Ottawa Carleton District School Board

On 28 September 2023, the Education Quality and Accountability Office (EQAO) publicly released the results of the provincial assessments conducted during the 2022-2023 school year. This is the second set of annually released provincial assessment data since several changes in administration of the assessment, and the establishment of a new baseline in 2021-2022. Both datasets are based on a destreamed mathematics curriculum, the new EQAO assessment frameworks, changes in reporting (with percentage calculations based on all participating students, rather than all eligible), and electronic administration of EQAO assessments.

As of 12 October 2023, board and school level results are publicly available on the EQAO website. The tables below summarize last year’s EQAO results across the different assessments for all students (Table 1), multilingual learners (Table 2), and students with special education needs (Table 3). Results from the previous school year (2021-2022) are also provided for comparison.

Observations

• The OCDSB’s EQAO achievement results are largely on par with results across the province. The percentage of students meeting or exceeding the provincial standard in elementary (i.e., achieving level 3 or 4) ranges from 1% below the province to 2% above. OCDSB secondary results are slightly higher than the province; however, previously-eligible OSSLT data should be interpreted with caution (as explained in considerations below).
• Compared with 2021-2022, OCDSB results tend to show a small decrease (0-2%) for reading and writing in elementary, and grade 9 math. There was no change in elementary math and a 2% increase in first-time eligible OSSLT.
• Elementary participation rates have increased, serving as evidence of our commitment to increase learning opportunities for all students.
• Students with special education needs continue to outperform their provincial counterparts across all EQAO assessments.
• An area of focus for future work is ensuring additional support for our multilingual learners in elementary, with particular attention at the grade 3 level. In secondary, OCDSB multilingual learners outperformed their provincial counterparts, most notably on the OSSLT.

Considerations

• A critical consideration when interpreting this EQAO assessment data is the learning context over the past few years. It is important to consider the learning journeys for these cohorts of students, taking into account their experiences and the potential impact on their achievement scores.
• Participation rates are an important consideration, as cohort size can also influence achievement trends. For example, the most recent OSSLT data compared with 2021-2022 needs to be interpreted very cautiously, as the cohort of previously-eligible students in 2021-2022 had nearly 2000 more students than 2022-2023 (given the impact on the timing/availability of the assessments during the pandemic).
• Historically, our best practice when using EQAO assessment data has been to use three- to five-year averages in order to account for fluctuations due to cohort differences. However, since the changes to the assessment and the establishment of a new baseline, we only have two years of data. As we move forward and continue data collection through EQAO assessments we will be able to return to our former practice of multi-year averages for more robust analysis.

Using this Data to Support Student Learning:

• This data will play an important role in identifying trends to inform specific strategies in support of student learning. In collaboration with central departments, the Research, Evaluation, & Analytics Department (READ) will work to ensure that school administrators can derive comprehensive insights from their school-level data. This may include analysis of EQAO performance by math strands and skills, perceptual data, cohort tracking, alignment with report card data, etc. This can inform targeted and personalized support for students and staff, fostering a more effective learning environment.

In the coming weeks, staff will be working on an Update on Student Learning which will be presented to the Board of Trustees. Additional information will be available at that time, providing an important opportunity for discussion about student learning.