The checklists

Tick when the child can do it independently, on unfamiliar text, without prompting.

Foundations — vocabulary and word structure

• Works out an unfamiliar word from context plus word parts, and can say which clue helped
• Breaks a long word into base, prefix and suffix and reads it (un-help-ful-ly)
• Explains what a familiar word means in this particular sentence, not in general
• Recognises that a known word can carry a different meaning in a new context

Foundations — grammar and punctuation in reading

• Identifies simple, compound and complex sentences
• Recognises possessive nouns, linking verbs, the progressive tense
• Recognises prepositions, interjections, interrogative adjectives and adverbs
• Uses quotation marks to work out who is speaking in a passage of dialogue
• Reads apostrophes in contractions without stumbling

Knowledge about texts

• Names whether a text is literary or informational, and says how they know
• Identifies text patterns — cause and effect, order of importance, sequence
• Identifies text features — headings, captions, indexes, bold words
• Explains why a feature helps the reader, not just that it is there
• Explains what an image, diagram or piece of visual design contributes
• Identifies whether a story is told in first or third person
• Notices word choice and sentence structure as deliberate decisions by a writer

Comprehension and thinking

• States the main idea of a text in one sentence
• Lists the important details in sequence without retelling everything
• Infers a character's feeling or motive that the text does not state
• Points to the words that support the inference, every time
• Makes a prediction and names the evidence behind it
• Adjusts a prediction when the text contradicts it
• Compares and contrasts two elements within one text
• Makes a connection to their own experience that answers the question asked

Stamina and format

• Reads a 450–500 word story and answers eleven questions on it without fading
• Reads a 200–250 word informational text and answers five questions on it
• Rereads a section to check an answer rather than relying on memory
• Uses the highlighter to mark evidence before answering

The open-response habit

• Answers the question that was asked, not the one they expected
• Gives specific support from the text, not "because it says so"
• Uses "which shows that…" — evidence and the connection, in one move
• Understands that restating the question is not an answer
• Writes something for every open-response question, even when unsure

The two rubrics, made concrete

• Produces a piece with one clear focus rather than several loosely related ideas
• Supports the main idea with specific detail, not general statement
• Sequences ideas so a reader can follow without effort
• Uses linking words — and knows that the right information in the right order also counts as organisation
• Finishes. The piece has an ending
• Writes at a length that can be completed and still checked

Form, purpose and audience

• Reads a prompt and identifies whether it wants a narrative, a persuasive or an informational piece
• Has written all three forms this year, more than once
• Names the audience and purpose before starting
• Matches register to audience without being told to

Voice and word choice

• Uses descriptive words and varied sentence patterns
• Expresses a thought, feeling or opinion in their own voice
• Chooses the interesting word rather than the safe one — understanding that a misspelled ambitious word costs less than a dull correct one

Conventions — remembering the standard is "does not distract"

• Writes sentences that are complete and can be followed
• Uses capitals for sentence starts, proper nouns, dialogue and words in titles
• Uses commas and quotation marks for direct speech
• Uses apostrophes for contractions
• Varies sentence type — not fourteen consecutive simple sentences
• Does not stop mid-draft to fix spelling

Process under time pressure

• Spends the first two minutes planning, not writing
• Knows roughly how much they can write well in the time available
• Revises — changes an idea, adds a sentence, replaces a word
• Edits afterwards as a separate job
• Reads the piece back, silently or under their breath, before submitting
• Knows a dictionary and thesaurus are permitted on this question, and has practised using one without losing time

Selected-response writing questions

• Chooses the sentence that is correctly punctuated
• Chooses the correctly spelled option
• Identifies the word class a sentence needs
• Chooses the sentence that best combines two shorter ones
• Identifies which sentence does not belong in a paragraph

Ordered by weight on the assessment. Items marked ⚠ are ones EQAO's own data flags as where students at Level 2 come apart.

Whole numbers

• Reads, writes and represents numbers to 1000 — including in words
• Reads numbers with a zero in the middle (407 is not forty-seven)
• Compares and orders three-digit numbers, including by dragging into position
• Rounds to the nearest ten and nearest hundred
• Counts by 50s, 100s and 200s
• Describes a number by place value in more than one way

Operations

• Adds and subtracts to 1000, with regrouping, reliably
• Fills in a missing digit in a column subtraction — knowing regrouping means adding ten to the top digit
• Recalls ×2, ×5, ×10 facts and their division facts instantly
• Represents multiplication to 10 × 10 with an array
• Chooses multiplication, not addition, when a situation says four times as many
• Chooses division, not subtraction, when a situation asks how many groups of five
• Sorts a mixed set of word problems into additive and multiplicative, and justifies each
• Explains why the written algorithm works, using base ten materials

Fractions

• Solves fair-share problems producing mixed numbers (9 pancakes among 6)
• Knows ⅛ is smaller than ⅓ — and can show it with something physical
• Recognises equivalence: halves/fourths/eighths, thirds/sixths, fifths/tenths
• Writes ¾ as ¼ + ¼ + ¼
• Uses ratios of 1 to 2, 1 to 5, 1 to 10 to scale up ("one large holds two small, so eight large hold…")

Money

• Calculates change from a whole-dollar payment
• Calculates change for amounts under a dollar
• Handles a two-step money problem: two purchases, then change from a larger payment
• Adds a set of coins to identify which picture shows a given amount — the step after the subtraction, and the one most often dropped

Geometry

• Counts faces, edges and vertices of cubes, prisms, pyramids, cylinders and cones accurately
• Uses those three words precisely, never "sides"
• Knows a pyramid is named for its base, and connects pentagon to five, hexagon to six
• Names everyday objects as their 3-D solids
• Identifies the 2-D shapes and 3-D objects inside a composed structure
• Determines whether two lengths, angles or faces are congruent

Location and movement

• Follows and gives multistep movement instructions on a grid
• Distinguishes clockwise from counterclockwise — reliably, under pressure
• Executes half- and quarter-turns
• Does not count the starting square as a move

Measurement

• Measures and constructs to a given perimeter
• Distinguishes perimeter from area — fence around versus grass inside
• Relates mm, cm, m and km, with benchmarks for each
• Tells time in hours, minutes and seconds on analog and digital clocks
• Measures area with non-standard units and explains why gaps and overlaps ruin it
• Uses cm² and m²
• Answers "how many more" area questions — not "how many are there"
• Finds the difference between two areas by counting square units in both
• Compares capacity in non-standard units; explains overfilling and underfilling
• Compares mass with a pan balance
• Understands that a different-sized unit changes the count, not the size

Patterns

• Identifies and extends repeating patterns
• Determines a pattern rule and applies it to every term, not just the next one
• Finds a rule when terms are missing — counting the gaps, not the numbers
• Handles shrinking patterns as fluently as growing ones
• Extends a growing shape pattern to a distant position (the 6th, the 10th)
• Translates one pattern between shapes, numbers and a table of values

Equations and inequalities

• Selects an expression equivalent to a given one (2 × 8 and 8 + 8)
• Does not confuse × with ÷, or an inverse with an equivalent
• Accepts that an equivalent expression may use subtraction (345 and 500 − 155)
• Uses a pan balance to reason about both sides of an equation
• Knows that = means the same as, not the answer comes next
• Describes how a variable is used

Coding

• Knows what a loop is, and can point to one in written code
• Reads repeat 3 times / add 5 correctly — and is not fooled by repeat 5 times / add 3
• Distinguishes sequential, concurrent and repeating events
• Alters existing code and predicts how the outcome changes
• Connects a loop to a repeating pattern — the same idea, new vocabulary

Data literacy

• Sorts by two and three attributes
• Reads a Venn diagram and identifies which region an item belongs in — including the only this, not that regions
• Reads Carroll and tree diagrams
• Builds and reads a frequency table
• Reads a pictograph key and multiplies — never counts symbols one-to-one
• Reads a bar graph with a scale other than one
• Notices the scale before answering
• Calculates the mean — "if everyone had the same, how much each?"
• Identifies the mode as the most frequent value, not the largest

Probability

• Uses impossible, unlikely, equally likely, likely, certain precisely
• Knows "likely" does not mean "possible" — places events on a continuum
• Assigns likelihoods to several outcomes of one spinner or one experiment
• Predicts from likelihood

Cross-cutting habits

• Identifies how many steps a question needs before starting — and checks they did them all
• Rereads the question after answering, to confirm it answers what was asked
• Uses paper for rough work rather than holding it all in their head
• Uses the calculator for arithmetic after deciding what to calculate
• Attempts every part of a multi-part question — partial credit is real
• Guesses rather than leaving a question blank

The cheapest marks in the whole assessment. None of this is mathematics or literacy; all of it is recoverable in two sessions with the sample test.

• Has completed the EQAO sample test — both language sessions and both mathematics stages
• Has completed it on the device they will use on the day
• Logs in using OEN, access code and last name without help
• Uses drag and drop confidently, including moving an item back out
• Uses drop-down menus
• Answers checklist questions — and understands these may need more than one selection
• Distinguishes single-selection from multiple-selection questions
• Uses the highlighter and the eraser
• Uses the line reader
• Uses zoom and high contrast if helpful
• Uses text-to-speech, including starting and stopping it
• Finds and uses the calculator in the mathematics component
• Knows the glossaries exist (useful for any student, not only French Immersion)
• Types a paragraph-length answer at a workable speed
• Navigates backwards to review answers before submitting
• Understands that Submit closes the session for good
• Has tried the built-in breathing exercise at least once, calmly, before it is needed
• Knows they may ask for paper, a ruler, an eraser and headphones
• (If applicable) has used their assistive technology inside the platform successfully

September to March — the whole point

• Teach the curriculum. This is the preparation, and EQAO says so
• Build multiplicative thinking deliberately from the autumn — sorting problems into additive and multiplicative is a fifteen-minute activity with outsized return
• Establish mathematical vocabulary early: a word wall for 3-D objects with their properties; probability language on a continuum
• Give evidence-based inference a routine — which words made you think that?, every time
• Write in all three forms — narrative, persuasive, informational — repeatedly
• Establish revising and editing as two different jobs
• Use the released questions as pre- and post-assessment on a topic, and to open discussion about wrong options

Six to eight weeks out

• Confirm the school's assessment dates and get them into the class routine
• Check technical readiness with the board IT contact — device configuration, bandwidth, allowed-list
• Confirm every student's accommodations and exemptions are recorded in the e-assessment system
• Request Alternative Version formats through the e-assessment system — EQAO's published guidance for the sample test is approximately three weeks ahead, so treat that as a floor, not a deadline, and ask your board assessment lead for the operational timeline
• Schedule the sample test as a class activity
• Send the information letter to families about approved accommodations or exemptions

Three to four weeks out

• Run the sample test — both components, on the real devices
• Test any assistive technology inside the platform
• Teach the review-before-submit habit explicitly
• Confirm student logins work
• Talk to the class about what the assessment is and is not — EQAO's student committee reports that positive discussion beforehand reduces nervousness
• Identify students likely to need extra time, breaks or an alternative setting

The week before

• Schedule sessions so no sitting is cut short by recess, an assembly or the bell
• Avoid scheduling near a break or at the end of the day
• Arrange the room: headphones, paper, pencils, erasers, rulers
• Confirm dictionaries and thesauruses are available for the writing open-response
• Remind families — sleep and breakfast, and nothing more
• Prepare a quiet alternative setting for anyone who needs it

On the day

• Unlock only the session or stage being completed
• Keep absent students' sessions locked
• Monitor the invigilation page throughout
• Give supervised water, stretch and washroom breaks as needed
• Remind students they can go back and check before submitting
• Ensure paper response sheets are completed before submission
• Lock any unlocked sessions at the end of the sitting — an unsubmitted session can otherwise be re-entered unsupervised
• Collect paper response sheets

Afterwards

• Report any issue affecting security, validity or reliability before requesting Individual Student Reports, and no later than the final day of the window
• Complete the Teacher Questionnaire
• Return to normal teaching. It is over

Deliberately short. Almost everything on the longer lists belongs to the school.

• Know the dates — ask, two or three weeks out
• Know it does not go on the report card and cannot be failed
• Ask whether your child has tried the sample test — it is also freely available on EQAO's website
• If your child has an IEP, confirm which accommodations will be used on the assessment
• Keep the week ordinary. No new routines, no revision timetable
• Sleep. It affects thinking more than anything you could do in the last fortnight
• Breakfast, and water
• Say out loud that extra time is allowed and that nobody is expected to finish first
• Read together, as you were already doing. It is the highest-value thing available to you
• Let them tell you it was hard without fixing it

Written to be read aloud to a class, or handed over as a page.

• Read the question twice. Most lost marks are misread questions, not unknown answers
• Watch for NOT and EXCEPT — they flip the whole meaning
• Ask yourself: how many steps does this need? Then check you did them all
• Look at the key on any graph, and the scale on any number line
• For "how many more" — the answer is the difference, not the total
• Use the paper. Rough work is allowed and it helps
• If you are stuck, skip it and come back. Blank is worse than a guess
• In multi-part questions, answer every part — parts count separately
• For written answers: give your evidence, then say what it shows
• Do not fix spelling while you are still writing. Fix it at the end
• Go back and check before you press Submit
• Take a breath if you need one. There is a button for it, and there is no rush
• Feeling nervous is normal. Nearly everybody does, and it passes