Results for local Ontario students who took part in the Education Quality and Accountability Office (EQAO) mathematics and languages tests and the Ontario Secondary School Literacy Test (OSSLT) were released on September 26. The results paint an accurate picture of how the province’s students are performing academically in the years after the COVID-19 lockdowns.
Upper Canada District School Board
The Upper Canada District School Board (UCDSB) reported on September 27 an overall increase in student performance in all areas of the assessments, including student achievement in Grade 3, 6, and 9 mathematics and Grade 3 and 6 reading and writing skills. However, when examining the schools in the area, the numbers do not quite line up with the board’s overall average.
Laggan Public School held varying changes in student scores. For Grade 3 students, mathematics decreased to 71 per cent achieving provincial standards, down from 86.7 in the 2022-2023 school year. Reading scores dropped from 100 to 92 per cent and writing from 93.1 to 88 per cent.
Grade 6 Laggan Public students witnessed an increase in mathematics scores from 55.6 per cent in 2022-2023 up to 60 per cent this year. Reading scores barely changed at 92 per cent down from 92.6, while writing decreased from 96.3 to 92 per cent.
Maxville Public School did not have any results available for the 2023-2024 Grade 3 scores, including the previous EQAO tests in 2022-2023. Grade 6 results for the 2023-2024 school year were also unavailable at the time of writing. Previous scores for Grade 6 students in 2022-2023 were held at 36.4 per cent in mathematics, 84.6 in reading, and 61.5 in writing.
Pleasant Corners Public School displayed increases in student comprehension for Grade 3 students in the 2023-2024 school year. Mathematics rose to 50 per cent from 45, reading to 79 from 70, and writing to 74 from 65 per cent the previous year. Grade 6 scores unfortunately showed the opposite. Mathematics dropped significantly from 43.5 in 2022-2023 to 23 per cent this year. Reading dropped from 84.8 to 78 per cent, and writing from 82.6 to 63 per cent over the same period.
Vankleek Hill Collegiate Institute showed a relative increase in their OSSLT success rate, with a rise to 81 per cent from 2022-2023 numbers at 76 per cent. Grade 9 mathematics dropped to 38.5 from 49.2 per cent the previous year.
Lastly, Glengarry District High School demonstrated a noticeable increase from 2022-2023 levels in the OSSLT when students were averaging a 67 per cent success rate on the literacy test, now up to 83 per cent. In Grade 9 mathematics, the 2023-2024 numbers show a 68 per cent success rate for students who participated, a generous rise from 49.2 per cent in the 2022-2023 school year.
The Director of Education for the UCDSB, Ron Ferguson, stated in a September 27 press release, “We acknowledge that we have some work to do, but the progress we’ve seen just since last school year is amazing. We are absolutely committed to continued improvements.”
Catholic District School Board of Eastern Ontario
The Catholic District School Board of Eastern Ontario (CDSBEO) demonstrated overall declines in student scores at all levels, excluding the Grade 9 mathematics test and the OSSLT. Mathematics scores for Grade 3 students dropped to 51.2 per cent from 54.3 the previous year, reading from 70.1 to 67 per cent, and writing from 63.5 to 58.7 per cent. Grade 6 mathematics scores declined a bit to 42.4 per cent from 44 the previous year, reading from 85.4 to 79.5 per cent, and writing from 83.4 to 77 per cent.
On the positive side, the CDSBEO students demonstrated improvements in Grade 9 mathematics, up from 41.7 per cent in 2022-2023 to 43 per cent this year. OSSLT success rates also increased slightly to 86.1 from 84.1 per cent.
Local statistics highlight that St. Jude Catholic School demonstrated an increase in performance, where students in Grades 3 and 6 had overall increases across measured data.
Grade 3 students at St. Jude scored a 41 per cent success rate for mathematics, an increase from the 2022-2023 school year at 31.3 per cent. In literacy, Grade 3 students again showed improvements with reading success at 69 per cent, up from 43.8 per cent the previous year, and writing skills increasing to 44 per cent from 37.5 per cent. For Grade 6 students, improvements were also seen in mathematics where scores increased slightly from 31 per cent to 33 per cent. Reading scores rose to 88 per cent from 82.8 and writing from 82.8 to 88 per cent.
St. Finnan’s Catholic School held some contrasting statistics, with Grade 6 student scores dropping across the measured school subjects. Mathematics scores dropped from 71.4 per cent in the 2022-2023 school year to only 46 per cent for 2023-2024. Literacy statistics showed a decline in both reading, from 100 per cent in 2022-2023 to 71 per cent in 2023-2024, and writing, with an 86 per cent success rate down from 100 per cent last year.
Grade 3 statistics for 2023-2024 St. Finnan’s Catholic students were not available from EQAO, although the 2022-2023 school year scores were at 60 per cent in mathematics, 90 per cent in reading, and 100 per cent in writing.
Ontario’s Numbers
Provincial numbers for students meeting or exceeding Grade 3 Ontario standards sit at 61 per cent for mathematics, 71 per cent in reading, and 64 per cent in writing for English school board students. Statistics fluctuated for the provincial results in Grade 6 where mathematics dropped to 50 per cent, reading increased to 82 per cent, and writing improved to 80 per cent. Grade 9 mathematics improved slightly to 54 per cent overall.
“As we look ahead, we remain focused on implementing these curriculum changes in a manner that helps Ontario students get back to the basics, with the practical knowledge, life skills and jobs skills they need to succeed in and out of the classroom,” Minister of Education Jill Dunlop assured parents and students on September 26.
More detailed information can be found through the EQAO assessment data tool on their website, https://www.eqao.com/results/, which allows users to select their school or wider school board to view current and past results.
