PUT TITLE HERELeading Student Achievement
Mary Jean Gallagher
Assistant Deputy Minister Student Achievement Division
Chief Student Achievement Officer of Ontario
Ministry of Education
Reach Every StudentMinistry of Education – Goals
• High levels of student achievement
• Reduced gaps in student achievement
• Increased public confidence in education
Reach Every Student – Four Pillars of Student Achievement/Student
Success
• Literacy• Numeracy• Program Pathways and Supports• Community, Culture and Caring – Character Education,
Parent Engagement, Student Voice, etc.
Student Achievement
• The work that we do…
• Together!
Primary (Grade 3) Junior (Grade 6)
◊ Girls ▲ All Students ■ Boys x ESL/ELL Students ж Special Needs Students
0
1 0
2 0
3 0
4 0
5 0
6 0
7 0
8 0
2 0 0 3 - 0 4 2 0 0 4 - 0 5 2 0 0 5 - 0 6 2 0 0 6 - 0 7 2 0 0 7 - 0 8
Perc
ent o
f stu
dent
s at
Lev
els
3&4
0
1 0
2 0
3 0
4 0
5 0
6 0
7 0
8 0
2 0 0 3 - 0 4 2 0 0 4 - 0 5 2 0 0 5 - 0 6 2 0 0 6 - 0 7 2 0 0 7 - 0 8
Per
cent
of s
tude
nts
at L
evel
s 3&
4
Reading
Primary (Grade 3) Junior (Grade 6)
◊ Girls ▲ All Students ■ Boys x ESL/ELL Students ж Special Needs Students
Writing
0
1 0
2 0
3 0
4 0
5 0
6 0
7 0
8 0
2 0 0 3 - 0 4 2 0 0 4 - 0 5 2 0 0 5 - 0 6 2 0 0 6 - 0 7 2 0 0 7 - 0 8
Perc
ent o
f stu
dent
s at
Lev
els
3&4
0
1 0
2 0
3 0
4 0
5 0
6 0
7 0
8 0
2 0 0 3 - 0 4 2 0 0 4 - 0 5 2 0 0 5 - 0 6 2 0 0 6 - 0 7 2 0 0 7 - 0 8
Per
cent
of s
tude
nts
at L
evel
s 3&
4
Mathematics
5 8 5 7
6 4 6 66 8 6 9 6 8
5 9 5 8
6 5 6 66 8 6 9 6 9
5 85 5
6 36 6
6 9 6 8 6 7
2 52 7
3 22 9
3 13 5 3 5
3 9 4 0
5 0 5 1 5 35 6
5 8
0
1 0
2 0
3 0
4 0
5 0
6 0
7 0
8 0
2 0 0 1 / 0 2 2 0 0 2 / 0 3 2 0 0 3 / 0 4 2 0 0 4 / 0 5 2 0 0 5 / 0 6 2 0 0 6 / 2 0 0 7 2 0 0 7 - 0 8
Y e a r
Perc
ent a
t Lev
els 3&
4
A l l s t u d e n t s G i r l s B o y s S p e c i a l E d u c a t i o n E S L / E L L S t u d e n t s
54 53
5760 61
5961
55 55
60 6062
6062
52 5256
60 59 5860
1618
20 21 21 2123
35 35
4144
46 47
51
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
2001/02 2002/03 2003/04 2004/05 2005/06 2006/2007 2007-08
Year
Perc
ent a
t Lev
els
3&4
All students Girls Boys Special Education ESL/ELL Students
Primary (Grade 3) Junior (Grade 6)
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
97-98 98-99 99-00 00-01 01-Feb 02-Mar 03-Apr 04-May 05-Jun 06-Jul 07-Aug
Reading Writing Math
Year-over-Year EQAO Test ResultsFrench Language Boards
Closing Gaps: Reducing the Number of Underperforming Elementary Schools
6%5%5%
7%
19%
14%
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
2002-03 2003-04 2004-05 2005-06 2006-07 2007-08
Schools with less than 34% of students achieving levels 3 and 4 in Grade 3 Reading
22
11
16
17
14
19
13
5
7
10
5
11
0
5
10
15
20
25
Grade 3 Reading Grade 3 Writing Grade 3Mathematics
Grade 6 Reading Grade 6 Writing Grade 6Mathematics
Pe
rce
nta
ge
of
Stu
de
nts
at
Le
ve
l 1
an
d b
elo
w
2002-03 2007-08
Raising the Bar: English Language StudentsReduction in Percentage of Students Achieving at the
Lowest Level in EQAO Assessments
20
11
14
11
10 1010
4
8
4
3
4
0
5
10
15
20
25
Grade 3 Reading Grade 3 Writing Grade 3 Mathematics Grade 6 Reading Grade 6 Writing Grade 6 Mathematics
2002-03 2007-08
Raising the Bar: French Language StudentsReduction in Percentage of Students Achieving at the
Lowest Level in EQAO Assessments
Getting to 75 – Almost there!EQAO Assessment Results - 2008
Reading Writing Mathematics
Proportion of students Level 3 or
higher
Difference between Level
3 and 2.7 to 2.9
Level 3 or higher
Difference between
Level 3 and 2.7 to 2.9
Level 3 or higher
Difference between
Level 3 and 2.7 to 2.9
English language Boards Grade 3 61% 12% 66% 20% 68% 14%
Grade 6 66% 13% 67% 18% 61% 14%
French-language Boards Grade 3 60% 16% 74% 14% 62% 17%
Grade 6 75% 13% 80% 11% 78% 12%
Getting to 75 - Almost there!Breakdown of Students Within Level 2
Grade 3 Reading Grade 3 Writing Grade 3 Math
% of Level 2 Students Achieving Scores from 2.7 to < 3
46%
69%
56%
Getting to 75 - Almost there!Breakdown of Students Within Level 2
Grade 6 Reading Grade 6 Writing Grade 6 Math
% of Level 2 Students Achieving Scores from 2.7 to < 3
54% 64
%
48%
Moving Student Achievement from 2.7 to 3
What is different about student achievement now?
• The number of students scoring below level 2 has reduced significantly. Of those in level 2, the number that are scoring just below level 3 (at or above 2.7, below 3) is large. This provides a significant opportunity to raise levels of student achievement and to further motivate the system to do so.
• These students perform well on less demanding reading comprehension tasks such as, “Understanding explicitly stated information in a reading selection”, or “conventions of language”.
Common Themes in Effective Schools
• Organizational Culture
• Focus
• Leadership
• Assessment and Use of Data
• Links Beyond the School
Lessons Learned
Ministry of Education – SupportsLeadership Development• For Teacher Leaders• For SEF & SS Leaders• For Principals• For Senior Administration• For PAL
Developing Expertise • in Gathering, Analyzing and Interpreting Data – Misa
Leaders
Resources K – 12
• Monographs, Newsletters• DVDs, Webcasts• Differentiated Instruction Kits• ELL Guides• Guides to Effective Instruction for literacy and
math
Ministry of Education - Supports
Engagement
• Student
• Parent
Ministry of Education - Supports
Ministry of Education - Supports
School Effectiveness Framework – Student Success Action Planning Framework
• Setting Goals Collectively• Promoting Professional Learning Communities• Distributive Leadership• Accountability for Results
Going Forward – Continuity, Ingenuity, Synergy
• Collaboration and continuity in our approach to K-12 student achievement and capacity building
• Increasing partnerships to leverage improvement among neighbouring boards and schools
• More support for boards with low performance across elementary and secondary schools
• More supports for low performing and static schools • More classroom-based instructional and assessment
supports through coaching in differentiated instruction, teaching learning critical pathways
Leadership Activities in LNS• Capacity-building series – webcasts and monographs
- Each webcast has a leadership component that addresses the work of supervisory officers, principals and/or teacher leaders
• Leading Student Achievement project (LSA)- LSA involves networks of learning to support the instructional leadership role of
the principal• Ontario Focused Intervention Partnership (OFIP)
- OFIP is a whole-school approach to school improvement that focuses on distributed leadership• Leader-to-Leader
- A commitment by Premier McGuinty to personally engage a small number of elementary principals in discussions about successful practices as well as the challenges that schools face when trying to improve student achievement
• School Effectiveness Framework (SEF)- The SEF provides province-wide criteria for effective instruction and outlines what leaders
need to do to support instruction and pedagogy
“I slept and dreamed that life was happiness.
I awoke and saw that life was service.
I served and found that in service, happiness is found.”
Tagore