The percentage of Toronto's Catholic students at or above the provincial standard has consistently increased over the past five years, the Education Quality and Accountability Office (EQAO) recently assessed.
Grade 3 students in the Toronto Catholic District School Board now have reading scores that surpass, and math scores that match the provincial standard, while third and sixth grade writing scores have remained consistently higher than the province, the report released last week said.
TCDSB Chair Catherine LeBlanc-Miller said the board is pleased with the improvements students have made in the last few years.
"These latest results would indicate that we are moving in the right direction with our programming and support services," she said.
The EQAO conducts annual assessments in reading, writing and mathematics in Grades 1-3 (primary division), Grades 4-6 (junior division) and in Grade 9 mathematics.
In the last five years, the percentage of all third graders in the TCDSB who performed at or above the provincial standard:
- increased nine per cent, from 53 per cent to 62 per cent in reading
- increased eight per cent, from 62 per cent to 70 per cent in writing
- increased five per cent, from 63 per cent to 68 per cent in mathematics
In the last five years, the percentage of all sixth graders in the TCDSB who performed at or above the provincial standard:
- increased six per cent, from 58 per cent to 64 per cent in reading
- increased 12 per cent, from 57 per cent to 69 per cent in writing
- increased two per cent, from 57 per cent to 59 per cent in mathematics
In the last five years, the percentage of all ninth graders in the TCDSB who performed at or above the provincial standard:
- increased 10 per cent, from 18 per cent to 28 per cent in the applied math program
- increased 11 per cent, from 61 per cent to 72 per cent in the academic math program
"I believe we are on the right track, and our system resources will continue to be focused on the support of our schools and our learning networks in their efforts to further improve student achievement," TCDSB Director of Education Les Nemes said in a statement. "We will continue to align our resources to support differentiated learning for our diverse student population."
The full results of the assessment, along with individual school results, can be found at www.eqao.com.