How does your school rate?; A new report card on
Ontario's elementary schools, prepared by the C.D. Howe institute, shines
a light on those that are helping kids overcome disadvantages
The Toronto Star
Thu 01 Mar 2007
Page: R01
Section:
GTA
Byline: Louise Brown
Source: Toronto Star

There are two schools in Toronto - one in the east and
one in the west - where three-quarters of Grade 3 children hit the mark on
province-wide tests.

Both of them beat the provincial average.

So why does a new report card on Ontario schools give one top marks, but
suggest the other could do better?

Because this is the first yardstick of school performance that considers
neighbourhood factors, including income, and only compares schools whose
students come from similar backgrounds.

Since these two schools could not be more different, they are not pitted
against each other under the ambitious new ratings released yesterday by the
non-profit C.D.
Howe Institute.
Instead, they are compared with schools of like background and, in that light,
they earn very different marks.

Educators are hailing these new socially sensitive ratings for recognizing
the role family background plays in learning.

"There's no point comparing apples to bananas - let's compare apples to
apples and see what we can do to improve," said St. George's principal Michelle
Drimmie Miller, who says her school is working hard to pinpoint how to boost
student learning.

Here's how it works:

While St. George's Junior School in Etobicoke is set in one of Toronto's
toniest and best-educated enclaves - where carriage-trade family backgrounds are
known to give children a leg up in school - Warden Ave. Junior Public School in
the city's east end sits amid low-income housing, where research shows students
can face daunting social roadblocks to learning.

According to the C.D. Howe Institute's ratings, prepared by economics professor
David Johnson, schools like St. George's - where family income tops $170,000 a
year, four in 10 parents have a university degree and fewer than 15 per cent of
parents are high-school dropouts - usually see even more than 76 per cent of
Grade 3 students meet provincial standards.

So the new C.D. Howe chart lists
St. George's at the "20th percentile" - which means 80 per cent of similar
schools do better.

In contrast, schools like Warden Ave. - where one in three parents did not
finish high school, the average family income is $37,600 a year, and some
children arrive at kindergarten never having held a book - rarely have as many
as 72 per cent of Grade 3s meet provincial standards.

So the C.D.
Howe chart shows Warden Ave. at the top of its
pack, with a percentile of 100. The higher the percentile number, the better the
school does compared with others of like background.

"We're very, very inner-city. Some of our children are the third generation
in their family to grow up in public housing, and there's a lot of parent
apathy, so our staff works very hard to support our kids while they're at
school," said principal Micky Tabak.

"We know every child can learn if they get enough support. But some children
start kindergarten at more of a disadvantage than others."

Unlike crude rankings that list schools in order of their test scores,
Johnson's research recognizes that 40 per cent of a child's performance can be
traced to "home" factors.

Put simply, the children of more affluent, educated parents who can afford
tutors, lessons and storybooks will go to school more pumped to learn than
children whose parents grapple with poverty and schooling themselves.

Johnson developed a formula to predict how students of each background
usually perform, in order to see how each school fares when you remove those
demographic skews.

"We all believe in equal opportunity, but where children start off in their
households is not equal," said Johnson, a professor at Wilfrid Laurier
University whose 2005 book Signposts of Success outlines how he crunches 11
demographic factors and blends them with a school's test scores.

"We know children have an advantage if they come from homes where they see
parents read a lot, or parents have the resources to provide music lessons -
which help them do better in math because of the correlation between music and
math - or where parents have taken the time to teach children to sit down and
complete a task on their own," said Johnson.

"But it's important to destroy the myth that socio-economic factors are all
that determine a school's pass rate - that's just wrong.

"The other 60 per cent of a school's performance can be determined by what
the school does, and the challenge is to identify what makes a difference."

This approach to examining school performance is what prompted the C.D. Howe Institute to
sponsor Johnson's research, says Yvan Guillemette, the institute's policy analyst.

"Regular rankings really just rank schools by their socio-economic status -
whether the kids come to school hungry, their parents are more involved and make
sure they do homework - and that doesn't reflect the schools very well," he
said.

"The real measure of a good school is how it does given the children's socio-
economic status - that's the 'value added,' and that's what has implications for
public policy."

This approach also wins kudos from education professor Michael Fullan,
special adviser to Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty for education and a professor
at the University of Toronto's Ontario Institute for Studies in Education.

"I think these comparisons are great, actually. They're not rankings, but
they're important comparisons to make to increase accountability and pinpoint
where schools need to act," said Fullan.

"While it's true the Ontario government's goal is to have 75 per cent of all
children meet provincial standards, you have to get there step by step, and
helping schools succeed compared with their so-called 'statistical neighbours'
is one of the very precise first steps."

Fullan has just written a book on effective school leadership, which says
strong schools typically boast strong principals, staff training in reading
techniques and continuous monitoring of each child's progress.

"Poverty is definitely not an academic death sentence, but schools have to
work much harder to make up the difference when children come to school at a
disadvantage."

Charles Pascal, chair of Ontario's school testing body, remains wary of
comparisons, even these done by the C.D. Howe Institute.

"I am not an advocate of ranking and while the information in Professor
Johnson's work can be useful, it is limited because he combines results on all
three subjects" - reading, writing and arithmetic, said Pascal of the Education
Quality and Accountability Office.

In addition, he said, Johnson averages a school's test scores over three
years, but doesn't show whether the trend is upward or downward. The Toronto
District School Board offers a number of programs to try to level the academic
playing field, by offering inner-city students free remedial camps in summer,
extra reading help in Grade 1, more teacher training and extra staff, says
Colleen Russell, the board's co-ordinating principal of literacy and numeracy.

The Ontario government has launched a number of programs to help children
overcome demographic gaps, said Carol Campbell, chief research officer,
Ontario's Literacy Secretariat.

"We don't support ranking schools, but we recognize context is important and
we believe all children can achieve, given enough support."

© 2007 Torstar Corporation

Illustration:
• Colin McConnell toronto Star
Teacher Andrea Menezes with children at Warden Ave. Junior Public School, where
one-third of parents have not finished high school and the average family income
is $37,600 a year. Despite the challenges, the school is at the top of its
class. "We know every child can learn if they get enough support," says
principal Micky Tabak. Colin McConnell toronto Star U of T student Angeliki
Massos helps out at Warden Ave. Junior Public School. Report author David
Johnson says "60 per cent of a school's performance can be determined by what
the school does." Colin McConnell toronto Star U of T student Angeliki Massos
helps out at Warden Ave. Junior Public School. Report author David Johnson says
"60 per cent of a school's performance can be determined by what the school
does."

Edition: ONT
Length: 1179 words