Academic Excellence
We strive to exceed all the educational goals set by the Ontario Ministry of Education as well as standards set by the Ontario Alliance of Christian Schools. As a school, our students generally achieve above the National average on the Canadian Test of Basic Skills. This National, standardized test is administered on a bi-annual basis to all students in grade 3 to 8.
Canadian Tests of Basic Skills (CTBS)
The Canadian Tests of Basic Skills, a national standardized test by Nelson Canada, is administered every other Fall to all our students in grades three to eight. The CTBS is a norm referenced achievement battery of tests allowing students to be compared with other students and schools both across Canada and in the OACS system. The tests include the following areas:
· Vocabulary
· Reading
· Language – spelling, capitalization, punctuation, usage and expression
· Mathematics – math concepts and estimation, problem solving, computation
· Science
· Sources of information – reference materials, maps and diagrams
Scores are given in several ways but the most useful of the scores is the percentile rank. This rank indicates the student’s or school’s rank out of 100 with other students or schools who took the test at the same time of year (Fall, winter, spring). Ie. A score of 43% means that 42 students scored lower than this particular student. Some things to note when using standardized testing results:
· Only provides one piece of the puzzle when looking at student learning
· Does not include many areas of school curriculum – writing, creativity, art, social studies, music, French, Bible, leadership….
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