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c saiji r 1jy- f 5- r r c economist suntribune education- saturday march 242001 students dramatize racial discrimination 3 tby kathleen griffin- z isiaff writer gender-based- results ofthe prpvihcial literacy test released late thursday by the province reveal a disturbing gap between boys and girls which has both york- region schooljboardscdncerned i grade 16 girls fared better than boys by more than 10 per cent s- only 63 percent of catholic school boys passed both the read- ing and writing components com- pared to 76 per cent of girls in the public schools 66 per cent of boys passed both reading and writing compared with 78 per cent of girls the gender gap becomes even more apparent when looking at stu dents who failed both reading and writing of the total catholic stu dents who failed 15 per ceritwere boys compared to eight per cent of girls numbers which when aver aged out equal the 12 per cent of total students who failed in the public boaid nine per cent of boys failed both compared to five per cent of girls equaling that boards seven per cent failure rate c our major concern is that we are again seeing the difference between boys and girls said barbara bodkin the york catholic district school board superinten dent of ciirriculum and assessment i bodkin noted several other sur- pnsingresiiltsgleahed from survey questions included in the test i morethari 95 per cent of york v region students have a home com- puter more than 83 per cent write board passed the test which sured reading arid wilting f skills based oh languageexpectatipns common to ausubjects v provincewide 61percent of students passed ross virgo spokesperson at the york region district school board said staff are still crunching the gen derrelated numbers having just received the data there hasnt been an opportunity for proper analysis as to why the num bers are the way they are he said there has been anecdotal and test evidence but never a uniform liter- acy testand never onewhich has shown a discrepancy of this magni tude staff photosjoerd witteveen the blue together were better dancers prepare to trash the red ones in a take on racism by these students at parkview public school in unionville on friday morning the assembly drama was part of the schools par ticipation in the international day for the elimination of racial discrimination system underfunded survey shows catholic teachers union poll suggests its the top concern of parents in ontario i outside of school by sending e wchatting on the internet arid more than 70 per cent of students jead internet material outside school salts obvious technology has ta part to play an enhanced role in our classrooms bridkiri said wewarit by kathleen griffin staff writer a recent survey of ontario par ents shows that jnqre than half think the provinces education sys tern is underfunded s fiftynine percent said the province isnot adequately funding public and catholic schools while 32 per cerit said they believe the sys tem is sufficiently funded eight per cent didnt know commissioned by the ontario english catholic teachers association i oecta vector research arid development asked v5q2adults to rank nine items in- orcler of importance to their chil- dreris education the results were quite astonish ing said oecta president jim to encourage a balance buy above smithwhen youboil itall down aifd beyond that is what appeals to j parents arefocusing on specific people -ft- v issues aboutthe quality of educa- cfovirallaccordirig to- number tkney dont fedare beingriiet released last week the p board ingu now by the government v performed slightly above lits expectations parents rank t- icatholic corintefpartwitk70 per highest include textbooksfor every jcenof tota 1 studaits irtlisp yvnprrphtacrp inrhmfs thrfcp shihpntkfirsaaaper cent cial needs studj amourirjof tihi rrecerif cimriiigrantistill tudyirig ak smdent86 per cent i cenglishasrsecwdlariagejv mebetween jor after classes to msixryhinevctceritbfsmdehtsm help to students 84 sizes thai do not exceed 25 students in primary grades and 22 in high school enough computers in the classroom for each child and no split grades smith said the provincial gov ernment practice of issuing letters of permission to people allowing them to teach without a certificate is undermining the entire system it laugh- j able he said the gqvern- ment is talking about standard- ized testing for teachers while it allows individu als with no teacher training in our class rooms elizabeth crowe chair of the york catholic district school board agreed the board has hired people under special letters of per- missiori from the province as it there is an issue around finding qualified teachers theyre just not there there are only so many graduating and we are in competition with other boards to hire those teachers hire those teachers she said adding her board has a limited amount of people teaching under letters of permission in fact the catholic board has 17 such individuals of its 3000 teach ers threequarters of which teach french as a second language in grades 13 which is a subject not available to those grades in public schools of the public boards 5000 teachers six peo ple are instruct ing under letters of permission these are instructors in technical areas what we used to call shop and in special language c ou r s e s explained spokesperson ross virgo crowe said in general the sur vey results arent a revelation thebqard has routinely strived also want to see class- struggles to find qualified teachers to provide textbooks for every child in technical arid computer science but with the new curriculum many areas- as well as filling supply texts arent available before teachers teacher demandst begin the course she said there is an issue around find- n crowealso pointed out parents ing qualified teachers theyre just may think the 2522 students per not therefhereafe only so many 7class is a maxifrium when in fact its graduating every year and we are in an average i t other boards to for every- class thats over theres a class that is under she said sometimes theres a larger class to avoid a split grade and sometimes theres not enough funding to avoid a split grade stouffville catholic parent anne salvagna said her biggest concern is the lack of support in the class room for both teachers and stu dents especially in laiger classes we need more support in the classroom we need helpers to give the kids oneonone attention when they need it and to take a load off the teachers daycares dont allow those high ratios so why do the schools meanwhile public board spokesman virgo said while his board hasnt commissioned such a survey itself the issues parents are concerned about are parallel general feedback from princi pals trustees and parents indicates 1 a number of york region parents share the same concerns he said but we would suggest the sur vey data needs to be interpreted carefully for example he saidstu dents sharing textbooks may be an appropriate and efficient solution in some cases but any core subject text like math or english we would agree the need is one textbook per stu dent and that is certainly the case in our board wwwyorkregioncom join in the discussions 0 announce your event find that special something vin the classifieds vs read your- faypritecqlumnist ttienemailittti afrierid