Grade 9 math and Grade 10 literacy scores across the Waterloo Region District School Board remain on par with last year’s results, with Elmira District Secondary School students faring better than average.
School-by-school results were released Wednesday by Ontario’s Education Quality and Accountability Office (EQAO).
For EDSS students, 72 per cent of students who took the applied mathematics test were at or above the provincial standard. This is especially significant when compared to the school board’s average of 44 per cent, and the provincial average of 47 per cent. But, it’s a substantial decrease from Elmira’s performance last year of 88 per cent.
“The Grade 9 Applied Mathematics EQAO results remain the same as in 2013 with 44 per cent of students achieving levels 3 and 4,” said Scott Miller, assistant to superintendent of learning services. While these results continue to show steady improvement, having increased four percentage points over the last five years, mathematics continues to be a priority within the Board Improvement Plan for student achievement.”
Academic mathematics students in Elmira scored even better, as 90 per cent of them were at or above the provincial standard. The board average was 83 per cent, while the provincial average was 85 per cent. EDSS also saw a slight dip compared to last year’s score of 93 per cent.
“The Waterloo Region District School Board’s Grade 9 Academic EQAO mathematics results maintain a high success rate, with 83 per cent of students achieving levels 3 and 4,” said Miller.
He added the results show a one percentage point decrease from 2013, and the board’s achievement level remains comparable to the province.
A total of 89 per cent of students in applied math achieved a passing level (levels 1 through 4), an increase of four percentage points from last year. And 98 per cent of students in academic math achieved a passing level (levels 1 through 4).
The percentage of students who have met or exceeded the provincial standard over the past years has increased from 82 per cent to 85 per cent for the academic course, and from 40 per cent to 47 per cent for the applied course.
Literacy rates are much better than provincial math grades, with 83 per cent of first time eligible students in the school board successfully completing the OSSLT.
“The Waterloo Region District School Board is pleased to see the continued efforts of our staff and students being rewarded with the recent results from the 2014 OSSLT,” said Miller.
For EDSS, 87 per cent of first-time eligible students were successful in the Grade 10 Ontario Secondary School Literacy Test this past March. While higher than the school board’s score, it’s a slight drop from the school’s 90 per cent it earned in 2013.
The success rate for the OSSLT across the province has been in the mid- to low-80s for the past decade.
EQAO bases its overall provincial and school board data using the number of eligible first-time students who wrote the test in March of this year.
