Students in all publicly-funded schools in Ontario are required to write provincial assessments administered by the Education Quality and Accountability Office (EQAO). At the secondary school level, students in Grade 9 write the Assessment of Mathematics and students in Grade 10 write the Ontario Secondary School Literacy Test.
Grade 9 Mathematics growth over a 10-year span
The Grade 9 Mathematics assessment is differentiated based on curriculum expectations within the Academic and Applied Mathematics courses and is administered once each semester. The results are reported as the percentage of students achieving Level 3 or 4 (the provincial standard), and reflect combined results from both semesters in the 2013-2014 school year.
In Academic Mathematics, students maintained achievement at 86%. The provincial results increased from 84% to 85%.
In Applied Mathematics, student achievement results were 46%, a decline from the from the previous year's results of 55%. The provincial result was 47%.
"We are pleased to note that over the past 10 years we have experienced steady growth in student achievement of 7 percentage points in Applied Mathematics and 10 percentage points in Academic Mathematics, " said Mandy Savery-Whiteway, Director of Education.
Grade 10 Literacy Test
The Ontario Secondary School Literacy Test (OSSLT), written by students in Grade 10, is administered once per year in the spring. Results represent the percentage of students who were successful in passing the assessment. Students from all English course types (e.g. Academic, Applied and Locally Developed) complete the same test, as it is a graduation requirement.
Results for HPEDSB students remained consistent for 2013-2014, indicating that 75% of first-time participating students were successful on the OSSLT.
Students in the Applied English course demonstrated an increase of 3 percentage points, while results for students in the Locally Developed English course increased 2 percentage points.
"We are pleased to note increases in literacy achievement for students taking Applied and Locally Developed English courses. This reflects our focus on professional learning in literacy," said Cathy Portt, Superintendent of Education, Curriculum Services.
For more information, please contact:
Kerry Donnell, Communications Officer, 613-966-1170 or 1 800 267-4350, extension 2354, [email protected]