Hamilton public board below provincial average on first post-pandemic EQAO assessment

Fewer Hamilton public school students are meeting provincial standards in math, reading and writing than Catholic students.

Results from the Education Quality and Accountability Office (EQAO) assessment released last week show that, in all categories, the Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board (HWDSB) fell below the provincial average by up to 15 per cent. By contrast, the Hamilton-Wentworth Catholic District School Board (HWCDSB) met or surpassed provincial results in all reading, writing and math assessments, in some cases by eight per cent.

We do have work to do," said Sue Dunlop, HWDSB's associate director of learning services. The area where we're most concerned is in Grade 3."

At Hamilton's public board, Grade 3s struggled the most. Less than half (44 per cent) of HWDSB third-graders met provincial standards for math, compared with 59 per cent provincially. The percentage of students reading at or above the provincial standard was 66 per cent - seven percentage points below the province's 73 per cent, and 55 per cent of students met the writing standards, compared with 65 per cent at the province.

Those Grade 3 students, they were actually in Grade 1 in March of 2020 when we first had a provincial school closure," said HWDSB superintendent of program Bill Torrens. Grade 1 is a critical year in early reading and early mathematics."

Ontario schools were closed to in-person learning for several months combined during the pandemic and most educators say remote learning was a poor substitute.

A greater percentage of students met provincial standards in Grade 6, but still fell well below the provincial average. Forty-five per cent of Grade 9s, who write only a math assessment, met the standard, compared with 52 per cent provincially.

The HWDSB was one of several Ontario school boards that asked the province to pause the test another year out of concern for well-being of students and staff as they emerged from more than two years of pandemic disruption. Chair Dawn Danko suggested preparation may have been delayed while staff waited for a response.

Different boards may have spent different amounts of time and invested different energies into preparing students for the test," she said.

Unlike the public board, more Catholic board Grade 3s met the provincial standard than in any other category, including 81 per cent in reading, 73 per cent in writing and 62 per cent in math.

The disparity between boards isn't new. Catholic schools in Hamilton regularly outperform public schools in provincial assessments, as well as other indicators, like graduation rates.

Overall, more Catholic students met or exceeded provincial standards than in the rest of the province in 2021-22.

Catholic chair Pat Daly couldn't point to specific factors that might explain students' above-average success, but said the board is proud of students and equally as grateful for the tremendous service" of staff.

Clearly, the last few years, they have experienced Catholic education unlike any students before them," he said.

Ontario students wrote the oft-criticized test last year - the first assessment since before the pandemic.

Provincially, data shows fewer students met the standard (70 per cent and above) in the most recent assessment than in 2018-19.

But the format of the assessments has changed since 2019 and the results of the new digitized test aren't comparable to previous years, meaning educators can't use the data to to help determine pandemic impacts on learning. Instead, the most recent results will form a new baseline against which future cohorts will be measured.

Steven Reid, a faculty member at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at the University of Toronto, said there are several factors that could explain the discrepancy.

The very first thing that I always do is look at the demographic data," he said. When we look at the two boards, they're very, very different."

Hamilton's public board has about 27 per cent English language learners in Grade 3, 29 per cent in Grade 6 and 19 per cent in Grade 9, compared with between only five and eight per cent at the Catholic board.

Those boards are going to have very different journeys as they're attempting to support their students in their learning," he said, adding that it takes several years to become proficient in another language.

Reid said socioeconomics and learning abilities also play a role. Historically, the city's public board has had higher rates of students from low-income backgrounds. The public board also had a higher percentage of students with special needs participate in EQAO.

Choice may have something to do with it, as well. Wilfrid Laurier University's David Johnson, who has studied student achievement at Ontario public and Catholic schools, told The Spectator in 2014 that choosing Catholic school - over the default public school - implies a level of parent engagement, a factor in student achievement.

Reid points to similar Grade 10 Ontario Secondary School Literacy Test (OSSLT) results - 73 per cent at the public board and 74 per cent at the Catholic - as an indicator that the public board has been able to work with their students over time" and achieve similar results.

Reid said, globally, the gap has grown over the pandemic."

Those who are most affected by the pandemic and had the greatest learning loss during that time were students who are marginalized, have been historically marginalized," he said. This includes Black, Indigenous and racialized students, as well as those with learning disabilities and from lower socioeconomic backgrounds.

Kate McCullough is an education reporter at The Spectator. kmccullough@thespec.com