MEDIA RELEASE

NIAGARA CATHOLIC CONTINUES COMMITMENT
TO IMPROVING STUDENT LITERACY

Niagara Catholic continues to celebrate student achievement with the release of the Ontario Secondary School Literacy Test (OSSLT) March 2102 results. Grade 10 students in all publicly funded secondary schools, including Niagara Catholic, wrote the test in March 2012.

The Board is pleased to announce that 86 per cent of Niagara Catholic’s students who fully participated in the OSSLT were successful. Across Ontario, 82 per cent of students successfully completed the test. The Niagara Catholic Board Improvement Plan for Student Achievement continues to focus on the improvement of literacy for all students by identifying strengths, target areas and strategies for improvement, so that all students can learn, progress and achieve in school.

“Niagara Catholic students consistently meet or exceed the provincial averages for EQAO testing,” said Board Chair Kathy Burtnik. “We commend all of our schools for the effort put forward by staff and students toward a successful outcome on this test. We remain committed to helping guide students toward ongoing improvement will use the data from this test to improve student achievement.”

“This is proof that the many learning strategies our teachers employ to increase literacy have been effective,” said Mr. Crocco. “I congratulate everyone who had a hand in this success, from the staff who worked to help our students achieve their potential, to the parents who supported these initiatives at home and, of course, the students who worked so hard to prepare for this test. The results shown in these tests, as with all standardized testing, are a snapshot of a student’s performance on a given day. We are very proud of the hard work and dedication to continually deliver Catholic educational excellence by our staff and the performance of our students. We will continue to review the results and share best practices throughout our system to assist our students to perform to the highest possible level.”

Ontario Secondary School Literacy Test (OSSLT) 2012, Niagara Catholic results >>

-30-

Contact: John Crocco, Director of Education
Issued by: Jennifer Brailey, Manager Corporate Services & Communications
Date: June 13, 2012