Aug 29, 2008 - 04:30 AM

By Crystal Crimi

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DURHAM -- The Durham District School Board is one of 10 in the province with below-average student achievement, says a new report.

The report, released by the C.D. Howe Institute Wednesday, makes the claim with socio-economic elements factored in to provide a more balanced playing field.

"They have two less (students per 100) than the provincial average achieving the standard even with the adjustment," said David Johnson, author of the report and professor of economics at Wilfrid Laurier University. The standard is a level three or four in the Education Quality Accountability Office testing for reading, writing, and math.

Luigia Ayotte, the Durham public board's programs superintendent, is still trying to understand how the report was developed.

"He hasn't defined exactly what he's done in the report," Ms. Ayotte said. "We don't know what his criteria was."

The report, 'Heads of the Class: A Comparison of Ontario School Boards by Student Achievement', uses data from Grade 3 and Grade 6 standardized testing in reading, writing, and math, as well as Census 2001 information on the socio-economic factors in a child's neighbourhood, based on their postal code. Mr. Johnson used a method to adjust the scores to eliminate those factors.

His method allowed a prediction for success based on data. Students at a school with socio-economic factors such as single parents, adults with lower education, kids that moved a lot, are predicted to do worse.

"It turns out that is simply not true," Mr. Johnson said. "They don't all do worse, some do better."

The Durham Catholic District School Board showed 1.1 per cent less students meeting the average, but because there were only 73 schools assessed in the board, it's hard to tell if it's below average, he said, comparing the process to a coin toss. The more times you flip a coin, the better you'll know if it's coming up on one side more often, Mr. Johnson said. He's more sure of the Durham public board's results because 185 schools were assessed, providing more observations and certainty.

The Ottawa-Carleton public board was ranked the lowest, with 8.2 students per 100 students meeting the average, according to the method, based on 182 school assessments.

"It's old data," Ms. Ayotte said. "His socio-economic data is old."

Mr. Johnson's Education Quality Accountability Office information is old too, she said.

In four-to-eight months, Mr. Johnson will add the information from the 2006 census, but it's not that important, he said. The standardized testing results come from three consecutive years, moving from 2005/2006 backwards to 2003/2004, which bring them close to the 2001 information.

"I would be willing to bet a whole bunch of money those results don't change that much," he said.

It's not a very convincing argument to say it would change with the new census data, he said.

"All you have to do is drive across Durham to see the demographics have changed," Ms. Ayotte said, but added that's not an excuse and the board welcomes all students.

The board knows it has work to do and if the report can help it in planning that work, they'll consider it, Ms. Ayotte said.

"Right now, the report itself is missing a lot of information," she said.

When they find out how Mr. Johnson came up with the data, they'll decide if it has any value to the board, but right now, they're not seeing it, she said.

"These numbers to me are not reflective of anything," she said.

To view the report, visit at cdhowe.org