As February approaches, some students in B.C. are preparing to observe Groundhog Day, and some - Grade 4 and 7 students - are preparing to write the Foundational Skills Assessment test.

It is fitting that these two events should occur in the same month: The predictions of a woodchuck may be as valid as the results of the FSA.

Superstition is fun when predicting the weather, but not for evaluating scholastic achievement. It is time for the Ministry of Education to develop a fresh approach and put an end to the same old debates and arguments.

The current exam has been administered since 2000, and according to the Ministry of Education's website, the objective is to provide a "snapshot of how well B.C. students are learning foundation skills in reading comprehension, writing and numeracy."

The ministry also claims that the assessment is meant to help the province make plans to improve student achievement.

Since its inception, concerns regarding the FSA have been voiced by the B.C. Teachers' Federation. These concerns have gained momentum and support over the past few years.

Perhaps the most controversial issue in the FSA debate has been the involvement of the Fraser Institute, a private, nongovernmental organization, which ranks the schools based on student FSA performance.

In 2008, the BCTF launched a campaign looking for parent support to boycott the FSA, and has continued with the campaign this year. This approach has successfully undermined participation levels to the point that in some districts fewer than 50 per cent of eligible exam writers take the exam.

This means the data collected from the FSA cannot sufficiently provide direction to the province or school districts for areas of improvement.

A new dimension to this debate was added last year when the B.C. Principals' and Vice-Principals' Association called for the education minister to abandon FSAs. This was an interesting twist of events as the principals' group and the teachers' federation have not always agreed in many policy areas.

Their agreement regarding the FSA strengthened the opposition to the FSAs.

Is it not time for the province to rethink the FSAs? To consider other options that would achieve the outcomes the province wants in terms of accountability, and also respect the issues raised by the BCTF and the BCPVPA?

Perhaps we could consider conducting the FSA testing every two years using random sampling.

This option would maintain continuity and be cost effective, since current assessment materials could be retained.

By assessing only a random sample rather than all Grades 4 and 7, outcomes could be reported without focusing on individual schools.

This would effectively end the Fraser Institute's controversial and dubious report card on school performance.

If we don't change the current approach, we are doomed to perpetuate the same arguments, political positioning and undermining, all of which simply render the current FSA results useless and needlessly controversial.

Shailoo Bedi, a librarian at the University of Victoria, is a PhD student in the curriculum and instruction department at UVic's Faculty of Education.