EQAO results released: WCDSB continues to lead the way in Waterloo region

The Education Quality and Accountability Office (EQAO) academic assessments from the last year were released on Thursday.

The Waterloo Catholic District School Board (WCDSB) continues to be above the average compared to the rest of the province.

“We continue to be very pleased that we have met or exceeded the provincial average in all measures,” WCDSB Director of Education Loretta Notten said in a statement.

“We are particularly proud of our work in the area of Grade 9 Applied Mathematics and hope to carry that momentum forward in all our work throughout the system.”

LAST YEAR: WCDSB fares well in EQAO school testing, WRDSB catching up

The Catholic school board’s public counterpart, the Waterloo Region District School Board (WRDSB), has been working to close the gap with provincial scores in concert with a strategic plan it put forward in 2016.

“With the implementation of our strategic plan in 2016, we set ambitious targets focusing on three specific areas: mathematics, graduation rates and student and staff well-being,” said Lila Read, WRDSB associate director of education, said in a statement.

“If we can’t measure it we can’t monitor it, and EQAO results are one of a number of tools that provide us with key data to measure the effectiveness of our strategies. The Board of Trustees and the entire team at WRDSB are aligned to ensure our students receive the support and resources that they need to be successful.”

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The tests are conducted as a measure to see how students across Ontario are meeting provincial curriculum expectations in reading, writing and math. The tests are conducted annually for students in Grades 3, 6, 9 and 10.

Students in Grade 9 are tested in math only, while students in Grade 10 take the Ontario Secondary School Literacy Test (OSSLT).

Average provincial scores for Grade 3 testing remained constant for reading (75 per cent) but fell one per cent in writing (71 per cent) and rose one per cent in math (62 per cent).

WCDSB scores topped the average in all three categories (76 per cent, 73 per cent, 66 per cent) while their public counterparts were below average on all three fronts (70 per cent, 62 per cent, 53 per cent.)

READ MORE: Guelph’s EQAO results fall in line with provincial averages

At the Grade 6 level, provincial scores on average fell one percentage point in reading (81 per cent) and were up two points for writing (82 per cent), while math (47 per cent) scores fell two points.

Public scores were three per cent lower than the province in reading, four percent in writing and even for math.

The Catholic board was even with the provincial average in reading and writing and three per cent higher in math.

The WCDSB finished 11 per cent higher than the provincial average of 55 per cent in Grade 9 applied math while the WRDSB finished four per cent below.

In Grade 9 Academic Level Mathematics, the Catholic students were a shade (one per cent) above the provincial average of 85 per cent while public students were five per cent below the average.

The provincial average for the Ontario Secondary School Literacy Test in 2018 was 82 per cent and once again the WCDSB finished above (+two per cent) whereas the WRDSB scores were on average five per cent lower.