Students at the Windsor-Essex Catholic District School Board are acing the provincial literacy and math testing.
In all nine categories from Grade 3 and 6 reading, writing and math, Grade 9 math tests and Grade 10 literacy tests, the local catholic board exceeded the provincial averages in the EQAO (Education Quality and Accountability Office) test results.
The biggest jump was in Grade 9 applied math where local students did 17% better than the provincial average.
"We've never seen more than 60% of our students achieve the standard at the Grade 9 applied level, so this is very exciting for us," said Emelda Byrne, Executive Superintendent of Student Achievement.
Catholic Board Consultant of Assessment and Evaluation Michelle Evon says a lot of it has to do with student confidence in dealing with numbers.
"Loving math, kinda starts at the school level," she says. "What are we doing to perpetuate that feeling of love, we need to make kids feel comfortable in the math, we don't want to sit them down with paper and pencil task, that is a disengagement."
Evon says part of the success is due to engaging students in the classroom and in real life scenarios.
The board says it has a more focused approach on what works and doesn't work in the classroom, as well elementary and secondary teachers are talking about the best ways to teach math.
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