Belleville's St. Joseph Catholic School, Napanee's Westdale Park Public
School and Nepean's St. Joseph Catholic High School Profiled by EQAO

EASTERN ONTARIO, Sept. 17 /CNW/ - Three of the 18 schools profiled in the Education Quality and Accountability Office's (EQAO) Provincial Report, released today, are located in eastern Ontario. These schools are at various stages in their own journey of learning but all are representative of the dedicated school communities that can be found right across Ontario. They are notable for their leadership, proactive initiatives, data-driven strategies and whole-school approaches to help every child succeed. These are schools that have adopted an action plan based on their unique circumstances and that work toward improved student outcomes using provincial assessment results to support their own improvement planning.

    
    -   St. Joseph Catholic School, Belleville

        "At the school level, we looked at EQAO, CASI, PM Benchmarks,
        provincial reports and student profiles to identify areas of student
        need, and subsequently focused on the critical literacy and critical
        thinking expectations, which aligned with the board focus. We
        believed that improvement in these areas would have a positive impact
        on all other aspects of student learning and achievement."
        -  Janet Demaiter, principal

    -   Westdale Park Public School, Napanee

        "Examining the EQAO results over time, our staff discovered that
        there was a significant difference between the results for boys and
        girls, especially over the past two years in reading. The boys
        performed well in writing but not in reading. We asked ourselves the
        question: How could this be? The staff determined that strategies
        they had used to assist the boys in writing had had positive
        outcomes."
        -  Peter Mouncey, principal

    -   St. Joseph Catholic High School, Nepean

        "Our efforts do not begin in Grade 9. The most important dynamic is
        the ongoing collaboration and communication among staff. By working
        together to develop and share strategies, we are experiencing ongoing
        success, especially in our applied-level program. Ours is truly a
        Grades 7-12 success story."
        -  Steve McCabe, principal
    

"Ontario's provincial assessment program isn't just about testing; it's about using evidence to create tools to support effective learning," said Marguerite Jackson , EQAO's Chief Executive Officer. "As the data in our Provincial Report show once again, educators regularly use EQAO results to evaluate their delivery of the provincial curriculum. Of the elementary principals surveyed this year, 94%-virtually all of them-said they used the previous year's results to guide school improvement initiatives. The provincial assessments have become a fundamental resource for educators across Ontario."

Some of the common themes that schools identify as factors in addressing the literacy and numeracy needs of students are professional learning communities; data-driven decision making; a whole-school approach to literacy, numeracy and student achievement; small-group learning for literacy and numeracy; differentiated instruction; high-quality teaching; early intervention; tracking of all student progress; parental involvement; the coordination of school and board improvement planning; and implementing Ministry of Education initiatives.

The provincial news release "EQAO Publishes School- and Board-Level Results of Provincial Testing" and a backgrounder are also available.

Results for all publicly funded elementary and secondary schools and their school boards are available at www.eqao.com.

Les résultats des écoles de langue française sont disponibles en français.

For further information: and to arrange interviews, please contact Katia Collette, Communications Officer, [phone], [email protected]