Media
Release from the Society for Quality Education
TORONTO – September 13, 2006
Again Ontario’s provincial test results indicate the need for dramatic changes to instruction of those essential basic skills in the early grades. Many boards showed no significant changes to achievement at best and some even appeared to get worse.
"The EQAO test results suggest that any improvement is happening at such a glacially-slow pace that it will be at least another six years before 75 per cent of students meet the standard. And is 75 per cent really something to celebrate? It still means that 25 per cent of Ontarians are unable to take full advantage of our rich and vibrant society," restated SQE President Malkin Dare.
“Effective teaching techniques are essential for success,” added the Society’s Executive Director Doretta Wilson. Schools that were successful in improving appeared to spend more uninterrupted time on direct instruction of basic skills.
Research shows that a systematically taught phonics program is the best way for young children to learn to read. SQE’s Stairway to Reading is a good example of such a method. The Society makes STR available free on its website so that parents and teachers can use it to help their children with reading difficulties.
The Society for Quality Education is a charitable, non-profit organization dedicated to providing facts about quality education. The Society works to advance public and private education in Canada by disseminating authoritative information on educational governance and methodology. The Society is funded entirely by private donations. More information can be found at www.societyforqualityeducation.org
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