There is room for growth in meeting the needs of local students.
The District School Board Ontario North East (DSB1) heard about this year's strategic academic plan results at the April 16 meeting. The numbers show the board has some work ahead of them to meet the provincial averages.
“Basically we’re behind the rest of the province in everything other than skilled trades and suspensions,“ said trustee Jonathan Byer during the meeting.
The online report shows that student performance in reading, writing, and math is lower than the provincial average across the board and that the district is leading in suspensions for students between grades 4 and 12.
Only 37 per cent of Grade 3 students met or exceeded the provincial standard for writing and 50 per cent for reading on the EQAO assessments in the 2022-23 school year, compared to the provincial average of 65 per cent for writing and 73 per cent for reading.
In the math assessment, one-third (33 per cent) of Grade 3 students met the standard, compared to 60 per cent province-wide.
In Grade 6 EQAO assessments, 76 per cent of students met the provincial standard in the district for reading, compared to 84 per cent across the province. In reading, 79 per cent met the standard, compared to the provincial average of 84 per cent, and in math, only 26 per cent met the standard, compared to 50 per cent across the province.
For the Ontario Secondary School Literacy Test (OSSLT), which is required to graduate, 72 per cent of the high school students who took the exam met the standard in 2022-23, compared to the provincial average of 85 per cent. In math assessments, 32 per cent of Grade 9 students met the standard, while the provincial average was a 54 per cent pass rate.
The district is above the provincial average in the number of students participating in job skills programs, apprenticeships, and dual credit programs at 23 percent. The provincial average is 21 per cent.
Director of education Lesleigh Dye said that this is a starting point and a chance to find ways to improve through the priorities families laid out during a survey at the beginning of the school year.
“We know that our student tutors are appealing to other students, and our families ask for a variety of ways to help them with reading and math at home,” she said. “We have staff reaching out to families saying how can we further support you.”
This is the plan's first year, and Dye said it gives the board a starting point with this data.
The Student Achievement Plan was mandated by the Ministry of Education through the Better Schools and Student Outcomes Act in 2023. All 73 school boards across the province collect data in the first two months and the last two months of the school year.
Amanda Rabski-McColl, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, TimminsToday.com