Burlington's Glenview Public School and St. Timothy Catholic School, and
Richmond Hill's St. Theresa of Lisieux Catholic High School Profiled by EQAO

GREATER TORONTO AREA, 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 the GTA. 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.

    
    -   Glenview Public School, Burlington

        "Grade teams meet to discuss where they are heading. Differentiation
        is the goal of each teacher. Everything we do is backed by the data
        and long-range plans. Everything is data driven."
        - Deborah Renton, principal

    -   St. Timothy Catholic School, Burlington

        "It is very beneficial to have the data because it forces people to
        take a long hard look at what they've been doing and to see if what
        they have been doing has had the desired effect. The data is driving
        the instruction."
        - Tom Durran, principal

    -   St. Theresa of Lisieux Catholic High School, Richmond Hill

        "We look at data as a benchmark. We look at how we deliver the
        curriculum, how our students are achieving, whether they are meeting
        with success, whether there is something we need to review and take a
        different approach on."
        - Frank Dalla Corte, vice-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]