Top-performing schools located in poorest areas of province,
study says
The Globe and Mail
Thu 01 Mar
2007
Page: A1
Section: National News
Byline: Caroline Alphonso

Source:

CAROLINE ALPHONSO EDUCATION REPORTER Some of Ontario's
top-performing elementary schools are surprisingly situated in the province's
poorest neighbourhoods.

That's the conclusion of a C.D. Howe Institute school rankings report released yesterday.

It shows a community's socioeconomic status, while important in influencing a
student's academic performance, does not provide a complete picture of how a
school will perform on standardized tests.

"Socioeconomic factors do not determine everything," said Yvan Guillemette, a
policy analyst at the institute, adding that what happens within a school plays
just as important a role.

Unlike other rankings that list top and bottom schools based strictly on
their scores, the institute's methodology takes raw testing data and then
adjusts the information based on 15 different socioeconomic factors, including
family income, immigration and employment.

So two schools with similar raw test scores, for example, would be evaluated
differently based on factors that influence student lives outside of school.

But Mr. Guillemette said there are schools in low-income communities that are
doing exceptionally well even before their scores are adjusted by the institute.

At Toronto's Cornell Junior Public School in the city's east end, the average
neighbourhood family income is $42,526, according to census data, and only 11
per cent of residents have a university degree. Yet the school is named in the
report as one of the truly outstanding in the province, with 85 per cent of
Grade 3 pupils and 90 per cent of Grade 6 pupils passing Ontario's provincial
standardized tests over the past three years.

And when socioeconomic factors are taken into account, it scores above the
99th percentile of all public schools in the province.

Dolly Cheatley, chair of the school's parent council who has a son in Grade
5, praised the administration for initiating math clubs and a reading recovery
program to help struggling pupils.

"There's a whole team of parents, teachers and students working together that
makes the school work," said Ms. Cheatley of the diverse school where as many as
25 languages are spoken, including Tamil, Urdu and Punjabi.

Many other schools share similar high test scores when compared with their
counterparts in more affluent neighbourhoods, Mr. Guillemette noted.

In its report, the institute lays out how each school did on the provincial
tests over three years. It then takes the additional step of adjusting the
scores for socioeconomic status so it can compare schools from various
neighbourhoods and avoid some of the criticism levelled at similar school
rankings that don't take these factors into account.

Blessed Sacrament Separate School in London, for example, where the average
neighbourhood family income is $45,000, received top marks in the report despite
less than three-quarters of its pupils passing the Grade 6 test. But at London's
St. Theresa Separate School, where the family income is much higher and a
similar number of children passed the test, it ranked low in the C.D. Howe report. Mr. Guillemette said the rankings allow
parents and educators to identify what influence the school has on how well
pupils perform, as opposed to the neighbourhood.

Critics, however, say that test scores shouldn't be used to rank schools
against each other even if they account for socioeconomic factors. Rick Johnson,
president of the Ontario Public School Boards' Association, said the results are
supposed to indicate which schools need extra help. "If you just look at it and
say 'Bad school, good school' that's a waste of time," he said.

Emily Noble, president of the Elementary Teachers' Federation of Ontario,
added that these scores are simplistic and don't take into account how well
schools are doing in other areas, such as the arts and music.

"We strenuously object to schools being ranked in papers. If parents want to
know how their child is doing, which is what all the tests are about, then go in
and talk to the teacher," Ms. Noble said.

© 2007 CTVglobemedia Publishing Inc. All Rights
Reserved.

Edition: METRO
Length: 642 words
Company:
C.D. Howe Institute