Susi’s 7-year EQAO Ratings
- The SUSI Rankings are based on the results from EQAO testing in the various GTA communities over the last seven EQAO-tested years.
- These results reflect the consistency of a school’s performance.
- A logical formula was developed from the pass-levels from each school for the subjects Reading, Writing, and Mathematics for each of a school’s eligible years in the past seven years.
- The amount of Teacher Support each school receives was then added to the formula.
- And finally the Consistency of each school finished the formula off.
And that is the essence of the SUSI Rankings, which is what our Realtors use to help determine the BEST school districts and the BEST neighbourhoods for each of the young families we help guide into purchasing a home.
MORE DETAIL:
First, for each of these EQAO-tested years, the pass-levels for each individual school in each grade and subject were mathematically divided into the Ontario Average, and a comparative value was reached. (“Pass-levels” are the percentage of students who are at each “level” of government standard in their ongoing learning development curve.) In previous years, Special Education students were theoretically removed from the equation using average SpecEd pass-rates in each subject, in each year. There are far too many variables to fairly include Special Education pass-levels at each individual school – some schools have very little Special Education students, and also there are many different kinds of Special Education. Furthermore, the majority of my real estate clients do not have Special Education children, and so the gauging of school performance for non-SpecEd (NSE) children is important to them. Starting in 2022, the Ontario government released data that did not include Special Education students (excluding gifted). Please continue to note that my rankings are strictly the opinion of the team at SusiHomes based on research we perform using publicly-available data.
Next, the previous seven EQAO-tested years were weighted so that the more recent years would be more important than older years to a school’s ultimate rating. Each of the three subjects (Reading, Writing, Mathematics) would then have its own 7-year rating, and for the school’s final rating, the ratings were added together and divided by three to arrive at a composite rating.
Obviously, the higher the composite rating, the higher the ranking. This is reflected in the “7-Year EQAO” scores we have, and these results are available to our clients.
Yet, while this is an important gauge on a school’s performance, certainly it is not the only factor parents should consider when looking for Mississauga School Rankings, Oakville School Rankings, Burlington School Rankings, Markham School Rankings or any of the other rankings in the GTA. Because of socio-economic factors and demographics, I feel that some schools appear to be much EASIER to teach at than others – that is, those “easier” schools would be much more likely, in my opinion, to corral higher EQAO pass-rates. To me, this might be unfair and unjust, which is why I established the Teacher Support Index to attempt to “level the playing field”. Read all about the Teacher Support here.
The Potency Rankings
po·ten·cy [poht-n-see]
noun – capacity to be, become, or develop; potentiality.
Once a school’s Teacher Support Index (TSI) is established, we can compare a school’s “anticipated” results with its actual results. For example, if “School A” had the 10th-best EQAO scores over the last seven years, and they are considered to be the 4th-easiest school to teach at, it can be said that this school is performing slightly BELOW expectations. Conversely, if “School B” had the 42nd-best EQAO scores over the last seven years, but they are considered the 71st-easiest school (4th-hardest, of 74 schools) to teach at, it can be said that this school is performing well ABOVE expectations.
And those schools that are performing above expectations have inherent capacity for growth and development; that is, they have undeniable potential to perform much better in the EQAO tests and likely could if their socio-economic demographics were more favourable.
Thus a school that is performing above expectations is said to have a high potency. This is crucial information to a disciplined parent because it is our opinion that any school with high potency WILL teach their child to their full potential, as long as they receive the usual and proper support at home. And here is how we quantify that potency (using Mississauga Public schools in 2019 as an example):
When comparing an individual school’s EQAO pass-levels to the Board Average, we come up with a figure relative to 2.900 (the Board Average). The highest number a school received in the Peel Board is 3.225 (Kenollie). The lowest number a school received in the Peel Board is 2.526 (school name withheld). These are figures that are relative to the norm.
When comparing the ranking of EQAO pass-rates to the ranking of Easiest Schools To Teach At (using the TDI) we come up with an Expected Ranking Differential. In the previous example, “School A” would have an Expected Ranking Differential of -6, while “School B” would fare better with an Expected Ranking Differential of +29. These too, then, are figures that are relative to the norm.
As it turns out, both of these figures are relative to the same norm (an average school), and thus we can create a parallel from the top-ranked EQAO school (Kenollie) to the top-ranked Expected Ranking Differential school (Burnhamthorpe). We can use the top-ranked EQAO school number as a multiplier to the actual EQAO number of the top-ranked Expected Ranking Differential school. And going on down the list, we can use the 9th-ranked EQAO school (Castlebridge) number as a multiplier to the actual EQAO number of the 9th-ranked Expected Ranking Differential school (Barondale), and so on! This resulting number, then, represents a school’s POTENCY.
The Potency Rankings, then, reflects what a school’s performance may be if their potential were to be realized through an equalization of socio-economic conditions across the city.
Consistency
But wait – there’s more! The last factor we take into consideration is the consistency of each school’s EQAO performance, and it could be the most important factor for many parents, in our opinion. Each school is given a Consistency Rating between 1.0 and 5.0, and a higher number has a more positive effect on the school’s final ranking than a lower number. We believe that if a school is more consistent in their school test results, whether it be excellent or mediocre results, this is a school that should be “more rewarded” than a school who have only had great EQAO results for a year or two, or only have great results in one grade, or even one subject! Thus, consistency is worthy factor in the development and calculation of our rankings.
And voila!
The Potency Rankings were then coupled with the 7-Year EQAO Rankings, and then further modified by the Consistency Rating, to arrive at a final ranking, called the SUSI Ranking (“Overall Rank”).
Please note that the only function the SUSI Rankings serve is simply as another tool Susi has at her disposal to help families find real estate in neighbourhoods they think they’d like to live in. And there are many other factors in choosing a school district beside the SUSI-Rank of the school itself. In fact, there are many other factors in choosing a school than the SUSI-Rank itself! They are published on this website as a strong opinion of Susi Kostyniuk and her team at SusiHomes.
