Annual EQAO assessments continue to show local children may be late bloomers academically.
For the second year in a row, the EQAO results show grade 3 students in Mapleton schools, on average, are performing worse than the provincial and school board averages in reading, writing and mathematics.
However, most grade six students in the township are meeting or exceeding the results of their peers at the board and across the province.
And while Grade 9 applied students are performing worse than the board and provincial averages, Grade 9 academic students are exceeding those levels.
Every year the Education Quality and Accountability Office (EQAO) assesses the reading, writing and math test results for students in grades 3 and 6, and also the math results for grade 9 students.
There is always debate as to how much weight parents, teachers and education officials should place on the scores, though some agree the results are a helpful way of gauging the success of students and of comparing the progress of different schools.
“EQAO results allow school communities to celebrate their successes and identify areas of student learning requiring further attention and support,” said Marguerite Jackson, EQAO’s Chief Executive Officer.
“Used together with other classroom data, EQAO results help complete the picture of student achievement and, over the years, have become an essential tool that educators across the province rely on for their improvement planning.”
Recently the 2009-10 assessments were released for every school in Ontario.
Local grade 3 results
At the four elementary schools in Mapleton Township, 61% of students were considered at level three and four reading, as defined in the Ontario curriculum. That figure represents an increase from the 2008-09 results (46%), but is still slightly below both the provincial average (64%) and the overall results for the Upper Grand District School Board (62%).
In writing, 56% of students in Mapleton schools were at or above the provincial standard (down from 2%), which is lower than the provincial (66%) and UGDSB (70%) results.
In mathematics, 58% of local students were at or above the standard level (down 4%), which also is below both the provincial (68%) and board (71%) results.
The individual results for each school are as follows:
– Alma Public School, 76% are at level three and four in reading, 68% in writing and 68% in math (up significantly from 39, 44 and 67% respectively from 2008-09);
– Centre Peel Public School, 37% in reading, 37% in writing and 34% in math (the school’s 2008-09 results were 25, 39 and 32% respectively);
– Drayton Heights Public School, 70% in reading, 43% in writing and 70% in math (2008-09 results were 69, 79 and 86%);
– Maryborough Public School, 71% in reading, 88% in writing and 71% in math (those figures are up substantially from 2008-09, when the results were 50, 70 and 63% respectively).
Grade 6 results
In general, the overall results for grade six students in Mapleton were better than those of the younger students.
About 72% of grade six students were at or above the provincial standard for reading, which is the same as the provincial results and slightly lower than the results for the UGDSB (74%).
In writing, 74% of students in Mapleton schools were at or above the provincial standard, which is higher than both the provincial and board results (70 and 69% respectively).
In mathematics, 63% of local students were at or above the standard level, which is similar to the provincial results (61%) and higher than the board results (59%).
The individual results for each school are as follows:
– Alma Public School, 76% in reading, 86% in writing and 62% in math (2008-09 results: 73, 69 and 73% respectively);
– Centre Peel Public School, 37% in reading, 37% in writing and 34% in math (previous results: 36, 21 and 18%);
– Drayton Heights Public School, 70% in reading, 43% in writing and 70% in math (previous results: 89% in both reading and writing and 74% in math);
– Maryborough Public School, 71% in reading, 88% in writing and 71% in math (2008-09 results: 75, 88 and 92%).
Grade 9 results
At the two high schools attended by most Mapleton grade 9 students – Centre Wellington District High School in Fergus and Norwell District Secondary School in Palmerston – 36% of students in the applied program were at or above the provincial standard for math, while the figure for academic students was 89%.
Interestingly, the applied figure is down from he previous year’s figure of 52%, while the academic figure is up from 79%.
The 2009-10 province-wide result for applied students was 40%, while the UGDSB result was 48%. For students in the academic program, the results were 82% and 86% respectively.
Results for each high school in the county were:
– Centre Wellington, 30% in the applied program and 88% in the academic program;
– Erin District High School, 56% and 89% respectively;
– Norwell District Secondary School, 50% and 91%; and
– Wellington Heights Secondary School in Mount Forest, 39% and 87%.
More details
For more information, including the complete results for all 27 elementary schools in Wellington County and historical records for all county schools, visit the EQAO website at eqao.com.
At 72 schools in the UGDSB’s jurisdiction, 2,128 grade 3 students, 2,256 grade 6 students and 898 grade 9 students wrote the tests last school year.
For more information visit www.eqao.com.
