March 2nd, 2015

The Waterloo Region District School Board believes that the recently released Fraser Institute’s Report Card on Ontario’s Secondary and Elementary Schools provides an incomplete and inaccurate view of our schools.

EQAO results are not intended to be used to rank schools. Instead, they assist school and board staff to identify areas of improvement for student learning and achievement in reading, writing and math.

Our Board is proud of our comprehensive curriculum and we are proud of all of our staff and students who work very hard to achieve success not only in reading, writing, and math, but with critical thinking, problem-solving, and character development.

We feel that using only EQAO results to rank schools undermines the richness of school communities, discourages staff, and diminishes the efforts of students. We believe that any assessment of school quality should include a complete picture of all programs and features of a school, and take into account many important factors such as demographics and context.

EQAO has produced The Power of Ontario’s Provincial Testing Program, a document that provides information on the many ways EQAO data is used to support student learning.