Math achievement is improving while writing achievement is declining in Ontario's French-language elementary schools.

Most students are not using key strategies for success in writing.

TORONTO, Nov. 4, 2015 /CNW/ -

NEWS

Provincial-level results on EQAO's 2015 elementary-school assessments for the French-language system are now available. Provincial results are not available for the English-language system because not all schools participated due to labour disruptions.

In the French-language system,

• math achievement results have improved slightly since last year and notably over the past five years in both Grade 3 and Grade 6.
  
  
• writing achievement results have declined since last year in both Grade 3 and Grade 6. In Grade 3, writing achievement results are lower than they were five years ago.
  
  
• EQAO data reveal that most students are not regularly using key strategies for success in writing, such as reviewing their work and checking their grammar.
  
  
• reading achievement results in Grade 3 have improved slightly since last year and substantially over the past five years. Reading achievement results in Grade 6 have also improved considerably over the past five years but have declined slightly since last year.

QUICK FACTS FOR THE FRENCH-LANGUAGE SYSTEM

Math:

• 81% of Grade 3 students met or exceeded the provincial math standard.
  • This is an increase of 2 percentage points since 2014 and an increase of 8 percentage points over the past five years.
• 85% of Grade 6 students met or exceeded the provincial math standard.
  • This is an increase of 2 percentage points since 2014 and an increase of 5 percentage points over the past five years.

Writing:

• 80% of Grade 3 students met or exceeded the provincial writing standard.
  • This is a decrease of 1 percentage point since 2014 and a decrease of 3 percentage points over the past five years.
• 85% of Grade 6 students met or exceeded the provincial writing standard.
  • This is a decrease of 4 percentage points since 2014 and an increase of 3 percentage points over the past five years.

Student Use of Writing Strategies:

• When students write EQAO assessments, they also complete questionnaires about their attitudes and behaviours. These questionnaire responses reveal that most students report that they do not regularly use strategies that are foundational for success in writing.
  • 50% of students in Grade 3 and 47% of students in Grade 6 reported they organize their ideas before starting to write most of the time.
  • 40% of students in Grade 3 and 43% of students in Grade 6 reported they review their work in order to improve it most of the time.
  • 35% of students in both grades reported they check the spelling and grammar in texts they write most of the time.

Reading:

• 82% of Grade 3 students met or exceeded the provincial reading standard.
  • This is an increase of 2 percentage points since 2014 and an increase of 11 percentage points over the past five years.
• 90% of Grade 6 students met or exceeded the provincial reading standard.
  • This is a decrease of 1 percentage point since 2014 and an increase of 8 percentage points over the past five years.

QUOTES

"EQAO administers questionnaires in order to provide contextual information about students, which is helpful for interpreting achievement results. Ontario's education system benefits from having good data, both for accountability and improvement-planning purposes. It's regrettable that we don't have this important information for the English-language system this year."
—Dave Cooke, Chair, Board of Directors, EQAO

"So much attention has appropriately been given to improving math achievement, and it's great to see math results improving. We must be vigilant to ensure that we continue to pay appropriate attention to reading, writing and mathematics, so that one discipline is not unduly affected by the attention given to another. The information that comes from the student questionnaires could hold some insights into how to continue on the path to greater success."
—Bruce Rodrigues, CEO, EQAO     

LEARN MORE

Faits saillants des résultats provinciaux – Tests en lecture, écriture et mathématiques, cycle primaire (de la 1^re à la 3^e année) et cycle moyen (de la 4^e à la 6^e année), 2014-2015 – Élèves de langue française (Highlights of the provincial results from the 2014–2015 French-language primary- and junior-division Assessments of Reading, Writing and Mathematics—Document exists in French only)

On November 18, reports will be released for all English- and French-language schools and boards that participated in the elementary-school assessments. A full report of provincial results for the French-language system will also be released on that date.

Aussi disponible en français

About EQAO
EQAO is an independent agency that creates and administers large-scale assessments to measure Ontario students' achievement in reading, writing and math at key stages of their education. All EQAO assessments are developed by Ontario educators to align with The Ontario Curriculum. The assessments evaluate student achievement objectively and in relation to a common provincial standard. EQAO is undertaking a multi-year project to move the provincial assessments online.

SOURCE Education Quality and Accountability Office

Media Contact: Angele Dufresne, Communications Officer, 416-314-4327, [email protected]