As predicted, math scores measured through standardized testing were dismal across both London-area school boards, echoing provincial results.
As predicted, math scores measured through standardized testing were dismal across both London-area school boards, echoing provincial results.
But high school literacy assessment results were a promising highlight, according to regional data released Thursday.
By far the most troubling scores were in Grade 9 math where students in both the Thames Valley and London District Catholic school boards fell below provincial average in which 52 per cent of Ontario students met the provincial testing standard last year.
In Thames Valley, 45 per cent of Grade 9 students met the standard, while in the London District Catholic board 43 per cent met the standard.
“Traditionally math has been an area where we need to focus our attention,” said Mark Santandrea, a superintendent with the London District Catholic board.
Scores from the 2018-19 school year, the last time the results were measured, were 23 per cent higher – and 75 per cent of Grade 9s achieved the standard.
However, due to changes to standardized testing during the pandemic, the numbers can only be used as a reference point.
More than 600,000 students across the province completed the Education Quality and Accountability Office (EQAO) assessments at the elementary and secondary levels during the 2021–22 school year.
EQAO tests assess how well Ontario students are doing in reading, writing and math skills. The results are to be used to help improve student achievement.
Santandrea called the results “a snap shot of data.”
“It’s one piece of information we have as schools,” he said. “We will use that data now in terms of planning and moving forward.”
Also disappointing were Grade 6 math scores, with a provincial average of 47 per cent of pupils meeting the standard. Students in Thames Valley schools were slightly below the provincial average 44 per cent meeting the standard while 48 per cent of London District Catholic students met the standard.
The best news were scores for high school literacy, that showed 81 per cent of students in the London District Catholic board and 76 per cent of Thames Valley students met the provincial standard, while the provincial average was 82 per cent.
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Three-quarters of Thames Valley District School Board students passed the literacy exam on their first attempt, representing a five-year historic high for the board, education director Mark Fisher said.
“These results show that our board’s dedication to student achievement is paying off,” he said. “In spite of the learning challenges posed by the pandemic, Thames Valley students are graduating at historically high rates.
“There is still work to be done, but our improvements in student achievement are worth celebrating.”
Kelly Gallagher-Mackay, a professor and researcher in educational inequality at Wilfrid Laurier University, said the numbers come in the wake of a two-year global pandemic, where Ontario students endured 28 weeks of interrupted learning, longer than any other province or territory.
She had hoped for data much sooner in order to understand how students’ learning was affected by the pandemic.
“These EQAO results are the first large scale data we have gotten from Ontario education authorities about what students know and can do since before the pandemic,” she said. “We should have had more information about kids’ learning and well-being sooner.”
There also was a change in assessment – students now use an online model and were provided with sample tests to familiarize them with the digital model – as well as changes in the math curriculum.
“It is hard to compare pre-pandemic results because of two main factors. First, surprisingly, EQAO changed all the assessments right when the government changed, and so we don’t know if we are measuring apples to apples,” Gallagher-Mackay said. “Second, many, many students, school boards and teachers opted out of the assessments last year relative to normal years.”