The results from the Grade 9 Mathematics testing from the Education Quality Accountability Office (EQAO) have been released and the Kenora Catholic District School Board is celebrating the good news.
The academic course results showed that 89% of the students were successful at level 3 or 4. This is five percentage points less than last year and consistent with the trend of 89% and 87% for the previous two years. However, the big increase was seen in the applied course results where 89% of students were able to achieve results at level 3 or 4 (the provincial standard). This is up from 47% last year.
Although there will be no provincial results released this year as not all schools took part in the testing, these results show an improvement over the provincial marks from the previous year which were 47% for students in the applied course.
"Our students have worked hard and were able to show their learning in this test and we are very proud of their work," says Paul White, principal of St. Thomas Aquinas High school.
"We saw that the students, staff and the entire school community were working hard to make sure that the applied level course would have similar results to the ones earned by students in the academic course," says Mary Cunningham, Superintendent of Instructional Services. "I was overjoyed to see that their hard work had resulted in such strong results."
Cunningham commented that the plan has been to work on focusing on good teaching all year and building confidence and competency in math. "We have to focus on student learning and not the test," she says. "But if you did look at the test results, you could not help but be pleased to see that these students have improved from 52% achieving the provincial average in grade six (3 years ago) to 89% now. That is a huge improvement for a lot of students!"
The school will continue to focus on strategies to enhance student learning and achievement, especially in applied level subjects.
For More Information Please Contact
Trina Henley
Executive Assistant to the Director & Communications Officer
p: 807-468-9851
e: [email protected]