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PAGE 24. THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2002.
Grade 10 students score well in EQAO
By Stew Slater
Special to The Citizen
Grade 10 students from both
publicly-funded school hoards in
Huron and Perth Counties achieved
an 81 per cent success rate on a
provincially-standardized literacy
test last February, in the first edition
of the test after it became a
requirement for high school
graduation.
Boards were given a Sept. 30
deadline to release hoard-wide
results from the Ontario Secondary
School Literacy Test, which is
_administered by an arms-length
government agency called the
Education Quality Assessment
By Stew Slater
Special.to The Citizen _
The four Ontario-wide
organizations that represent school
boards and trustees have formed a
consortium to reduce the per-
employee price .of obtaining
criminal background checks.
But that doesn't mean they're
quietly accepting the Conservative
government's edict that such checks
must now be obtained for all present
and future employees. Nor are they
quietly accepting the fact that the
government has given already cash-
strapped boards no money to cover
the costs.
"This is the kind of extra
paperwork that we talked about in
our presentation to the task force,"
explained Huron-Perth Catholic
District School Board trustee Ron
Marcy. during..-4 regular board
meeting Monday. Sept. 30. Marcy
was referring to a presentation by
himself and fellow trustee Bernard
Murray the week previously, before
The Blyth Festival offers an
evening of exotic dining,
entertainment and excitement.
On Oct. 19 from 5 p.m. on into the
night, the Blyth Festival holds its
annual gala auction, Backstage Pass.
The evening will feature
entertainment by Celtic Fire and a
dinner of venison, turkey, side
dishes and unique hors d'oeuvres
prepared 'specially by the Blyth
Festival's board of directors.
During the cocktail hour, theatre
supporters will tour backstage to
explore behind the scenes and place
Office (EQAO). School-by-school
comparisons must be released by
Oct. 7. though the Avon Maitland
District School Board-already made
that information available during its
most recent regular meeting, Sept.
24.
Both Stratford Central Secondary
School and South Huron District
High School in Exeter achieved 86
per cent success rates, while
Goderich District Collegiate
Institute was at 84 per cent and St.
Marys DCVI at 83 per cent. Below-
the-board-average high schools in
the Avon Maitland board were
Stratford Northwestern Secondary
School (71 per cent), the now-closed
Seaforth District High School (76
the government-mandated
Education Equality Task Force,
which is scheduled to deliver
recommendations in November
about making the province's
educational funding formula more
effective.
"I know we weren't the only board
to make that point, but that just goes
to show that, if the province is going
to require this, fund it," Marcy said.
Director of Education Gaetan
Blanchette agreed, suggesting the
updated requirements for criminal
background checks -will not only
represent time for board staff and
money paid to the agencies
administering the tests, but could
also necessitate such things as new
computer software and
administrative training.
"Every year after the criminal
checks are completed, each person
will have to submit a declaration that
they have not had any criminal
convictions in the year since they
last submitted. And they'll have to
subMit one every 'time they're
bids on hundreds of items available
in the silent auction. After dinner
auctioneer Richard Lobb and master
of ceremonies Jim Swan will
conduct the live auction onstage in
Blyth Memorial Hall.
There is a wide range of both
practical and luxury style items
available to bid on during both parts
of the auction. Auction items range
from gardening supplies, framed
paintings by local artists, theatre
tickets from all over Ontario, dining
certificates and stunning jewellery
sets te, weekend getaways for theatre
per cent) and Listowel District
Secondary School (77 per cent).
Students from the Huron-Perth
Catholic District School Board
actually fared slightly better than
their Avon Maitland counterparts,
depending on how the results are
analyzed. The identical 81 per cent
board-wide mark is derived from the
so-called "Method 2" calculation,
which takes into account only those
students who were able to complete
both the reading and writing portions
of the standardized test.
Under "Method I," which takes in
all eligible students whether they
were able to attend both portions of
the test or not, Huron-Perth achieved
a success rate of 79 per cent, while
transferred from one building to
another," Blanchette explained.
"We're going to have to have a way
to track all that." '
Under the previous requirements,
all new employees paid for their
own criminal background checks,
but those who were employed prior
to that legislation were not required
to submit anything. Now, criminal
background checks must be
collected for every single board
employee, and so-called "offence
declarations" must be submitted
annually after that happens.
The consortium, to which both the
Huron-Perth and Avon Maitland
District School Boards belong; will
cut the cost of such existing-
employee background checks to
$12, from around $25 normally paid
on a person-by-person basis.
Under Avon Maitland policy,
existing employees can either
purchase their own criminal
background check or sign a consent
form authorizing the board to
acquire one through the consortium.
or golfing retreats. Several prop and
set items seen on stage at the
Festival during the past few seasons
will also be available for auction.
The gala auction is the Blyth
Festival's major fundraising event of
the year.
To book your tickets or for more
information contact the office at
519-523-4345.
the Avon Maitland rate was 77 per
cent.
Either way, administrators at both
boards were pleased, especially
when considering the province-wide
success rate was 75 per cent under
Method 2 and 69 per cent under
Method I.
The problem, however, is the
students who didn't pass. In order to
be granted high• school diplomas
upon completion of Grade 12, they
must pass the test either this year or
next year. And that problem has been
compounded, both boards say, both
by a chronic inability of the EQAO
to promptly release results, and by
some recent changes in the schedule
for administration of the test.
"When the test was first
introduced, students were to be
given the opportunity to write in the
fall and again in the spring," states
an information package provided to
Huron-Perth trustees at a regular
meeting Monday, Sept. 30. "This
would have given students six
opportunities to be ,successful prior
to graduation. The government . . .
has now changed the rules and
students will only write the test once
each year, in October."
At the Sept. 24 Avon Maitland
meeting, Stratford trustee Meg
Westley suggested the students who
failed last February's test will have
little chance to prepare for this
month's. second chance, and may
find themselves putting all their
hopes-on the 2003 test.
"They effectively only have one
more chance now," Westley said.
In an interview following the
meeting, Avon Maitland education
superintendent Marjatta Longston
noted that, under the original EQAO
timeline, high school guidance
counsellors might have suggested
some students defer from taking the
next scheduled test, so they could
prepare more fully for the springtime
edition. "Now, there's no sense
deferring any student. We have to
have them write it.
"We have grave concerns,"
Longston said.
Huron-Perth Education
Superintendent Ray Contois agreed.
And he said the problem is
compounded by the fact that results
take so long to be released. Under
the new schedule, students will write
the test in October but not know if
they passed or failed until March of
the following year.
He explained that results from last
February's tests began to be released
on a, student-by-student basis in
June, so some principals were able to
advise parents and students to visit
the EQAO website over the summer
and take .advantage of literacy
exercises made available by the
agency. But he still thinks that's not
enough time for boards and schools
to help students who don't succeed.
"With all the technology there is,
that information should be available
— bang, bang, bang,"_ commented
Huron-Perth trustee Bernard
Murray. "I really don't understand
it."
Organizations form consortium
to reduce background check costs
Festival auction Oct. 19