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4 - The Oakville Beaver W eekend, Sunday November 11, 2001 Boys lag behind girls in reading and writing (Continued from page 1) though, is that between the two grades tested, 9-17% of students tested earlier this year were achieving at Level 1, well below standard, across the three subjects. Trustees and administrators were more interested in looking at the per formance of their own students over time. In terms of internal raw scores, com pared to the previous two years of Grade 3/6 testing in Halton, Finlay said students have made modest gains in most areas although boys continue to lag behind girls in all three subjects. Statistics from the last three testing years indicating those pupils achieving at Levels 3/4 shows females in both grades are ahead of their gender coun terparts in all three subjects, although the gap closed in math. "This difference in reading and writ ing abilities in boys and girls has been a concern o f educators," Finlay told trustees. "(But) improved literacy in boys should not be done at the expense of girls." Finlay said math instruction al materials like cubes and blocks may help boys, who researchers, he said, believe are aided by physical tools. Experts believe females gen erally have a better understand ing of abstract concepts, hence the higher scores in literacy and in comprehending written math problems. "It is said that a boy's lan guage development is 1-1 1/2 years behind a girl's," said Finlay, noting a delicate balance needs to be struck in terms of instructional methods. As for test specifics, Finlay told trustees some o f them would be challenged by the Grade 3 math questions. He later expanded on that state ment. "Some o f the questions are not only vague, but difficult, something we (older generation) did at a Grade 6 or 7 level. It's not that it's wrong to expect more, but not at the expense of kids being vilified if they don't do so," said Finlay. " It' s not based on any scientific knowledge I have, but I feel these tests are above the developmental level of kids. I wish some great psychologist would look at that. We' re putting our kids under tremendous pressure." -- Halton District School Board Chair Ethel Gardiner Education Director Dusty Papke said his personal view is that the tests are a good indica tor of trends at the board level over time, but are not a good tool to tell them how well all Ontario students are doing right now. "If you remember," Papke told trustees, "the first year the tests came out, Level 2 was the acceptable level. The next year, the government decided Level 3 was the acceptable standard." He said if Level 4 becomes the standard some day, it will O A K V I L L E «os) 845-6601 W IN TE R BY-LAW S P i) 2) l e a s e n o t e th e fo l l o w in g t w o r e q u ir e m e n t s By-law 1984-1 PROHIBITS parking o f vehicles on Town streets between 2:00 a.m. and 6:00 a.m. from November 15 to April 15. By-law 1973-18 states that No person shall thro w, place or deposit snow, ice or slush from private property onto any sidewalk, public highway or lane in the Town . Please co-operate by complying with these requirements so that our streets can be cleared quickly and efficiently and kept in a safe condition. R.G Green, P. Eng. Director o f Public Works make many more kids appear to be underachieving. "There is nothing that says innately or biologically that Level 3 is the level" that stu dents should be achieving, he said. Board chair Ethel Gardiner said she was intrigued by administration's use of a grading notation associated with the provincial achievement levels. Local figures equated Level 4 with an A mark, Level 3 with a B, Level 2 with a C and Level 1 with a D. In commenting on a C grade, Gardiner told trustees, "That was an acceptable level for many years. So, to have so many students achieving at Levels 3 and 4 is outstanding." Gardiner, a retired longtime teacher, still believes the provin cial tests are not appropriate. "It's not based on any scien tific knowledge I have, but I feel these tests are above the devel opmental level o f kids. I wish some great psychologist would look at that. 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