Five Ontario elementary schools, including one in North Bay, are being profiled by the Education Quality and Accountability Office (EQAO) in 2016 for their success in developing mathematics programs that have helped their students meet the provincial standard.
The schools—three from the English-language school system and two from the French—are notable for their success in helping their students who had not met the provincial mathematics standard when they were in Grade 3 to improve to meet it in Grade 6.
Additionally, these students were not the exception but rather part of the schools’ broader trend of helping a significant proportion of their students meet the math standard.
EQAO data helped the educators in these schools uncover areas of need. Educators used this information when developing high-yield strategies that were appropriate to their particular context.
St. Luke Catholic Elementary School (North Bay)
School board: Nipissing-Parry Sound Catholic District School Board
Key strategy: St. Luke educators use EQAO data to identify areas of need in mathematics and to help determine students’ mindsets and attitudes. A junior-division continuum has been created by the school board’s staff, mapping out a teaching plan for teachers from Grades 4 to 6. Concepts are built upon and reinforced throughout the year, rather than taught chapter by chapter.
Results: In 2013, 17% of St. Luke’s students who had not met the provincial math standard in Grade 3 improved to meet it in Grade 6. In 2015, that percentage rose to 33%.
