Helen Dowd is one parent who is not too worried about the results of the latest Report Card on Elementary Schools released by the Fraser Institute earlier this month.
“I am absolutely not concerned,” says Dowd. “I don’t believe in putting huge stock in one week of tests, it is not indicative of a child’s overall abilities.”
The report is based on the results of provincially approved standardized tests generated by the Education Quality and Accountability Office.
Centretown elementary schools scored below average.
Three of the neighbourhood’s schools were included in the study and given a score out of 10. Elgin Street Public School received 6.2, St. Anthony Elementary 4.6, and Centennial Public School scored 1.9.
Combined, the Centretown schools received an average of 4.2, a score that sits below the six-point provincial average. Cambridge Street Public School was not included in the report because it did not meet the enrolment requirement of at least 15 students in Grades 3 and 6.
While Elgin Street Public is above average, Centennial Public received the second-lowest score in the city, and is among the provinces lowest-ranking schools.
Dowd has a son at the school and chairs the school council.
“I am amazed at the students here, our kids are doing an amazing job at surviving,” says Dowd referring to the challenges facing many of Centennial’s students, both at home and in the classroom. “While I would like to see higher numbers we know what we are up against.”
According to Dowd, Centennial is confronted by cultural and socioeconomic factors that affect student test performance.
“Our parents come from very mixed economic backgrounds. Some find it tough to pay all the bills and put dinner on the table, some are comfortable. We also have a lot of new Canadians, and half of our students are just learning to speak English,” says Dowd.
The Fraser Institute study does take into consideration the number of English-as- a-second- language and special needs students attending a school, as well as the average income of parents.
Michael Thomas, associate director of school performance studies for the Fraser Institute, says these indicators are a point of reference for comparing schools with similar profiles, but are not factored into a school’s score.
“There is a connection between average parent income and academic performance, but what happens in the classroom matters,” says Thomas. “These results paint an accurate picture of what is going on, academically, in our schools.”
Though unavailable for the three Centretown schools, average income is used to predict results, so parents know what a school should be scoring compared to others in the same economic bracket.
Likewise, Thomas says other schools with similar proportions of ESL or special-needs students could be accurately compared.
The provincial average for ESL students is 4.9 per cent and the average for special-needs students is 19 per cent.
Both Centennial, with 50 per cent ESL students and 33.3 per cent special-needs, as well as St. Anthony with 37.5 ESL and 31.3 per cent special-needs are far above the provincial average. Elgin Street, which fared well in the final test results, has a far lower proportion of ESL students at just 7.7 per cent and fewer special needs students, 23.1 per cent.
Thomas says comparing schools with completely different indicators can be misleading and it is important for those reading the report to look at all of the information provided.
Those interested in comparing schools with similar indicators can do so on the Fraser Institute’s website.
According to Charlene Hunter, spokesperson for the Ottawa District School Board, the board takes the results of the report card and the EQAO tests into consideration when planning for the future.
“The results are generally positive, we are above average as a board, and we are moving in the right direction,” says Hunter.
“In order to improve, individual trustees encourage co-operation between schools in and outside of their zones to work together. Schools that scored high will work with schools that did not do as well.”
The Ottawa-Carleton District School Board scored 6.2, an average of all 74 schools in the board.
Thomas says Centretown schools did not fare worse than schools in urban centres and that the results are not meant to rank schools, but rather to inform parents and teachers about ways they can improve their student’s learning experience.