Area students have once again proven themselves well in province-wide testing conducted by the Education Quality and Accountability Office last year in the areas of math, reading, writing and literacy.

More than 400,000 students across Ontario in Grades 3, 6 and 9 took the EQAO tests. Students in Grade 3 and 6 took the tests in reading, writing and math, while students in Grade 9 took the math and literacy tests.

When examining the results on a board-by-board basis, students in the French language Catholic board not only outperformed their peers in the Ottawa’s English public and English Catholic school boards, they out-performed students across the province.

Grade 3 students in the Conseil des écoles catholiques du Centre-Est (CECCE) scored five per cent higher than the provincial average for French language school boards in Ontario in math, six per cent higher in reading and 10 per cent higher in writing.

Meanwhile, CECCE students in Grade 6 scored six per cent higher than the provincial average in math, one per cent higher in reading and eight per cent higher in writing.

Students enrolled in the Ottawa Catholic School Board (OCSB) also outpaced their provincial counterparts.The results are much Grade 3 students in the OCSB scored six per cent higher in math than the average result among English language schools in the province, four per cent higher in reading and seven per cent higher in writing.

Grade 6 students in the OCSB scored two per cent higher in math, four per cent higher in reading and five per cent higher in writing.

The test results among students in the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board (OCDSB) were generally on par with the provincial average for both Grade 3 and Grade 6.

Grade 3 students scored one per cent higher than the provincial average in math, were even in reading and were two points lower in writing. The Grade 6 students scored two per cent higher in math, but were one point lower in both reading and writing.

As for Orléans, students at several area schools managed to outpace the provincial average, including at Chapel Hill Catholic School where the Grade 3 test results were 21 per cent higher than the provincial aver-age in math and 15 per cent higher in reading and 25 per cent higher in writing.

The Grade 6 test results were 17 per cent higher than the provincial average in math, four per cent higher in reading and just two per cent lower in writing.

Students at Convent Glen Catholic School also turned in some impressive results. The Grade 3 students scored 19 per cent higher than the provincial average in reading and 12 per cent higher in both math and writing, while the Grade 6 students scored 15 per cent higher in math, nine per cent highr in reading and three per cent higher in writing.

The top two schools in the OCDSB were Maple Ridge Elementary School and Orléans Wood Elementary School.

Grade 3 students at Maple Ridge scored 16 per cent higher than the provincial average in math, 18 per cent higher in reading anfd 10 per cent higher in writing, while the
Grade 6 students scored 13 per cent higher than the provincial average in math, 10 per cent higher in reading and 15 per cent higher in writing.

Meanwhile, students in Grade 3 at Orléans Wood ES scored 18 per cent higher than the provincial average in all three disciplines. No test results were available for the Grade 6 students.

But not all schools fared as well, some tests results were well below both the board and provincial average, especially when it came to the math scores.

Two schools, Avalon Public and Convent Glen Elementary, only had 30 per cent of their Grade 3 students meet or exceed the provincial average in math compared to 50 per cent province wide, while at Trillium Elementary School in Fallingbrook only 38 per cent of the Grade 6 students who took the test met or exceeded the provincial average.

Teachers and administrators use the test results to focus on areas where there is an obvious deficiency. It also aids them in allocating resources to those schools where help may be needed. .