School Benchmarking - What Parents Need to Know!

Parents need to practice Pro-Active awareness of their child’s academic

performance through school based benchmarking!
Why should we be more aware of our Children’s Academic Performance?
“Isn’t that what report cards are for?” We hear you parents, but the reality is that most
report cards are filled with generic words and phrases that don’t tell us a whole lot about the
skill level our individual children have attained – or not! So what happens when we can no
longer rely on report cards to give us a clear picture of whether or not our children have
developed/reached the min. Level 3 core literacy and numeracy skills, critical for successful
learning moving forward? We have to take a more pro-active approach and become aware
of the other tools available to us, those we can use to “benchmark” where our children’s skill
level is really at.

What is a Benchmark and Why do we need to Benchmark? By definition,

benchmarking is simply a point of reference for a measurement. Translate this into acquiring
critical skills in learning, and it is simply a measurement of a student’s skill level in
comparison to same grade peers/ministry standards. In order to understand if a student has
‘consolidated’ the skills taught at any given grade level, a research based method of testing
will measure skill level attained that can be compared to educational standards.

What is School Based Benchmarking? School based benchmarking is done using

common school testing (that most parents may not be aware of ever having been done), but
using the results in a different way than we ever have in the past. Let’s be honest and say
most of us (parents) are not aware of the Early Learning/Early Development Performance
Indicators (EDI) testing done by many school boards in Kindergarten to GR 1 within those
first few weeks/months of the school year. It is during this time ALL teachers are testing
reading readiness and math readiness skills critical for building a strong learning foundation,
and ‘benchmarking’ where your child’s skills lie. And, not many of us think to ask about the
Giftedness Test results our schools perform around grade 4 (Boards differ when they do
their gifted testing so please ask at your school) because we are (generally) told that only
the parents of children who tested gifted will be contacted and test results are rarely sent
home. Again, the school is ‘benchmarking’ your child’s skill level, and even though you don’t
get the call that your little genius is a genius (by their standards) after all, as parents we don’t
remember to ask what the test results were, we may have forgotten the testing was being
done in the first place. And finally, how many of us really know what those EQAO scores
really indicate about our child’s skill level? All school-based test results are (supposed to be)
posted in every student’s OSR file (Ontario School Records file). Rarely are they brought
to the parent’s attention or if they are, they may be dismissed as unreliable measures of
achievement by some school personnel who don’t believe in their validity in the first place!

Why test for ‘consolidation’ of skills? Consolidation of core reading, writing and
math skills are critical and necessary for successful learning moving forward, for all children.
It is the first building block to performing these skills with fluency and comprehension, the
other building blocks necessary for a strong foundation of critical core skills for ALL learning.
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Consolidation of learning skills means that the skills taught have been learned (has been
transferred to long-term memory for fast and accurate retrieval), and tested to be
without gaps. Without the consolidation of skills there can be no fluency (the ability to
perform a learned skill rapidly, smoothly, effortlessly, and automatically with little
conscious attention to the mechanics of the skills such as decoding of
reading/calculation of math facts) and without fluency, comprehension is compromised.
Without solid comprehension, understanding & learning will not happen.

The following school-based measures could be used to ‘benchmark’ your child’s literacy and
numeracy skills, and to bring clarity of any gaps in critical core literacy and numeracy skill
development:
• Report Cards (once you have deciphered them)
• Early Development/Performance Indicators Kindergarten to GR 1 (Testing
done by classroom teacher/resource teacher)
• EQAO (Ministry testing) scores for grades 3,6,9,10
• Giftedness scores (School board testing)
• Your child’s OSR (Ontario School Records) file to check for any other in-
school testing done
• Daily-Weekly-Monthly Class Work/Test Scores brought home

What do these In-School Documents/Tests Tell Us?

Report Cards - often written using ambiguous, generic school coded language, from a
drop-down menu of unclear skills targeted each school term that baffle and confuse most
parents. Before you even attempt to decipher its true meaning, the first question you need to
confirm with your child’s teacher is that the marks shown on their report card are indeed for
work done “AT GRADE LEVEL”, whatever your child’s current grade is. You need to confirm
that your child has not had their grade level curriculum ‘dumbed down’ a grade or two lower
than the grade they are actually in – without you knowing or without it being indicated on their
report card. Don’t laugh – it happens all the time and speaking from first hand experience, it
is a shock to have the teacher confirm your suspicions that your child is NOT actually
learning/performing grade level work – once you know the right question to ask!

• Anything below a Level 3 is a red flag – your child is not meeting Ministry standards and
you need to find out why ASAP.
• Any mark below a B- is a red flag. Since marks are known to be inflated, a B- is really a C
in our minds, so make sure the mark matches the work.
• Any mark (including A’s or B’s) that you feel does not reflect the work you have seen
your child turn in/bring home is a red flag. Again, you need to be checking that the marks
are justified one way or the other. Just as a very bright child that brings home low marks is
a red flag, a child that brings home generous A’s but work that doesn’t reflect ‘A’ level work
is a red flag. CHECK ASSIGMENT/PROJECT RUBRICS to help you figure out if your
child has really done an ‘A’ job – OR NOT!

Once you know the real story behind your child’s report card and what it really is reflecting
regarding learned skills, any red flags will stand out and it is these red flags that you will use
and bring forward at your next school meeting.

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Early Development/Performance Indicators – From Kindergarten to GR 1,
teachers should be testing regularly to determine a student’s level of critical core reading,
writing and math skills. This testing lets them know who has not ‘consolidated’ those skills.
At the very least, these test results should be communicated home but many parents are
never notified of the test results, nor the fact that their child is being tested in the first place. It
would be fine if the early indicators of those ‘at risk’ students were used by every school to
provide some (parent) unsolicited early intervention by the school – but for the most part they
are not – not that we have found. Coincidently enough, the average percentage of ‘at risk’
students found in the earlier grades are similar to the number of students found to be
struggling in the later grades – with the very same issues. Historical tracking of learning
difficulties of students in our advocacy practice has shown to persist from Kindergarten
through to every grade, and most students receive little or no support for their weaker skills
year after year. Once the gap between cognitive ability and academic achievement is wide
enough, the child is now officially “struggling” to keep up with their peers and behaviour/failing
marks are the emerging yearly theme. Every parent should attend every school meeting,
including all parent-teacher meetings, with the following questions to be answered:

1. ASK “Are the marks on my child’s report card for current grade level work? Has the
curriculum/expectations been altered in any way for my child?” You are looking for the
teacher to confirm YES, the grades on the report card are for current grade level work
done and NO, the curriculum/expectations have NOT been altered for your child in any
subject.

a. If the teacher answers NO, not all the marks are for grade level work – THEN ASK
HIM/HER TO “Please indicate on my child’s report card, subject by subject what grade
level work the marks reflect so I can see which subjects my child is behind in” and hand
the teacher your copy of your child’s report card to write on. i.e. your Grade 3 student has
received a B in Reading and Writing but you know they don’t read well and writing is a
nightmare. The teacher has just indicated that some of the marks on your child’s report
card are NOT for grade level work. The teacher then writes on the report card the grade
for which the marks represent for some of the subjects. Turns out those B’s in Reading
and Writing were for Grade 1 work, indicating your child’s reading and writing skills are
clearly not at grade level.
b. You then need to ask for a separate school meeting (with the teacher and possibly the
resource teacher) to discuss WHY the expectations were lowered, as soon as the teacher
can arrange it. This meeting will take much longer than a 15 minute parent teacher
meeting so it needs to happen on its’ own.
c. If you are caught unaware by the teacher’s answers, the possible shock, anger, confusion
and upset of finding out your child is not working at grade level could make you too
emotional to discuss the WHY’s at this brief parent/teacher meeting. Far better to have a
separate meeting later that will allow you to PREPARE for and FOCUS on your child’s
reading and writing skills development, the critical core skills needed for successful
classroom learning at every grade, and NOT your emotions.
Note: Getting angry because you were unaware that your child was failing/not informed of
the changes to your child’s grade level expectations will not serve you (or your child) well
at any school meeting. Ranting and blaming will not improve your child’s reading and
writing skills – finding out what the school plans to do to catch your child up ASAP will!

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2. For Kindergarten to Grade 1 students, ASK “Has there been any Early
Development/Performance Indicator (EDI) testing done this term? If so, what were the
results for my child (where does my child sit in relation to the other students in the
class?), and could I get a copy of those test results please?”

3. ASK “What skills were tested?” Have the teacher break it down for you skill by skill (i.e.
reading, comprehension, decoding, punctuation, math facts etc.) and indicate where
your child’s results sit in relation to the rest of the class.

a. If the student falls below the 25% ile (lower quarter of the class) parents should be
asking, “What are you doing today to help close the learning gap(s) my child has in the
area(s) of ________? Are these proven teaching methods that will close the gap quickly?”
b. “Can we have a separate meeting to address the results of these tests so we can better
understand what you and the school are able to do to quickly close the learning gap(s) in
(? subject) for my child?”

4. If testing has not been done that term ASK “Is there any testing planned for the remainder
of the year?” If yes, ASK what the school will be testing for, when and to be notified of the
results in writing. Mark this on your calendar so you remember to ask again when the
time comes.

5. If testing is not planned, and you suspect your child is struggling at any grade level, ASK
“What in-school/in-class testing can be done to measure my child’s current skill level?”
The teacher may have to ask the special education teacher, but be persistent if you
suspect your child is struggling with any of the core reading, writing, or math skills critical
for successful classroom learning, at any grade level.

6. ASK “What is my child good at? What are his/her learning strengths?”

7. If your child is struggling, ASK “How can we use their learning strengths to support their
learning weaknesses?” i.e. if a child is having difficulties with writing but has really solid
verbal/speaking skills, ask to have them tested verbally (with an adult scribing their
answers) so they don’t have to write their answers. This way the student’s
learned/acquired knowledge is tested vs. a test of their weak printing/writing abilities.
Using their strong verbal skills for testing eliminates the barrier such a student would
normally have in demonstrating their true abilities/learned knowledge.

EQAO Scores – are the Ministry’s way of measuring school results in our children, and
provide some accountability to parents about how well our schools are teaching their
students. EQAO measures literacy and numeracy skills, and represent an accurate
accounting of your child’s skill level in a variety of areas. Don’t ignore these test results when
they come home – you need to take a close look at what they are measuring and
understand how lower skill levels are directly impacting your child’s ability to be a
successful learner in the classroom – every day! If your child does not score a Level 3
minimum, critical for successful learning moving forward, this red flag needs to be addressed
at the school level. Though some parents do inquire about low EQAO scores, some are told
that the testing process is flawed and more than likely the test results are also flawed so
“don’t worry, your child is doing fine, just ignore the results....”
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The reality is that any student that tests below a level 3 on EQAO should be flagged and
retested at the school level - critical core skills are missing from your child’s foundation of
skills needed to be successful in
school. However, schools won’t do this voluntarily, it is up to us as parents to request the
appropriate school meeting the moment we get the results, and examine them closely with
school personnel to pinpoint weak areas and request further in-school testing to measure the
learning gaps EQAO has exposed. If your school refuses, and you can afford it, seek outside
testing/assessment ASAP. i.e. A qualified reading expert can assess/test core reading skills
that include decoding and comprehension to determine what grade level your child is at for
these skills compared to their current grade level. Weak reading, decoding and
comprehension skills impact every subject, including math. If you cannot afford it, take your
school meeting to the school board level and invite your special education
coordinator/director to the table. Waiting for schools to take these things seriously results in
a widening of the gap for the student the longer they go unaddressed/unsupported. The risk
of having them disengage from learning increases substantially each term/semester because
learning is simply too hard – and it really is too hard to learn if you don’t have the core skills
needed for learning. If your child does not meet the Ministry Grade Level Standard in EQAO
testing, then you need to bring this to the school table and find out what they are going to do
to help your child close the gap – quickly!

Giftedness Scores – This under utilized test is not only a good indicator of a gifted
student that needs ‘enrichment’ programming, it is also an amazing tool to find those ‘at risk’
students that fall below the 25% ile (lower quarter of the class) in core skill areas. Again, the
test results are not often shared with parents other than those students who go on to the next
level of testing because they scored high. Unfortunately, parents don’t know to ask for and
schools don’t offer the test results to all parents, so parents can see exactly where their child
sits in the classroom of same grade peers/ministry curriculum standards at the time of testing
(grades 2 – 5 depending on the school board policy). So - parents need to ask for a copy of
the Giftedness test results and if your child scores below the 25%ile/is in the lower quarter of
the class – you need to use these test results to build your case for extra support for your
child to close the gap in their core literacy/numeracy skills. Some schools post the results in
a student’s OSR file at the school level. In our practice, such testing/poor score results were
found out by accident by one student’s parents (who were looking through their child’s OSR
file on our advice).They were shocked to find their child had scored at the 9th%ile – and the
school had not informed them. Given this student had been struggling since SK, and the
parents had been asking for years for extra support – this ‘benchmarked’ information proved
their child was in serious need and we were able to use this to motivate the school to do
some in-school remediation of weak core learning skills.

Class Work/Tests Scores brought home are some of the best indicators of how your
child is performing on a regular daily basis, so if you are surprised by their report card marks
because they don’t match work brought home, (too high AND too low marks that don’t
reflect what you are seeing at home), this is a red flag you need to pay attention to. Keep
copies of your child’s work to ask your child’s teacher about – dated at the top. If your child
consistently brings home work that is reflecting marks that show they are struggling with
certain skills such as reading or writing, you need to bring these weaknesses forward, as well
as the samples of work reflecting these weaknesses, to every school meeting. Providing
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samples of your child’s work that reflects the learning struggles your child is having in the
classroom is great concrete data to support the need for extra help and supports at the
school level. It is when schools don’t send home any test results/daily-weekly-monthly work
your child has completed, so you can’t see and measure their learning success, that often
times prevents parents from advocating in a timely fashion for help. If this is happening at
your school, you have to step up and ask for copies if the teacher is not willing to send home
originals (for whatever reason given). Parents need to keep track and stay current about
their child’s learning successes and struggles, based on current work and test results, to
better understand how they are performing. Without concrete data (class work/test
samples - dated) to support your child’s learning difficulties, it will be hard to convince the
school they need extra support and programming.

Summary

All of these in-school documents/tests provide parents/educators with a snap shot/measure

of how your child is performing at that moment in time/at their current grade level.
Benchmarking students is a great way to provide early indicators of a student in trouble, and
a great opportunity to proactively put in place supports/programming that will ‘consolidate’
weaker skills and strengthen them for learning success in the higher grades moving forward.

In-school documents/tests can be used by parents as tools/evidence to support a parent’s

belief their child is a struggling student and in need of extra support and programming at the
school level. All of these can be asked for by parents, should be provided by the schools in
writing, and brought back to the school table as proof there are gaps in your child’s core
learning skills that need to be addressed. You have a right to know how your child scored,
flawed testing or not, and you have a right to ask for copies of the test results, and to expect
them in a timely manner. If we wait for our schools to bring the less than successful
benchmarks forward to our attention, it will most likely not happen!

Given that recent studies show very clearly children who do not acquire solid reading skills
BY GRADE 3 will continue to struggle and NOT catch up (without daily support/intervention),
demonstrates the small window of opportunity we have to ensure they do, through early
intervention at the classroom level. Even more shocking are results showing these same
Grade 3 students WILL NOT GRADUATE from high school because of continuing and
unsupported poor reading skills development throughout their school career. It also shows
that 30% of our Grade 6 students CANNOT read or write well enough to succeed in school,
and that only 21% of young adults between 15 and 25 have acquired a level of literacy
(reading and writing skills make up literacy) needed by adults to participate fully and fairly in
the knowledge economy of today and tomorrow.

WHAT THESE STATISTICS MEAN FOR PARENTS is that if you suspect your child is
struggling, you must take action – DON’T wait for the school to initiate action on your child’s
behalf and DON’T be put off by their downplaying of your child’s lack of skill development “He
is such a good boy – you worry too much, he’ll catch up...” or “She will do better when she
wants to...”, be persistent until you get the help your child needs to close the learning gaps.
Use benchmarking to help you determine if your child is struggling and take action right away!
Recent Globe and Mail Article on Literacy in Canada
http://v1.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20090915.COWENT15ART2058/TPStory/TPComment/
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