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Friday, January 3, 2014 The Northern Connector
Superintendent’s report shows student improvements By Martina Perry
THE NORTHERN CONNECTOR
PRINCE RUPERT - The annual Superintendent’s Report was reviewed at the December monthly school board meeting, with the report showing increases in Prince Rupert students’ English grades, but decreases in mathematics. The report highlights the school district’s achievements for the school year and identifies what the district is doing to address areas with unsatisfactory achievement. “The board of education is excited with the improvements our students have made. This is reflective of the hard work that goes on in classrooms every day to help advance our students. It also demonstrates that while we’ve done great there’s still work to be done,” Prince Rupert school board chair Tina Last said. The Prince Rupert School District believes its focus on ear-
ly learning is helping improve the number of younger students meeting or exceeding expectations expectations for reading. The report included Grade 4 foundation skills assessment (FSA) results to prove the theory, with the number of Grade 4 students meeting or exceeding expectations in the reading FSA test being 71 per cent this school year, up from 66 per cent in 2011/2012. The number of Grade 4 aboriginal students meeting or exceeding expectations in the reading FSA has also increased to 63 per cent, up from 61 in 2011/2012. However, FSA reading results for Grade 7 students remain an area of concern for the school district, with only 48 per cent of students meeting or exceeding expectations. But Grade 7 students meeting or exceeding in the Writing FSA has improved. 65 per cent of all
“This is reflective of the hard work that goes on in classrooms every day to help advance our students”. School board chair Tina Last
students performed well on the assessment, which is up from 57 per cent the previous year. A total of 55 per cent of aboriginal students are ahead of the
provincial average, up from 44 per cent in 2011/2012. Results are now slightly above the provincial average. The trend of improvement in English skills continued with older students, with 94 per cent of Grade 10 students meeting or exceeding expectations in the blended final marks for English, up two per cent from the previous year. English 10 blended final marks for aboriginal students are very close to the provincial average for aboriginal students at 89 per cent, up from 86 in 2011/2012. To ensure advances pursue, Faye Brownlie will continue to work with Grade 4 to 12 teachers to support literacy development and reading, writing and thinking connections. Additionally, Fiona Morrison is doing workshops within the district to help support teachers in improving literacy instruction to primary and kindergarten students. While Prince Rupert students
are making way in English aspects of their learning, improvements in mathematics needs to be seen. Grade 4 numeracy FSA results show that only 47 per cent of students are meeting or exceeding expectations, which is down from 57 per cent last year. The number of Grade 7 students meeting and exceeding the provincial average in numeracy FSA is up from 41 per cent last year to 48 per cent, however this is still below the provincial average. Furthermore, Pre-Calculus Mathematics results at the Grade 10 level are not close to provincial averages. To aim for better results in mathematics next year, the district is working with teachers and offering workshops with Carol Fullerton that will focus on improving instruction in mathematics. “The board of education is confident that we will continue to improve the results of our students,” Last said.
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