School District Students Need Boost in Reading and Numeracy

Wednesday, October 24, 2007 03:58 AM

Prince George, B.C. - According to the results of this year's Foundation Skills Assessment, many Grade 4 and 7 students in School District 57 need improvement with their reading and numeracy skills. Provincially, students are doing well at writing and math, while reading skills could be improved.

The Foundation Skills Assessment (FSA) is designed and developed by B.C. educators and measures the performance of students in grades 4 and 7 in reading, writing and math. Approximately 85,000 students participated last May.

Education Minister Shirley Bond"FSA results are valuable because educators can use them to identify where to help students improve," said Bond. "It's clear that we need to help students improve their reading. We will continue to work with school districts to ensure they have district literacy plans in place to support individual student success."

Provincial results for students meeting or exceeding expectations in writing remained at 90 per cent for Grade 4 students, with results for girls, Aboriginal and ESL students improving by one per cent over last year. Eighty-six per cent of Grade 7 students are meeting or exceeding expectations in writing, down one per cent from last year, but up seven per cent from 2002/03.

For the Prince George Schools, the top two graphs shown here, show the participation rate this year is better than last, the second row of graphs shows the performance over time, and it shows that grade four students are meeting or exceeding expectations for writing, but grades and four and seven students have slipped when it comes to reading and numeracy.

Provincially , other results showed:
* Overall, 82 per cent of Grade 7 students are meeting or exceeding expectations in math, a decrease of two per cent from last year.
* 86 per cent of Grade 4 students are meeting or exceeding expectations in math, which is the same as last year; the results for Grade 4 girls is up one per cent from last year, to 86 per cent, while the results for Grade 4 boys went down two per cent to 86.
* In reading, 77 per cent of Grade 4 students are meeting or exceeding expectations, a decrease provincially of three per cent over last year but the same as in 2002/03.
* 72 per cent of Grade 7 students are meeting or exceeding expectations in reading this year compared to 73 per cent last year and 77 per cent in 2002/03.

This year's FSA results are available at www.bced.gov.bc.ca/reporting/achieve/fsa-bas.php online.

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Posted on Wednesday, October 24, 2007 03:58 AM in News by 250 News

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Comments

Posted by: camoose on October 24 2007 12:02 PM

Whatever happened to the "Three Rs" Reading, Riting & Rithmatic. You do the numeracy. Politically correct I am not.

Posted by: northman on October 24 2007 2:59 PM

Want to stump a kid these days just ask them to handwrite a paragraph.

Posted by: Andyfreeze on October 24 2007 4:16 PM

I used to have young graduates working in my business before I retired and I can honestly tell you,many of them were in fact almost illiterate.
And they were graduates!!
Spelling was like nothing I have ever seen or read, and most times you couldn't read it because they could hardly write!
Most of them could not write,they could only print and not all that well either.
Some of the girls were not bad at printing but spelling?...forget it!
It was a real problem.
Guess they must have been absent on the day they taught that at school.
Our education system is failing badly because of programs and lack classes that are no longer taught.
If I was the Minister of Education,I would be a bit embarrassed,but hey,she is a politician so not much chance of that!

Posted by: DanSet on October 24 2007 9:08 PM

I studied to become a Certified Education Assistant... During my practicum at a secondary school I suggested the 12th grade student who was reading a 3rd grade "chapter book" to me sound out the word instead of "sight reading" it. He was thrilled at his success with the process. I was reprimanded for not telling him the word right away or letting him think up a word instead. I was appalled at the suggestion that I shouldn't challenge the boy and even more upset that the alternative was to let him supply a word that wouldn't have even fit into the sentence properly. I'm currently teaching my daughter, as well as a friend of the family who is 20 years old, the same way to read that I learned... Sound it out... Practice every day... I admit, occasionally this method has left me pronouncing a word incorrectly, but I'd really rather have that than not have a reading vocabulary at all.
A side note: I chose not to pursue a career as a TA, I'm now a Legal Secretary, a position that challenges my reading skills everyday. ;)

Posted by: billposer on October 24 2007 10:23 PM

DanSet's experience doesn't surprise me. The "whole word/whole language" approach to reading instruction is a disaster. Even when it isn't imposed on teachers, they usually are not trained to teach reading so it isn't surprising that they don't do a very good job. Schools have lots of problems, but the use of effective methods of reading instruction by teachers who have been trained to teach reading would be a big step forward.

Posted by: Harbinger on October 25 2007 7:48 PM

"I can't read or write but I feel good about myself. Can I have a job?" Sums up this last generation or more of students who do not fail any grade and are passed so their self-esteem ain't affected by the fact that the 3 Rs aren't a prerequisite to finishing school. Just a concern fer the kids well being follows the fact that they aren't being learned good these days. My how times have changed.