The Honourable Janet Ecker
Minister of Education
Ministry of Education
22^nd Floor, Mowat Block
900 Bay Street
Toronto ON  M7A 1L2

Dear Ms. Ecker:

Thank you for your letter of November 10, 1999 in which you seek the advice of the College of Teachers on how to implement a program for teacher testing.

As you are aware, the College Council considered your letter at its meeting of November 18-19, 1999. As a result of its deliberations, Council directed the Executive to create an ad hoc committee of the Council to study and report to the Executive and to the Council on the issues raised by you. During the Council meeting, both elected and appointed members expressed concern that the advice sought by you could not be provided by December 31, 1999 as requested in your letter.

The ad hoc committee, composed of four appointed and five elected members of Council, held an initial meeting on November 26^th. As part of its agenda, considerable attention was devoted to the establishment of a realistic timeframe during which the issues raised by you could be considered and a consultation process involving the stakeholders identified by you could take place. As you can see from the enclosed, the timeframe approved by the ad hoc committee does not allow the College to provide you with advice by December 31^st. What the timeframe does do is recognize the complexity of the issues outlined by you and ensures that the advice provided by the College is thoroughly researched, is the result of meaningful consultation, and is realistic with regard to the expenditure of human and financial resources. I know that you believe as I do that, to be credible, any advice provided to you about such a major program must be complete, accurate, and reliable.

I do hope that you will be pleased with the willingness of the College to share its research findings on an ongoing basis with members of the College, with the education stakeholders identified by you, and with Ministry of Education staff. This commitment to an open and transparent process is further highlighted by all aspects of the consultation process. Members of the College, stakeholders and other education partners will be encouraged to provide written material as early as possible in the process. There will be also a structured consultation process in February and March. Finally, the willingness of the College to expedite the process is evidenced by the scheduling of special meetings of both the Executive Committee and the College Council.

On behalf of the College, I will provide regular updates to you as we move through this important process of developing the very best advice that the College has to offer related to the teacher testing program identified by the government.

Yours truly,


Donna Marie Kennedy
Chair