Ontario court declares math proficiency test 'unconstitutional'

The Ontario Math Proficiency Test has been declared "unconstitutional" Friday by the Ontario Divisional Court, due to concerns about it being racially biased.

The test in question has been administered to prospective teachers in the province of Ontario, as part of their ongoing certification process.

The court has ruled that the Ontario College of Teachers shall grant certification to teacher candidates who have not yet passed the math proficiency test but who have otherwise met all other teacher certification requirements.

According to the Ontario Teachers' Federation (OTF), the court found that the test "had an adverse impact on entry to the teaching profession for racialized teacher candidates and other reasonable alternatives should have been implemented."

"OTF applauds the efforts of the Ontario Teacher Candidates’ Council (OTCC) for pursuing this successful legal challenge," stated OTF president Chris Crowley.

"There is no research to suggest that a standardized test would improve student outcomes or enhance teacher pedagogy. Ontario has some of the best educated teachers in the world and this decision reinforces their professionalism."

The full 37-page court decision has been posted online and can be found here.

"Ontario teachers union very excited that its members won't have to know math. Another great day for Ontario students," tweeted Quillette editor Jon Kay.

Previously, even the math curriculum in Ontario has come under criticism from "woke" critics, who have called the subject  itself "Eurocentric," claiming that it "normalizes racism." The grade 9 curriculum for Ontario's math program was found in July to depict math as a subjective method that reinforces "Eurocentric mathematical knowledge," per the Ontario government's website.