Today, Jill Dunlop, Minister of Education, issued the following statement on the provincial Education Quality and Accountability Office (EQAO) assessment results:
“Today’s EQAO results show that, after years of disruption to foundational classroom learning resulting from the pandemic, student learning in Ontario is stabilizing as our government’s focus on core learning and practical skills development begins to be felt. We can see that Ontario students are benefiting from our government’s back-to-basics approach, including over $165 million in investments to support literacy and math, as well as the steps we have taken to avoid labour unrest so students can remain in the classroom.
Our government has added thousands of educators since 2017-18, including nearly 3,500 educational assistants and almost 3,000 teachers. We’ve also led the country in banning cell phones in classrooms this school year to help students avoid disruption and focus on the material at hand. As a result, we have already heard from educators telling us their students have been more focused on learning and embracing face-to-face interactions with their peers.
To help more students succeed in reading and writing, we have modernized the language curriculum with an emphasis on ensuring students at an early age can master basic literacy skills. This curriculum, which was updated in 2023 for the first time since 2006, includes foundational instruction to support reading and writing, critical thinking and digital media literacy skills.
The most recent results also show continued progress in students’ math skills, which was an area of focus last year, with improved test scores recorded across all age groups over the past two years. Notably in 2023-24, Limestone District School Board and Conseil scolaire catholique Nouvelon achieved 14 and 10 percentage point increases respectively in Grade 3 math results and Bruce-Grey Catholic District School Board achieved a 12 percentage point increase in Grade 6 math results. These examples will provide important evidence as we continue to fully implement measures aimed at strengthening students’ core skills in the coming years.
As we look ahead, we remain focused on implementing these curriculum changes in a manner that helps Ontario students get back to the basics, with the practical knowledge, life skills and jobs skills they need to succeed in and out of the classroom.”