they had access to the actual tests! Even Campus Direct did not have any samples of the 80 question version at the time… Even more, people had no clues until they actually wrote the test!… They were still practicing with the older version…

What conclusion would you draw?… Personally, I am convinced that the leak came from someone working in the PSC… it is impossible for a candidate to exit the exam room with the tests! And no one can remember exactly between 120 and 145 multiple-choice questions!… And if someone can perform such an exploit, their name should be in the world records for best memory!!!

Yet, because there are some 1,200 language-testers within the PSC, any of them could have leaked the test so… there is no reason for further investigation… That decision of pushing the ugly side of this story under the carpet is beyond me!… So good for accountability and transparency!

Of course, that language school’s  managers were not very bright… I cannot believe that they thought they could get away with it… although, out of 114 students who got an exemption at both tests, only one spoke! Can we blame the public servants who decided to keep silent on this «vice de procédure»?… Taking the SLE tests every five years is quite a chore!… Getting an exemption was certainly comforting! Of course, they did not gain anything since they will have to be re-tested… In fairness towards the thousands of other civil servants who have to take those tests, I think it is the right thing to do… I do not pity them at all!

My problem is rather with the PSC officials… Since the usual rate of Anglophones getting an exemption tends to be about eight per cent, when you have 90% of 114 individuals getting an E in both reading comprehension and written expression, one would think that it is a red flag! Especially when knowing that all of those public servants attended the same school… Apparently no one saw any flaws there! I would be curious to know what were their levels in oral expression!… I am sure they did not get an exemption!… Another reason for being suspicious…

One investigation (but not in their own office), $1M , four new tests and 114 invalid exemptions later; everything is back to business as usual… Am I surprised? Not a bit…

I just heard from Luna in Montreal… her results came in and she is really mad… after having led her in the fourth part of the test, they gave her an A… not without having had her languished for more than a week though! I know how she feels right now… it is like swallowing a bone (I know because I feel exactly the same way)… she will need a couple of days before she calms down and is ready to move on… too bad we cannot listen to her tape the way it was possible to a year ago… it would tell me exactly where they think the booboo is… then I would work on it… but, with the new policies in force, we can no longer listen to candidates’ tapes… Oh well… it is what it is and no one has the power to change anything… for now anyways…

“L’homme est plus dur que le fer, plus solide que le roc et plus fragile qu’une rose”

Proverbe turc