Article content
Sample tests. Measures to ease exam anxiety. Extra support for special needs and multilingual students.
The London-area’s largest school board is taking several steps to improve its sagging standardized testing results after demands from trustees that the marks improve, Thames Valley District school board senior staff say.
“We’re more intentional today than we ever have been,” Thames Valley superintendent Kevin Auckland told trustees at a meeting this week. “We’re looking at what we’ve done and what we need to do differently. We’re challenging each other on what needs to be in place.”
Article content
Education Quality and Accountability Office (EQAO) standardized tests assess how well Ontario students are doing in reading, writing and math. They’re done in grades 3, 6, 9 and 10.
The renewed push comes after trustees demanded improvements in November. At one school in the London-based board, only six per cent of Grade 6 pupils met or exceeded the provincial standard for math.
As well, the number of special needs and multilingual students in the school board whose standardized test scores met the provincial standard dropped from the previous year in 10 of 14 categories, according to provincial data.
Across Thames Valley’s schools, 30 per cent of multilingual pupils and 36 per cent of special needs pupils met the provincial standards for reading in Grade 3 in 2023-24 — year-over-year drops of 23 per cent and 36 per cent, respectively. Fewer Grade 3 special needs pupils met the standard in writing and math scores.
Though 15 per cent more special needs students achieved the standard in Grade 10 literacy, 13 per cent fewer multilingual learners reached the standard in Grade 10 literacy.
Article content
There also were decreases in the number of students meeting provincial standards in Grade 6 reading, writing and math.
“We can’t keep doing the same thing every year and expecting different results,” said interim education director Bill Tucker. “We’re redefining our roles in our schools with our administrators.
“We need to adjust our time commitment to make sure our superintendents are in schools supporting principals who are supporting teachers.”
In the fall, trustee Marianne Larsen said she was “deeply concerned” about the EQAO results.
“What I see . . . is the gap between provincial numbers of students that are achieving its standard and where we are at,” she said.
THAMES VALLEY’S EQAO IMPLEMENTATION PLAN
- Sample tests for every student.
- Support for multilingual learners, students with special education needs and students who identify as Indigenous.
- Measures to support student confidence including multiple opportunities to be exposed to the curriculum expectations.
- Engaging families in understanding the EQAO assessment and how they can support it.
- Help from a Grade 9 classroom math support teacher and digital math assessments.
- Weekly senior staff meetings to review progress.
- Professional development focused on improving literacy learning.
- Development of school EQAO action plans
Percentage of students who met provincial math standards
in Thames Valley District School Board (and Ontario):
- Grade 3 pupils 59 (61)
- Grade 6 pupils 48 (50)
- Grade 9 students 47 (54)
hrivers@postmedia.com
@HeatheratLFP
Share this article in your social network
