York Region students make the literacy grade

September 30, 2015 · 0 Comments

Students from the York Catholic District School Board (YCDSB) continue to outpace their provincial counterparts when it comes to literacy, according to results from the province’s secondary school literacy test.

Test results show York Catholic students exceeded the Ontario average by six per cent as 88 per cent of students who wrote the test for the first time were successful, compared to the provincial average of 82 per cent.

“Our Board is proud of our long-standing record of achievement,” said Elizabeth Crowe, Chair of the YCDSB. “I believe the degree of success of our Grad 10 students have attained in this literacy test is largely a result of the solid foundation in reading and writing York Catholic Students build in the earlier grades. For that, I thank all of our students, teachers, staff, parents, parishes, and community partners for their contributions to our school system as a whole.”

The test measures reading and writing skills based on the Grade 9 curriculum. This year, 4,467 students in the board were able to take the test for the first time. 97 per cent wrote the test and 88 per cent of these students were successful.

Students in the York Region District School Board (YRDSB) also fared well with the test. Of the 8,367 high school students eligible to take the test for the first time, 90 per cent were successful, compared to the Provincial average.

“Our Board is so pleased to see our students continue to perform above the Provincial average,” said Anna DeBartolo, Chair of the YRDSB. “We believe this success is a result of the strong partnerships with parents and members of our school community, combined with our continued focus on student achievement and wellbeing.”

Added Director of Education J. Philip Parappally: “YRDSB continues to inspire learning within our schools and we’re so proud of our students’ and Boards’ strong record of achievement.”