school deskReports on student Ontario Secondary School Literacy Test (OSSLT) achievement results for all Ontario schools and school boards are now available on EQAO’s Web site, www.eqao.com. A full provincial report on the OSSLT has also been released.

In 2015, 82% of students across the province who wrote the test for the first time were successful. This means that the vast majority of Grade 10 students were able to demonstrate the minimum literacy skills required.

Most students who were not successful on the test in Grade 10 also had not met the provincial reading and writing standards when they were in Grade 6.

While the percentage of students meeting the reading standard in Grade 6 has been steadily increasing for many years, new strategies are needed to support those who do not meet the standard, so they can turn their literacy struggles around by Grade 10.

Five years ago, 59% of students improved to be successful on the Grade 10 literacy test after having not met the reading standard in Grade 6. In 2015, that number has dropped to 48%.

EQAO tracks the progress of students as they advance from the junior-division (Grade 6) assessment to the OSSLT.

Each school’s Tracking Student Achievement report can be found by searching the school’s name, address or postal code on EQAO’s Web site, www.eqao.com.

On a local scale for Grade 10 testing, some Timmins area school boards saw significant jumps, but others saw decreases.

  • The Northeast Catholic District School Board saw the biggest jump, as 79% of students taking the test the first time passed.  This, up from 68% a year ago.
  • DSB-ONE went down slightly from 71% to 70%.
  • The French Catholic board (Conseil Scolaire Catholique de District des Grandes Rivieres) went from 95% to 96%
  • and the French public board (Conseil scolaire public du Nord-Est de l’Ontario) dropped off a bit, going from 90% to 84%

Of the 127,867 students who wrote the OSSLT for the first time in 2015,

  • 82% were successful (105,309);
  • almost 9 out of 10 female students (86%) were successful;
  • almost 8 out of 10 male students (78%) were successful;
  • more than 7 out of 10 (73%) English language learners were successful and
  • just over half (54%) of students with special education needs were successful.

The success rate on the OSSLT has remained high and stable for many years.

  • 2015—82%
  • 2014—83%
  • 2013—82%
  • 2012—82%
  • 2011—83%

CLICK HERE to see how other schools in the province did.