Good News or Bad News?

TORONTO – August 29, 2011

The Society for Quality Education asks whether you want to hear the good news first or the bad news about the EQAO Provincial test results?

“The good news is that Ontario students continue to creep ahead in reading and writing at a snail’s pace” said Doretta Wilson, SQE executive director, “But the bad news is that math continues to challenge far too many.”

The EQAO testing agency’s site states that “Students who do not meet the provincial standard early in their schooling are most likely to continue not meeting the standard in later grades.”

“Education research shows quite clearly only a small minority of children who struggle with Grade 3 manage to catch up to their peers; most fail to make significant improvement and continue to struggle even years later. It would be much easier and less costly to nip learning problems in the bud than to try and fix them after the fact,” said Wilson. “It’s time to practice the preventative medicine—use proven effective teaching methods from the start.”

SQE has long recommended early direct instruction in systematic, explicit phonics to beginning readers and sequential direct instruction in mathematics.

The Society for Quality Education is dedicated to the significant improvement of student learning in Canada . SQE makes available a free remedial reading program and math practice materials as a public service. We invite the public to visit our website www.societyforqualityeducation.org to learn more.