For immediate release
November 28, 2000

EQAO results released

         At its meeting of November 28, 2000, the Hastings and Prince Edward District School Board received a report describing the results of last spring's Grades 3 and 6 assessment by the Education Quality and Accountability Office (EQAO). The assessments took place over the course of one week in May of 2000 and covered reading, writing and mathematics.
         Results show that, in the 2000 assessments, Grade 3 students showed an increase in the number of students who are achieving at or exceeding the provincial standard in the areas of Reading and Mathematics. The Board is pleased to note that in reading, 54% of its students achieved at Levels 3 or 4, at or above provincial standard, compared 49% last year. In mathematics, 60% performed at satisfactory levels as compared to 59% last year.  In writing, slightly fewer students performed at Levels 3 and 4. Last year, 55% of the Grade 3 students who participated in the assessment scored at or above the provincial standard as compared to 51% of the students this year. In both Reading and Mathematics,  Grade 3 students in Hastings and Prince Edward are performing at or near the provincial average.
         The Board is also pleased with the results of the performance of Grade 6 students in 2000. The results indicate that the percentage of students performing at or above the provincial standard has increased in all three areas of Reading, Writing, and Mathematics. In Reading, 48% of the students who participated in the assessment achieved at Levels 3 or 4 as compared to 40% last year. In Writing, 45% of Grade 6 students performed at Levels 3 and 4 as compared to 41% last year. This year, 47% of students achieved Levels 3 and 4 as compared with 33% last year. While results for Grade 6 students are not yet at the provincial average in the three areas assessed, the gains in student achievement at the Hastings and Prince Edward District School Board are greater relative to the gains made by Grade 6 students across the province.
         "The gains made in the 2000 EQAO assessments are due, in part, to the implementation of school and system-level improvement plans," says Randy Brown, Superintendent of Instruction and Curriculum. "Thanks to principals and teachers for their ongoing efforts benefiting student learning, we will continue to develop and implement similar instructional, administrative and assessment practices to support improvements in the next assessment."
 

For information contact:
Randy Brown, Superintendent of Instruction - Elementary
966-9491 ext. 2203