THUNDER BAY -- Some Lakehead District Public School Board teachers receive additional training to help more of their students attain provincial targets for mathematical, reading and writing skills.
A summary of recent student achievement was presented to board trustees on Tuesday evening.
It showed only 53 per cent of Primary grade students had reached or exceeded the Ontario standard for reading, and 51 per cent had met the standard for writing skills.
Results were better for the Junior and Intermediate grades—71 per cent and 68 per cent respectively for reading, and 62 per cent for writing.
In number sense and numeration, 63 per cent of Primary, 67 per cent of Junior and 60 per cent of Intermediate grade students attained the standard, which is a grade of A or B, or a minimum mark of 70 percent.
Superintendent of Education Sherri-Lynne Pharand, says the summary is a tool to help the board implement "interventions" for students not meeting the standard, since math and literacy skills are the foundational subject areas.
Pharand cited intervention strategies including professional learning sessions in mathematics for Grade 2 and 3 teachers, establishing a lead teacher in every elementary school, and having administrators in each school participate in regular professional development themselves before leading professional development for their entire staff.
Among other measures, she also noted the creation of "a Grades 7/8/9 mathematics team that is really looking at that transition to high school...and how to ensure support for students who are struggling."
The data in the recent report is based on achievement measured in February.
Pharand said it's expected that many students who were below the provincial standard at that time will have achieved that goal by the end of the school year.
She told Tbnewswatch that teachers who have graduated from university as trained educators can still benefit from professional learning sessions as their careers progress, just as any professionals can.
"It's important to keep abreast of new knowledge, new skills and new ideas. It's ongoing professional learning and growth."
Referring specifically to the math training, she said it's put in place "so that teachers can recognize mistakes kids are making, assumptions they are making in their math that they can anticipate their thinking, and help them with strategies in order to understand the mathematics."
Pharand described it as a complex process. "There are people who will spend many, many years becoming experts on how to teach kids either math or reading or science."
The best indicator of school system success, she said, is the high school graduation rate.
Of the 745 students who started high school in Thunder Bay's public system in 2011-2012, 528 received an Ontario secondary School Diploma by the end of the school year in 2016. That represents a graduation rate of 75 per cent.
Pharand said there's been a steady improvement in the graduation rate in recent years.
