Four Schools in Northeastern Ontario Profiled by EQAO

NORTHEASTERN ONTARIO, Sept. 15 /CNW/ - Four of the 27 schools profiled in the Education Quality and Accountability Office's (EQAO's) Provincial Reports, released today, are located in northeastern 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, data-driven strategies and whole-school approaches to help every child succeed. Based on their unique circumstances, each one of these schools has adopted an action plan to work toward improved student outcomes using provincial assessment results as a guide.

Elementary Schools:

• Larchwood Public School, Dowling
  "EQAO helps us to find our focus. In-depth analysis helps us to establish both our goals and clear criteria for student learning."
  —Susan Cousineau, principal
  
  
• St. Joseph School, South Porcupine
  "It's not just the Grade 3 and Grade 6 teachers who are aware of EQAO. All of the children belong to all of the teachers and, accordingly, [teachers of all grade levels] must have a familiarity with the assessments."
  —Roslyn Gauthier, former principal

Secondary Schools:

• St. Basil Secondary School, Sault Ste-Marie
  "We do not give up. I have teachers who are passionate about their subjects and about students doing well. They are not afraid to put in the hard work. If they come to me with ideas, it's my job as their principal to make their ideas happen. We have yet to try something that is not successful. I do have faith. I don't just have one teacher champion, I have several. I am very fortunate."
  —Marsha Ribic, principal
  

• Elliot Lake Secondary School, Elliot Lake
  "The EQAO questionnaires tell us a lot about our students. They give an excellent snapshot of our Grade 10s. We noticed that our male students in particular were not reading outside of school. That prompted our silent-reading program. After the silent-reading program was initiated, there was an incredible jump in how all our students responded to that question. In two years, we had a 20% improvement in our female reading rate and 30% in our males."
  —Jon Young, student-success teacher
  

"EQAO results allow school communities to celebrate their successes and identify areas of student learning requiring further attention and support," said Marguerite Jackson, EQAO's Chief Executive Officer. "Used together with other classroom data, EQAO results help complete the picture of student achievement and, over the years, have become an essential tool that educators across the province rely on for their improvement planning."

Some of the common factors that schools identify 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 Releases School and Board Achievement Results and Profiles 27 Schools" 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:

For further information and to arrange interviews, please contact

Katia Collette
Communications Officer
416-212-7047
[email protected]