According to last year’s standardized elementary school tests, the Thunder Bay Catholic District School Board is on the right track.
The number of Grades 3 and 6 students at or above the provincial standard in reading, writing, and mathematics all exceeded the provincial averages for the Catholic board on the EQAO tests conducted last spring.
Joan Powell, director of education for the separate school board said the test results validate the work being done throughout the board.
“I think our success is due to two main things. First of all, the concentrated efforts of our students who are working hard. Our outstanding staff, that’s our teachers, principals and board staff and our parents who really support the work in our schools,” Powell said on Wednesday.
“Secondly I think our success is due to our school environment. We have a huge emphasis in Thunder Bay Catholic Schools on student well-being and our staff and students all operate from the same set of values and beliefs and I think that helps us a great deal.”
The board surpassed the Ontario average in all three areas in both divisions.
In the primary division, the board has 75 per cent of Grade 3 students at the standard in terms of reading, as well as 82 per cent at the standard for writing, and 72 per cent for math.
The junior division saw 79 per cent of Grade 6 students at the reading standard, as well as 80 per cent in writing, and 60 per cent in math. The provincial average for math was only 57 per cent.
When all six scores are added together, Corpus Christi yielded the highest marks in the city. The school peaked at a high of 95 Grade 3 students at the provincial writing standard, and 91 per cent of Grade 6 students at the writing standard as well.
Also, the school performed very strongly in math. The primary division had 86 per cent of Grade 3 students at the provincial standard, and 79 per cent of Grade 6 students. Both numbers far surpassed both the board and provincial averages.
The Catholic board had the top-three elementary schools in Thunder Bay, as Corpus Christi was joined by St. Thomas Aquinas and Holy Family.
However, the Catholic board also had the school with the lowest total in all six areas. Our Lady of Charity yielded the lowest number out of all the elementary schools in the city.
While Powell said the board is always looking at using the results to better the education experience of all students, she said the scores are not the be-all and end-all of everything.
“For the schools that are doing less well than others we do a lot of time analyzing the results. We do that in all of our schools. We try to determine exactly where our students did well and where they might have been challenged by certain types of questions, and we put a lot of supports in place,” Powell said.
“For example, we had a handful of schools that did less well than others and we’ll be adding more resource staff and we’ll be looking at certain projects and bringing in outside experts to work with them.”
The news wasn’t quite as good for the Lakehead District School Board, as they were below the provincial average in each category.
Cathi Siemieniuk, director of education for the Lakehead District School Board said that are positives to the report. The writing scores for both divisions have been on a steady climb over the past five years, and the Grade 6 reading level has also been on the rise.
She said that when looking at the results over time it is apparent the board has been on the right track.
“We’re very pleased with our results over the last five years,” Siemieniuk said. “We’ve made significant gains in reading and writing, in both Grades 3 and Grades 6. Our results really mirror what is happening in the province. We notice that we have some additional work to do in Grade 3 reading but in addition to that we know we have some work to do in mathematics.”
Siemieniuk added that the public board approaches the results on a school-by-school basis and that it is important to not start comparing schools to one another.
“We work with the school to improve themselves,” she said. “It’s like golf. You improve your own score.
Nor’Wester View was the top performing public school, highlighted by a 96 per cent level in the Grade 6 reading component.
McKellar Park Central had the lowest total public school score in the six categories.
Results for the Grade 9 standardized math tests will be available next week.
