Hamilton public school board misses Grade 1 reading goal
Hamilton's public school board saw a slip in the number of Grade 1 students who met the provincial reading standard on their final report card in June, a result being partly blamed on the switch to online learning following March's COVID shutdown.
The latest annual Student Learning and Achievement Report shows 67 per cent of first graders achieved the desired B-minus or better in June, down four percentage points from the previous year and once again shy of the goal of 75 per cent.
Results were worse for high-priority schools in areas with greater socioeconomic needs, where 60 per cent of Grade 1s met the standard, down two percentage points from 2018-19.
Having all students able to read by the end of Grade 1 is one of three strategic goals set by the board to increase student success, along with improving Grade 6 math scores on provincial EQAO tests and a higher graduation rate.
Superintendent of program Bill Torrens said the board had been optimistic about hitting the 75 per cent reading target at the start of the school year, but two events disrupted strategies to do so.
Teachers' job actions over a contract dispute with the province in the late fall and winter halted their formal professional learning and led to the cancellation of first-term report cards used for monitoring of student progress.
The coronavirus outbreak that closed all schools in March then led the board to focus more on helping educators to teach classes remotely, he said in a presentation to the board's program committee.
Torrens said although the Grade 1 reading results are disappointing, they are still up six percentage points from 2016-17 for nonpriority schools and 12 points for high-priority ones.
English-language learners also did as well or better than other students, he said while the 57 per cent of students with an individualized learning plan who got B-minus is up from 40 per cent two years ago.
On the downside, Torrens said, 56 per cent of students at nonpriority schools who didn't meet the standard in Grade 1 are having difficulty reading in Grade 2, with 70 per cent struggling to do so at high-priority schools.
The percentage of Grade 2s who still have difficulty reading after getting a B-minus in Grade 1 is far lower - nine per cent at nonpriority schools and 14 per cent at high priority ones.
Torrens said the board has a great sense of urgency" to close the reading gaps.
Acquiring reading skills early in the primary grades is critical, and if gaps are not closed there will be a long-term impact as this cohort of students moves towards graduation," he said.
Torrens said the news is better on the board's efforts to increase graduation rates, with a goal of a 83 per cent success rate - up one percentage point from the previous year - likely to be met for 2019-20 once the province releases results.
Improving Grade 6 math EQAO scores couldn't be measured because the annual test was cancelled due to COVID, but the number of students getting a B-minus on their June report card rose to 80 per cent, up three percentage points from the year before, he said.