A classroom at Ancaster High School on Sept. 1, 2020.Fred Lum/The Globe and Mail
Half of Ontario’s Grade 6 students met the provincial standard in math in the 2022-23 academic year, according to the latest standardized test scores, marking a slight annual increase.
The data released Thursday by the province’s Education Quality and Accountability Office (EQAO) show that students’ test results in reading and writing, meanwhile, have remained stable year-over-year.
Education Minister Stephen Lecce said the results are reflective of students experiencing more stability in schools after about three years of pandemic-related disruptions.
“We’re starting to see some improvement, but I would argue we have to do a lot more, and we’re going to be doing more,” he told reporters at a news conference in the provincial legislature.
The government, he said, has revised the math and language curriculums to include more foundational learning elements, and has hired additional math coaches and literacy instruction experts.
Standardized testing has long been controversial. Supporters argue that they measure how well students are learning the curriculum and can help direct resources to struggling schools. Critics, however, worry that they are used to rank schools and view teachers as opposed to a test as better able to assess students.
The EQAO, an arm’s length agency of the Ontario government, tests students in grades 3 and 6 in reading, math and writing every year. Grade 9 students test in math, and grade 10 students take a literacy test.
The results showed that 50 per cent of Grade 6 students met the provincial standard in math in the last academic year, compared with 47 per cent in 2021-22. For reading and writing, 84 per cent met provincial standards, similar to the previous year.
The provincial standard is equivalent to a B grade.
In Grade 3, 60 per cent met the provincial standard in math, up one percentage point. In writing and reading, 65 per cent and 73 per cent met provincial standards, the same as the previous school year.
In Grade 9 math, 54 per cent met the provincial standard, up two percentage points from the previous year.
Cathy Abraham, president of the Ontario Public School Boards’ Association, said in a statement that the results showed that student well-being should be prioritized because it is “inextricably linked to student achievement.”
However, Opposition NDP Leader Marit Stiles said she took the results “with a grain of salt” as EQAO tests are “not necessarily the best measure of how kids are doing.” She added that “it’s not surprising that we would see kids struggling, because kids don’t have the support that they need in classrooms right now.”
With a report from Laura Stone
Caroline Alphonso