Literacy test scores see little change for Near North Board

Near North District School Board
News Release

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The Near North District School Board is proud of the achievements of our staff and students in all their endeavours; academic, extracurricular and character development.

The Board will continue its strong focus on Excellence in Teaching and Learning and Excellence in a Caring Culture throughout all schools in the Board.

The Education Quality and Accountability Office has released the results of the Ontario Secondary School Literacy Test (OSSLT) written by Ontario students during the 2011-2012 school year. The OSSLT is a provincial standards-based test of the reading and writing skills students are expected to have acquired across all subjects up to the end of Grade 9.

Successful completion of the literacy requirement is a necessary credential for graduation.

The Near North District School Board results for the 2011 - 2012 OSSLT, in comparison to last year’s results, are as follows:

First Time Eligible:

Near North
2010-2011 75%
2011-12 73%

Province
2010-2011 83%
2011-12 82%

Previously Eligible:

Near North
2010-2011 50%
2011-12 51%

Province
2010-2011 49%
2011-12 48%

The OSSLT results are important, but they are only one piece of the data that schools analyze and respond to in order to improve student achievement; schools consider all information such as assignments, teacher observations, pass/fail rates, and credit accumulation, attendance, among other data, in order to complete the picture and provide direction for instructional practices and supports.
The results for our Previously Eligible students indicate the shared commitment and hard work of our school staffs in identifying the areas of strength and areas needing improvement and, as a result, changing instructional practices to meet the needs of these students.

There will be a thorough analysis of all current and previous assessment data to identify the areas of critical need and to determine plans to improve student learning, so that we can continue to provide Excellence in Teaching and Learning.

We are looking closely at assessment and contextual data for this and next year’s student cohort, to determine what we need to do to ensure greater success in the literacy and numeracy skills they will need for their future success.

The provincial analysis linking Grade 6 results to student success on the OSSLT encourages us to continue to focus on laying and developing the foundation for the type of literacy skills expected at the secondary level in the elementary grades.

The Board is continuing to ensure greater opportunities for secondary school staff to collaborate with colleagues in their elementary feeder schools about students’ learning needs, instructional supports and program. Data management tools have been developed to track students’ strengths and needs as they transition from elementary to secondary.

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