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agb3gbfrgaag i economistsunjtribune standardizedtest results thursday 72000 7 isjjviv 7 jvmth scores improving at ork region schools s by gianni colavecchia staff writer when it comes to math york regions public elementary schools have someof the brightest youngminds in v the province standardized tests show officials with the education quality and accountability office eqao have- released the results of standardized reading writing and math assessments taken by thousands of students in grades 3 and 6 one of the tests main findings is local scores are slowly improving in math i know as a board weve had signif- icant increases at grade 3 and 6 levels sharon craigen superintendentof cur- riculurn for the regions public school board said nearly 75 per cent of grade 3 stu dents here and more than 70 per cent of their grade 6 counterparts met or sur passed provincial standards in math roughly60 per cent of grade 3 and 6 students across boards in the- rest of ontario scored at or above those levels craigen noted the math stores of grade 3 students have risenby 11 per cent since 1998 mathscores of grade6 students have gone up by 8 percent since 1999 yj as in preyious years several trends have emerged from the testsadminis- tered by the eqao an independent agency that reports scores to ther province i one of those trends is the combined reading writing and math scores of schools in northern york region are not nearly as high as those of their counter- parts in the south v despite at least one statisticians con tention it is acceptable to average scores in the three subjects craigen said the board frowns upon the practice its like taking an apple and orange land pear together and sayingyoii have three pears she said if you want to get an average you have got to average three things thatare the same obtaining a total average doesnt really reflect the achievement of stu- dents inanything she added other areas of concern remain such as the fact boys are lagging behind girls by about 15 per cent this is just the beginning evalua tion officer daria iindsey said after a recent board meeting we have noticed that trend lindseyc couldnt pinpoint what accounts for the gender differences adding board offidalswilljeventualry investigate what sort of literature boys should be reading she called the results usefutbut warned against using them to rank schools echoing comments common among board officiate that-theycoiisti- tute only a snapshot of student learri- ihg v v we need to be cautious of compar- ing schools on a single assessment no matter how well it is designed she told trustees zvbesults from the assessments wriich tested nearly 300000mdsover five days last may are to be available in every public library in the region j- administrators at each school are to help forrri action plans based bnthe scoresand director of education bill hogarth has promised better things in v thefuture we know that we can improve he saidwe know that we will improve- by march the board is to releasea plan it hopes will address trouble areas m guides canada guides 4 du- zr- canada leaders wanted caufor details 1-800- 5658111 this message brought to you as a community service of the economisttnbune chronic back pain volunteers are needed for a clinical research study vitality suites 4792 hwy 7 e unionville 9054797778 gas prices are going up buy high efficiency and save aurora markham schools tie in tatfidlic board test results by gianni colavecchia staff writer the students at our lady bflgrace catholic school in aurora mightbe the lasrtpthink their testscores woiildjbe l region f in factnearly allthe grade 3 stu dents at grace mpt or exceeded provincial standards in math ematics vwith 94 per cent reaching those levels in reading and 8 perxent inyritingi overall that leaves our lady of grace tied with st patrick in markham jfor- first place in york region catholic scliool f v with a com- opined average of 93 per cent of stu- dents meeting or acwevingprovincial standards the york region catholic and public schoolboards released test scores for each school last weekj mackiuop- credits our lady of graces students with much of the schoqljs success- v l maciailbp5sai knowledgeable teachersiwhojare focused on stu- dent learning and parents who read to theirjkids take themto libraries and put them in afterschool clubs also deserve credit k john xxiii catholic elementary school in unionville was one of four schools in ontario that hadproblems getting test results back from eqao despite weeks of preparing and conducting the tests it has not received results for grade 6 students eqao officials had said they didnt receive multiplechoice booklets from the school and couldnt calculate the install now pay later with low monthly payments oac majestic hjhsheridaiu 4s heating air conditioning call 4714222 general cosmetic dentistry i forthe whole family scores butthe needed ihformationitumed up at the eqaos offices friday eqao spokesperson delia rollins said it flosing results is not common that is for sure she said results for4he school will likely be available nextweek she added t this is good news john xxiii prin- cipal maria alati said adding sheacoh- fident the results will be favourable most scores from her grade 3 and 6 students- on last years tests she explained were in the 70s and 80s well above provincial standards a this yeargrade students at the j schborachieved testyc6resofn73 73 and 64 in reading writing and math t thetestswere conducted in may and measured the performance of 300000 tts t ii including 4 orthodontics for children adults jaw joint tmj treatment 9054757600 v 18 crown steel drive wa 14ih ave t t electronic insurance filing yy homemedic doctors housecall service- 416 6517273 when you cant get out to see the doctot have the doctor come to see you this new service isnow available to residents of markham stoufrville unionville richmond hill and newmarket the doctors visit is covered by ohir v monday- saturday- t 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