HomeMy WebLinkAboutHuron Expositor, 2002-12-18, Page 7News
TME HURON EXPOSITOR, DECEMBER 1% 2002-7
Blanchette pleased with five-year test analysis
Timprovement in Grade 6 reading and writing
This year, he provided
Sy Stew slots
Special to The Expositor
Five years after the Ontario
government launched its
series of standardized tests
with a systematic assessment
of reading, writing and math
in Grade 3, the arms -length
agency which administers the
tests has begun to analyze
how results have changed
during that time.
And Gaetan Blanchette, set
to retire as of Jan. 1 as
education director of the
Huron -Perth Catholic District
School Board, is pleased to
see such analysis.
Results for the most recent
Grade 3 and 6 tests, taken last
May under the administration
of the Education Quality and
Accountability Office
(EQAO), were made available
to school boards late last
week.
Blanchette says the process
is already underway for
informing each pupil about
their own score.
Meanwhile, board -wide and
school -by -school results
generally must be released to
the public by Jan. 30; the
Huron -Perth board allows
each school to set its own
timetable, but chose the
regular meeting of Monday,
Dec. 10 to release its board -
wide data.
Achievements among the
board's Grade 3 students were
slightly higher than the
provincial average, with 54
per cent equalling or
surpassing the provincial
standard in reading and 60 per
cent achieving similar success
in writing.
Ontario -wide averages were
53 per cent in reading and 58
per cent in writing. In math,
63 per cent of Huron -Perth
Grade 3 students met the
provincial standard, compared
to 61 per cent province -wide.
Deviation from the
provincial average was a little
larger among Grade 6
students. In all three
disciplines, 61 per cent of
Huron -Perth students taking
the test met the provincial
standard, compared with
province -wide results of 58
per cent in reading, 56 per
cent in math, and 55 per cent
in writing.
The tests, which normally
are conducted for about two
hours per day over the span of
five days, were launched in
1998.
In the past, Blanchette has
cautioned against comparing
data from different schools,
suggesting demographic or
social factors could skew
results.
.Bernard Murray
is Catholic chair
South Perth resident Bernard Murray has retumed as chair of
the Huron -Perth Catholic District School Board, after being
acclaimed to the position at the board's annual inaugural meeting
Monday, Dec. 2.
Murray has held the post several times in the past, most r Gently
in 2000.
The only other nominee, fellow long-time trustee Ron Marcy of
Stratford, declined to let his name stand for the chair's position.
Marcy served as chair most recently in 2001.
The outgoing chair is Mike Miller of R.R. 2 Zurich.
Murray called the chance to serve "an honour." After taking the
chair's position, he addressed fellow trustees by saying, "I hope
that I will be able to give you the guidance that this board
deserves, and that we will work together to face the challenge of
the next 12 months."
One of the biggest challenges could be adapting to the departure
of two top administrators, and the arrival of their replacements.
Education superintendent Ray Contois and director of education
Gaetan Blanchette, both of whom had long careers with the board
as educators and administrators, will retire at the end of the
calendar year.
Larry Langan, who replaces Blanchette on Jan. 1, predicts the
transition will go smoothly. Langan has been officially employed
by the board since Nov. 1, as part of the transition process, but his
dedication to the new position was evident for many months
previously.
A former superintendent of schools in the Catholic board
serving London and area, he has been attending Huron -Perth
board meetings since last June.
During several wbeks spent visiting each school in the board,
Langan says he also learned that Huron -Perth studenta,,t4a0r4.
and administrators exhibit a pride in the accomplishments and
values of the board.
At the Dec. 2 inaugural meeting, decisions were also made
about the other trustee responsibilities.
Mary -Catherine McKeon of R.R. 3 Goderich, who joined the
board in 2000, will be vice -chair.
Committee chairs are Mike Miller in education, Ron Marcy in
management, and Vince McInnes in personnel.
By Stew Slater
Avon SCNOOL
Maitland
L onsly for Wore
Under Subsection 252(2) of the Education Act, district school boards are required
to make the following financial data available to ratepayers or supporters:
Publication and Notice
of 2001-2002
Financial Statements
2001 - 2002 Financial Statements
Notes to the Financial Statements
Auditor's Report
Director's Annual Report
Effective December 20, 2002, copies of these reports will be available from:
Administrative Office, AMDSB
Attention: Dr. Lorne Rachlis, Secretary -Treasurer,
the Board website at http://www.avonmaltland,on.ce
or from your local school.
Avon Maitland District School Board
62 Chalk Street North, Seaforth, ON NOK IW6
Telephone: (519) 527.0111 of 1400.592-5437 Fax: (S16) 5274222
NOTICE
Municipality of Central Huron
HOLIDAY HOURS
The Central Huron Municipal Office and the Clinton Power
Corp. office will be closing on Tuesday, December 24, 2002
at 12:00 noon and will reopen for regular hours on Thursday,
January 2, 2003, 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m.
• IN CASE OF A HYDRO/UTILITY
EMERGENCY PLEASE CALL 482-9601
trustees with his own four-
year (for the Grade 6 test,
which started in 1999) and
five-year (for the Grade 3 test)
analyses of the board's results,
and was heartened to see that
the EQAO provided, for the
first time, a year -by -year
comparison of provincial data.
"You have to be wary of
placing a high level of
emphasis on the results from
one year," he said at the Dec.
10 meeting. "I think you have
to look at it with a multi-year
approach, and 1 was happy to
see that, in the EQAO report,
they're now starting to look at
more of the multi-year data."
The EQAO report shows
some improvement at all
levels, most significantly in
Grade 6 reading and writing.
Achievements in math for
both grades rose slightly in the
first couple years, but the
trend now seems to have
levelled off or reversed.
Blanchette's analysis shows
a similar levelling of the trend
in math among the Huron -
Perth board's Grade 3 and 6
students.
And, similar to the
provincial results, the most
significant improvements over
time have been in Grade 6
reading and writing.
Board -by -board results
from the EQAO's Grade 9
math test, conducted Last
January, were also supposed
to be made available this past
week.
However, Blanchette
reports that the Huron -Perth
board received a telephone
call from an EQAO
representative, who stated
there were problems with the
information and that its
release would be delayed.
Province -wide data was not
affected, Blanchette was told,
and is currently available on
the EQAO's website.
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