Four Schools in Southwestern Ontario Profiled by EQAO

SOUTHWESTERN 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 southwestern 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:

• Holy Rosary Catholic School, Waterloo
  "The process starts with EQAO. That's the baseline. Without that, I wouldn't know where to start."
  —Marylin Dawson, Grade 3 teacher
  

• Lackner Woods Public School, Kitchener
  "We believe that EQAO is a culminating, whole-school effort that spans across grades. It is very much a belief that EQAO is a primary and junior assessment not limited to Grades 3 and 6 teachers and students."
  —Michelle Low, special-education resource teacher
  

Secondary Schools:

• St. Mary's Catholic Secondary School, Hamilton
  "St. Mary's teachers are involved. They take great pride in the success of their students, and they find ways to help them."
  —Emidio Piccioni, principal
  
  
• Sir Allan MacNab High School, Hamilton
  "There are lots of amazing and interesting programs led by teachers and staff. The programs, however, are only as good as the people leading them and our teachers are the best."
  —Ted Kocznur, principal

"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]