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6- The Oakville Beaver, Friday September 19, 2008 www.oakvillebeaver.com OPINION & LETTERS The Oakville Beaver 467 Speers Rd., Oakville Ont. L6K 3S4 (905) 845-3824 Fax: 337-5567 Classified Advertising: 845-3824, ext. 224 Circulation: 845-9742 Editorial and advertising content of the Oakville Beaver is protected by copyright. Unauthorized use is prohibited. THE OAKVILLE BEAVER IS PROUD OFFICIAL MEDIA SPONSOR FOR: NEIL OLIVER Vice ­ President and Group Publisher of Metroland West The Oakville Beaver is a division of IAN OLIVER President Media Group Ltd. DAVID HARVEY General Manager JILL DAVIS Editor in Chief ROD JERRED Managing Editor DANIEL BAIRD Advertising Director RIZIERO VERTOLLI Photography Director SANDY PARE Business Manager MARK DILLS Director of Production MANUEL GARCIA Production Manager CHARLENE HALL Director of Distribution ALEXANDRIA ANCHOR Circ. Manager Testing the results The fact that one-in-three Ontario Grades 3 and 6 students are not achieving the provincial standard in reading, writing and math seems like something more parents and educators should be concerned about. More disturbing is that nearly 66 per cent of Ontario Grade 9 students tested for Applied Mathematics did not achieve the provincial standard. Halton Catholic students fared only slightly better with 59 per cent of those tested last May failing to attain or surpass the provincial standard. Each time the provincial Education Quality and Accountability Office (EQAO) releases results for the province's publicly-funded school boards, the emphasis seems to be on what's right with our education system rather than what's not. The EQAO's own website ­ www.eqao.com -- offers the bold statement that "40 per cent of students who did not meet the (provincial) reading standard when in Grade 3, did in Grade 6." However, that means that 60 per cent of those same underachieving students continued to score lower than the standard for reading. A news release issued this week by Halton's public board emphasizes how the board's results continue to exceed the provincial average. What isn't given much attention is the significant percentage of Halton students tested last spring who did not achieve the provincial standard. While we certainly understand why there might be a tendency by school boards and the province to accentuate the positive results of these tests, we wonder what is to become of the students who seem to be struggling to make the grade. While it is true that the Halton District School Board results exceeded the provincial average for all three grades, between 18-54 per cent of Halton public school students tested are not achieving the provincial standard. The latest EQAO results leave us arriving at one of two conclusions -- either the provincial standard has been set unreasonably high or an alarmingly high number of Ontario students are not learning what they should be. The EQAO offers the following six questions for parents to ask their school administrators to help them better understand their school's results: · What percentage of my school's students have met the provincial standard in reading, writing and/or math? · What has the school's trend been in each of these subjects over the past five years? · If there is no clear trend in my school's results, is it because only a small number of students are writing the test each year? For example, if only 10 students wrote the test in a given year, a single student can be the difference between the school showing 60 per cent and 70 per cent of students meeting the standard. · How do the trends and current results of my school compare to those of my school board and the province? · How do my school's demographics compare to those of the school board or the province? · What is my school's improvement plan for reading, writing and math? We would respectfully offer one additional question: How exactly are EQAO tests improving my child's education? LETTERS TO THE EDITOR The Oakville Beaver welcomes letters from its readers. Letters will be edited for clarity, length, legal considerations and grammar. In order to be published all letters must contain the name, address and phone number of the author. Letters should be addressed to The Editor, Oakville Beaver, 467 Speers Rd., Oakville, ON, L6K 3S4, or via e-mail to editor@oakvillebeaver.com. The Beaver reserves the right to refuse to publish a letter. Election call broke promise When the Tories first suggested legislation that would pre-set election dates, I actually thought it was a good idea. Prime Minister Stephen Harper is reported as saying at the time, "Fixed election dates prevent governments from calling snap elections for shortterm political advantage. They level the playing field for all parties and the rules are clear for everybody." Well, obviously, not that clear to Harper. What has changed? Are they breaking their own law? And talking about level playing fields, in my rule book, that means everyone starts the race at the same time, not with one team starting its advertising campaign weeks ahead because of insider information. Nothing equal there. As for the aggressive, abusive tactics of bashing the opposition, surely we can do better. Novel idea -- how about talking about the issues? The last thing we need right now is the expense of another election. No, what we need is a government that is truly invested in what Canadians care about -- health care, the economy, environment, arts and culture, and bringing our soldiers home -- alive. What can we do? First -- get out and vote. Second, use your vote to show Harper that we won't tolerate a government that can't even stick to its own rules. ANNE DAY Pud BY STEVE NEASE snease@haltonsearch.com The Oakville Beaver is a member of the Ontario Press Council.The council is located at 80 Gould St.,Suite 206,Toronto,Ont.,M5B 2M7.Phone 416-340-1981.Advertising is accepted on the condition that, in the event of a typographical error, that portion of advertising space occupied by the erroneous item, together with a reasonable allowance for signature, will not be charged for, but the balance of the advertisement will be paid for at the applicable rate.The publisher reserves the right to categorize advertisements or decline.