Excelling in EQAO

EQAO RESULTS DEMONSTRATE THE BENEFITS OF PERSONALIZED EDUCATION

The Education Quality and Accountability Office (EQAO) recently released results from the province's Grade 9 assessment of mathematics and the Ontario Secondary School Literacy Test (OSSLT) and the results from St. Dominic Catholic Secondary School in Bracebridge continue to be strong.

On the OSSLT, 82% of first time eligible students are meeting or exceeding the provincial standard, which is up 3% from last year. In academic mathematics, 83% of students are achieving the provincial standard (results have not been made available for applied mathematics). Over the years, the school has consistently been on par or exceeded board-wide as well as provincial averages.

In addition, the school completed a detailed analysis of the data to assess how students have improved since taking the reading, writing and mathematics EQAO tests in Grade 6. St. Dominic students have demonstrated a significant improvement over time in all three subject areas.

GRADE 6 GRADE 10 PERCENTAGE OF IMPROVEMENT
  • READING 77% of students meeting or exceeding the provincial standard 84% of students meeting or exceeding the provincial standard 7% improvement over time
  • WRITING 61% of students meeting or exceeding the provincial standard 84% of students meeting or exceeding the provincial standard 23% improvement over time
  • MATHEMATICS (APPLIED) 45% of students meeting or exceeding the provincial standard 54% of students meeting or exceeding the provincial standard 10% improvement over time
  • MATHEMATICDS (ACADEMIC) 48% of students meeting or exceeding the provincial standard 80% of students meeting or exceeding the provincial standard 32% improvement over time

With small class sizes and the ability to offer students a more personalized education, teachers have been able to focus on and customize their teaching strategies in order to benefit student learning. School staff have the opportunity to look at the needs of individual students and to assess the EQAO results in order to tailor and adapt their educational programs. The results of this customized approach are reflected in the significant improvement in student learning at the school.

"We are a smaller school and that comes with many benefits, not the least of which is the ability to offer one-on-one support to our students so that we can assist them more directly in their learning and growth," said Kevin Strong, Principal. "Our students are clearly benefiting from smaller class sizes and teachers who can readily assess their individual learning needs."