THUNDER BAY — Depending on which school they attend, Grade 3 and Grade 6 cohorts in Thunder Bay's school systems achieved some widely differing results in provincial standardized tests conducted last spring in mathematics, reading and writing.
But there was one common theme in outcomes for the Lakehead District School Board and Thunder Bay Catholic District School Board — students struggled to meet Ontario's standard for proficiency in math in the 2021-2022 academic year.
Data from the Education Quality and Accountability Office shows that in the Lakehead public school system, 33 per cent of Grade 6 students achieved the standard of Level 3 or Level 4, considered equivalent to an A or a B grade.
In one school, only six per cent of students reached the standard. At the other end of the scale, the best result from an individual public school was 60 per cent.
In the city's Catholic school system, 35 per cent of Grade 6 students achieved Level 3 or 4. The worst outcome among individual schools in the Catholic system was 19 per cent, while the best was 71 per cent.
The results for both local boards were considerably poorer than the province-wide average of 47 per cent. They were also lower than the Ontario average of 59 per cent for Grade 3 math.
Last year, 48 per cent of public school Grade 3 students in Thunder Bay and 52 per cent in the separate school system achieved the provincial standard.
The Thunder Bay Catholic District School Board issued a statement Tuesday noting that although EQAO is a familiar testing process, last year can't be compared with others as testing was digitized, and there were no open-ended questions for math, only multiple choice.
The board said it's pleased that 95 per cent of eligible students participated.
"This is a major accomplishment as we were in the midst of a pandemic," it said.
The Catholic board called the test results a valuable tool in improving student achievement as it identifies learning gaps.
The outcomes for both boards in reading and writing tests have also been released by the Education Quality and Accountability Office.
The Thunder Bay Catholic board results were similar to the provincial average in both areas.
The table below shows the respective scores for the Lakehead public board, the separate school board and the province.
| LDSB | TBCDSB | Ontario average | |
| Grade 3 Math | 48% | 52% | 59% |
| Grade 6 Math | 33% | 35% | 47% |
| Grade 3 Reading | 65% | 73% | 73% |
| Grade 6 Reading | 81% | 85% | 85% |
| Grade 3 Writing | 55% | 62% | 65% |
| Grade 6 Writing | 76% | 83% | 84% |
Results for each school in the local systems are available online.
When the provincial results were released last month, Education Minister Stephen Lecce said the ministry would establish "math action teams" to support schools where students are struggling, and to step up screening for reading difficulties in early grades.
He also announced details of a new fund to pay up to $250 to parents for each student requiring additional support such as tutoring because of the negative impact COVID-19 has had on learning.
Lecce said two years of pandemic-related learning disruptions have impacted children across the province, but noted that lower test scores are also a trend in all provinces and internationally.
