More Windsor-Essex Catholic students met EQAO standard compared to provincial average

More students enrolled in Catholic schools in Windsor-Essex met the Education Quality and Accountability Office (EQAO)standard compared to elsewhere in the province.

For all nine categories reading, writing and math in junior and primary levels, grade 9 mathematics and the Ontario Secondary School Literacy Test (OSSLT) the percentage of students who met the standard were higher than the provincial average.

The Windsor-Essex Catholic District School Board says the top performing school in the board this past school year is St. John the Baptist Catholic Elementary School.

How many achieving provincial average?

Year-to-year, however, results aren't all looking up.

The percentage of students in 2017-18 who met or exceeded the provincial average dropped in all categories.

The greatest drop was in junior mathematics by seven percentage points, where only 54 per cent of students met the provincial standard this past school year compared to 61 per cent in 2016-17.

There was a five-point drop in the percentage of students meeting the provincial average for primary reading, writing and mathematics.

Compared to the 2014-15 school year, students did improve in some categories, but the board says the decrease in math scores isconcerning.

The board says while students have been improving in primary and junior reading over the last three years, there were decreases in math scores.

"I'm certain our administrators will work closely with our staff to determine if there's any need to reconsider our teaching methods, and that our students will continue to perform at a very high level," said chair of the board Barb Holland in a news release.

She said the trends over the last four years show an upward trajectory for students meeting the provincial standard for mathematics and the board "fully expected" there to be year-to-year fluctuations.

Part of how administrators are working with teachers is to do school-by-school data analysis and identify specific areas where students are struggling in order to determine the best course of action for teachers, according to Emelda Byrne, executive superintendent of education.

Byrne also mentions the province's latest announcement to focus on fundamentals of math in schools was "welcome news and could have a positive impact on next year's assessment results."

How does the public board compare?

Compared to the last school year, the Greater Essex County District School Board saw increases in reading and writing for Grades 3 and 6 tests.

However, the percentage of students who met the standard fell by one percentage point for Grade 6 mathematics while it stayed the same for Grade 3 mathematics.

When compared to the provincial average, the public board did not perform as well as the Catholic schools.

The percentage of students who met the standard is lower than the provincial average for all primary and junior categories and for students who were successful writing the OSSLT on their first try.

However, while fewer students in Catholic schools met the standard in Grade 9 mathematics compared to the last school year both academic and applied the public board saw a 10-percentage-point increase in applied mathematics and it stayed the same for academic mathematics.

A higher percentage of students in the public board also met the standard in Grade 9 mathematics compared to the provincial average.