More grads, better math test scores priorities for school board

Public board vows to improve bottom third ratings with ‘lofty’ new goals

WATERLOO REGION — The public school board has set “lofty” targets in a bid to graduate more students and improve poor math scores.

By 2019, the board with 61,000 students is pledging to:

Raise the graduation rate to 85 per cent, matching the current Ontario graduation rate;

Raise math scores on each of three standardized tests by 24 percentage points.

This would lift local students well above current Ontario results for Grades 3 and 6 and 9 (applied math).

“That is going to be a stretch,” trustee Scott McMillan said about the graduation target. “Congratulations for having the courage to put that number out there,” he told senior educators.

“It’s better to shoot high and miss by a little bit.”

“I have been around long enough to have been excited before and not see the results,” trustee Ted Martin said. “I think it’s really good that we have set such high goals.”

Board chair Kathleen Woodcock praised the “very lofty goals” and said “I think we can do it.”

Students at the Waterloo Region District School Board graduate at a rate in Ontario’s bottom third, with 20 per cent not getting a diploma within five years.

“We all agree this isn’t acceptable,” said Lila Read, a senior superintendent.

Meanwhile, elementary students test in the bottom third with 36 per cent failing to meet provincial standards across reading, writing and math.

Setting hard targets is a sea change for a board without them. But students are drifting further behind their Ontario peers in a community selling itself as an education champion. The board will use evidence and data to set goals, assess practices, measure progress and be held accountable.

The Waterloo Catholic District School Board recently abandoned board-wide testing targets after missing 17 of 27 targets it set between 2013 and 2015.

“We’ve really tried to get away from one-size-fits-all achievementlevel targeting,” spokesperson John Shewchuk said. Targets now vary by school. To help reach its targets, the public board is narrowing its top priorities to math, graduation rates, and the well-being of staff and students. Educators pledge to examine the methods of successful schools and school boards.

“We believe that we can learn from other boards, and they can also learn from us,” education director John Bryant said.

Ottawa may be a good place to look. A decade ago, its public elementary students matched this region’s public students in standardized tests. Today, Ottawa students test eight points higher across reading, writing and math.