Ontario schools have failed to boost the academic achievement of most students deemed “at risk” or “vulnerable” in kindergarten by the time they reach Grade 3, shows a study released today by Ontario’s student testing agency.
The study by the Education Quality and Accountability Office (EQAO) showed nearly one in three, or 29%, of Ontario kindergarten students were considered vulnerable or at risk in language and cognitive development, measured against a checklist of 40 different skills, including letter and number recognition, and ability to read and write simple words. By the time they reached Grade 3 however, 70% of students considered vulnerable and 51% of students deemed at risk did not meet Ontario’s standard on Grade 3 reading tests.
“Many students who are vulnerable or at risk can and do go on to meet the provincial standard in Grade 3. However, many more don’t, so [this is] drawing attention to continued focus on that,” said Michael Kozlow, EQAO’s director of data and support services.
Some students in risk categories in kindergarten – 30% of those in the “vulnerable” group, and 49% in the “at risk” group – overcame those weaknesses and caught up to the provincial reading standard by Grade 3. But 25% of students considered on track in kindergarten did not meet the provincial reading standard by Grade 3.
The findings were based on a comparison of results from an assessment of 72,000 senior kindergarten students using the Early Development Instrument — a school readiness measure — with those same students’ later achievement on Ontario’s Grade 3 provincial tests. Researchers at EQAO and McMaster University used information collected from the EDI between 2005 and 2008, and compared them with Grade 3 test results between 2008 and 2011.
Other findings in the study showed that more boys than girls were labelled low on the school readiness scale, as were students born later in the calendar year and students still learning English.
Ontario’s education ministry pointed out the report’s results predated the provincial Liberal government’s all-day kindergarten program, which began in 2010.
If they’re not doing anything differently, if they’re not putting in proper reading programs, then they’re just doing more of the same but expecting a different result
Education minister Liz Sandals said in a statement that the EQAO report “provides compelling evidence of the importance of full-day learning for our youngest students,” and that research has shown the program promotes “a higher level of skill” in several learning areas.
But the results should be a warning about the limits of the full-day kindergarten program, said Doretta Wilson, executive director of the Society for Quality Education, a back-to-basics advocacy group.
The all-day program’s curriculum, “is just an expanded version of what’s already happening in kindergartens,” said Ms. Wilson. “If they’re not doing anything differently, if they’re not putting in proper reading programs, then they’re just doing more of the same but expecting a different result.”