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•Th e IF P• H al to n H ill s • Th ur sd ay , O ct ob er 2 3, 2 01 4 10 Book a Tour See what our Retirement Lifestyle is all about 611 Farmstead Drive, Milton, ON., L9T 7Y8 Come Celebrate Life With Us!Come Celebrate Life With Us! Call to visit us 905-693-1419 Birkdale Place SENIORS COMMUNITY You'll Love us at Birkdale Place! It's our money back Promise* Tour 90% FULL Join us around the fireplace! Halton students are con- tinuing to perform above the provincial average in both math and literacy testing. Both the Halton Catho- lic District School Board (HCDSB) and Halton District School Board (HHDSB) re- cently released their results of the province-wide 2013-2014 EQAO Assessments for Grade 9 Mathematics, and the On- tario Secondary School Lit- eracy Test (OSSLT). Results show that 89 per cent of the HCDSB Grade 9 students met or exceeded the provincial standard in Aca- demic Math while 57 per cent of Grade 9 students met or surpassed the provincial stan- dard in Applied Math. In the case of Grade 9 HDSB students, 91 per cent achieved the provincial standard in Ac- ademic Math and 56 per cent met the provincial standard in Applied Math testing. "It is important to note that 85 per cent of our Grade 9 students met the provincial standard or a B grade or bet- ter, in their program of choice, either academic math or ap- plied math," says David Euale, Director of Education for the Halton District School Board. "Our teachers and program staff continue to focus on math instruction at both the elementary and secondary lev- els," said Euale. The 2013 Grade 9 Math- ematics Assessment was con- ducted in each semester of the last school year (2013-2014). Two versions of the test were administered-- one for stu- dents in the Grade 9 Applied Mathematics program and the other for students in the Grade 9 Academic Mathemat- ics Program. Each version was based on the Grade 9 ex- pectations for students in The Ontario Curriculum, Grades 9 and 10 Mathematics, which sets Level 3 as the provincial standard. The Ontario Secondary School Literacy Test (OSSLT) was conducted in April by the Education Quality and Ac- countability Office (EQAO). The test is based on the expec- tations for reading and writ- ing across all core subjects in the Ontario Curriculum up to the end of Grade 9. Successful completion of the OSSLT is one of the requirements lead- ing to an Ontario Secondary School Diploma. Overall, 91 per cent of the HCDSB secondary students who wrote the test for the first time successfully completed the assessment. The HDSB's success rate for students writing the test for the first time increased by one percentage point to 90 per cent, while the provincial av- erage was 83 per cent of stu- dents. "As literacy is a measured criteria for graduation, it is reassuring to know that 90% of our students have achieved this standard on their first at- tempt at the test," said Euale. "In addition to the success on first attempts at the test, results indicate that an addi- tional 314 students achieved the standard on their second attempt. This means that in the Grade 10 cohort, 97% of Halton students have met the literacy standard." "While this (both math and literacy results) is encourag- ing, we know that there is always room for growth," HCDSB Director of Educa- tion, Paula Dawson. "The success of our students is not measured merely in terms of test scores, and EQAO results are just one indication (or measure) of student achieve- ment that we will continue to use to identify strategies that enhance student learning across our district." ••••• For public school re- sults go to http://www. hdsb.ca/Newsroom/Docu- ments/2013-14%20EQAO%20 Gr.%209 ••••• For Catholic school results go to http://www.hcdsb.org/ News/Pages/2014-09-24-Hal- ton-Catholic-Secondary-Stu- dents-Outperform-the-Prov- ince-on-EQAO-Assessments- for-Mathematics.aspx Halton students ace math, literacy tests; above provincial average DAVID EUALE PAULA DAWSON