Both the local public and Catholic school boards EQAO results are hovering around the provincial mark, however it is evident some work needs to be done in mathematics.
The Education Quality and Accountability Office released the school, board and provincial results for the 2012-2013 Grade 3 and 6 assessments for reading, writing and mathematics.
The Lambton-Kent District School Board and St. Clair Catholic District School Board were below the provincial averages in math, with 61% of Grade 3 students from the public board and 62% of Grade 3 students in the Catholic board meeting the provincial standards. Across Ontario, 67% of Grade 3s met the mark.
Provincially for Grade 6s in mathematics, 57% of students met the provincial standards. With the public board, 54% met the mark and 53% did so in the Catholic board.
“We need to do a better job in math,” said Jim Costello, director of education for the public board. “We have already been emphasizing it in our summer meetings. A lot of teachers took time away from their summer breaks to attend them.”
Costello said math is an essential skill students need as they grow.
“Even though a lot of the devices we have today do math for you, it is still important to gather these math skills,” he said. “To do banking, or investing or to understand your mortgage, you need it wherever you go.”
Deb Crawford, superintendent of education for the Catholic board, said teachers have some work to do in math as well.
“We’ve already been focusing on mathematics in our classrooms, but we see that there are some areas with greater need to focus on,” she said. “Pedagogy, as well as content knowledge, our goal is to have our students have a deeper understanding of mathematical concepts.”
With reading and writing, the local boards are right on par with the provincial averages.
Costello said the EQAO results are a strong indicator for student success, and they go towards shaping their board and school improvement plans.
“Each school is on its own journey,” he said. “We don’t compare school-to-school in our board. But we encourage our principals to looks at the data and look for ways for to improve.”
Crawford said it’s valuable to look at the trends that take place over time.
“We can identify any areas of need that we need to address and celebrate the gains we are making.”
To find results school-by-school, and board-by-board, log onto eqao.com.
