Seven Schools in the GTA Profiled by EQAO

GREATER TORONTO AREA, ON, Sept. 15 /CNW/ - Seven of the 27 schools profiled in the Education Quality and Accountability Office's (EQAO's) Provincial Reports, 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, 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:

• Discovery Junior Public School, Maple
  "The profiles [which contain EQAO data] allow for differentiated instruction and program delivery. With a third of the class identified and others struggling, staff need to adopt a 'multiple intelligences' model when planning their culminating tasks. This is validating for the children and they see themselves as successful learners."
  —Angelina Faraone, principal
• St. Barbara Catholic Elementary School, Mississauga
  "One thing teachers really need to know is that we are not evaluating them. We are all in this together. The bottom line is that we are morally obligated to improve student achievement. EQAO data helps us do this."
  —Bernadette Gillis, vice-principal
• St. Clement Catholic School, Woodbridge
  "The students need to drive the curriculum. The curriculum cannot drive the students. You must use various teaching practices to get students where you want them to be. You really need to look at the data to find the strategies needed."
  —Brent Matthews, principal

Secodary Schools:

• Christ the King Catholic Secondary School, Georgetown
  "There are a lot of detractors of standardized testing. I believe that it ensures accountability in the delivery of deep and engaged literacy and numeracy instructional, assessment and evaluation practices."
  —David DeSantis, principal
• Dr. Norman Bethune Collegiate Institute, Scarborough
  "We work toward covering the curriculum and reinforcing the concepts. We want the learning to be long term, not short term. We try to intervene in a timely way when we see there is a need, with a variety of alternatives for students who are not succeeding. The feedback we get from our graduates is so positive about what our school has done to prepare them. That is the ultimate test: what our graduates have to say about their experiences."
  —Joe Jonsson, curriculum leader for mathematics
• Erin District High School, Erin
  "Specifically looking at gender data, including EQAO gender data, we really want to target our assessment strategies and our instructional pieces. We have been looking at things to do to ensure that our boys will achieve at high levels."
  —Julie Prendergast, principal
• Jean Vanier Catholic Secondary School, Toronto
  "The OCA and OSSLT materials are about teaching literacy. They bring everyone together with a common focus. That focus is not about teaching to the test: it is about teaching the skills. The EQAO assessments reflect skills that these students will need to be effective lifelong learners."
  —Peter Aguiar, 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:

and to arrange interviews, please contact

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