Peel board releases school results for provincial literacy test
Bottom line is learning, not ranking, director says

Peel District School Board today released school results for the provincial literacy test. The Education Quality and Accountability Office conducted the test in February 2002. Across the Peel board, 75 per cent of students who took the test passed—the same as the provincial average.

"We're committed to public accountability, so we're releasing the school-by-school results for the literacy test, just as we have for all provincial testing," says Jim Grieve, director of education. "It's tempting to make comparisons between schools, but to judge a school based on only one test is wrong, unfair and misleading. The bottom line is learning—how each school is using the test results to make improvements."

Of the 7,732 grade 10 students in the Peel board eligible to write the test, 28 per cent of them speak a language other than English at home, 25 per cent were born outside of Canada and 14 per cent are in special education programs. About 36 per cent report reading three or more hours a week outside of school and 31 per cent write for three or more hours a week, in addition to school work.

"Each school will use their school results to improve the way they teach literacy. As well, schools are working with students who did not successfully complete the test," Gonzalez says. "We're also focusing on using what we learned to help our grade 9 students get ready to take the test next year and preparing our grade 10 students to take the test on Oct. 23 and 24."

Gonzalez points out, "It's important to remember that this test does not give the whole picture about how well students can read and write—it's one snapshot of their achievement at the time they took the test. There's no doubt that this test is important, because students won't receive their diploma without passing. But it's not fair or accurate to make broad generalizations about the quality of a school or the achievement level of secondary school students, based on this one test alone."

To protect against the disclosure of personal information associated with individual test results, EQAO has excluded public release of test results for the following Peel schools: IndEC North, North Peel Secondary School and West Credit Secondary School.

School-by-school results are available on the board web site at www.peelschools.org or by calling Communication Services, 905-890-1010/1-800-668-1146, ext. 2809.

Peel District School Board serves 130,000 students in kindergarten to the end of secondary school. Operating 199 schools in the municipalities of Brampton, Caledon and Mississauga with an annual budget of $710 million, the Peel board is the largest employer in Peel.

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Media Contact: Teresa Gonzalez, Superintendent of Program Services
(905)890-1010/1-800-668-1146, ext. 2343

Reference: Sylvia Link, Communications Officer, (905)890-1010/1-800-668-1146, ext. 2814