While Holy Trinity Catholic School Division’s mid-year learning accountability report provides a snapshot of how students are doing in certain subjects, the organization won’t have a complete picture until June.
The division collects data three times a year — in September, February and June — on how students are doing in reading, writing and mathematics, explained Mark Selinger, superintendent of learning and technology.
The data from September gives the division an idea of how students are doing, while the February data allows the organization to shift resources around the division to better support students who may be struggling, he continued. The division has been re-allocating resources since February. This includes sending reading and math interventionists to schools to help students.
“We anticipate that at the third data collection in June, that’s … where we hope we’ve reached our goals by that point in time,” Selinger said, noting the data allows the division to dig deeply into it for better results.
The division’s targets are that, by June, 80 per cent of students would be at or above grade level in reading, writing and math. Meanwhile, the division’s graduation goals are that by June, 85 per cent of students will graduate on time while 90 per cent will graduate within five years.
Selinger presented his mid-year accountability report during the recent Holy Trinity board meeting.
While the report provides percentages showing how students are doing now versus in 2021 and 2020, Selinger pointed out it’s difficult to analyze the mid-year snapshot using just the numbers since students are expected to grow in their knowledge between collection points.
“They have grown. They may just not have grown as much as we would have hoped by now. And then we’ll put in those additional supports (so) that they grow even more by June,” he said.
“But the point that we expect them to be at in the February results is actually a few levels higher than they were in September. So even if it looks like staying the same or consistent, there was actually growth that has occurred.”
The data that the division has collected so far is almost on par with pre-pandemic years, which is encouraging, Selinger added. The division has been able to bridge those gaps that the pandemic caused and is confident it can reach its June goals.
The next Holy Trinity board meeting is Tuesday, May 24.
