What's in a Number

Written by Paul Donovan

Numbers are a funny thing, on the one hand they are a necessary and helpful part of our lives while, on the other hand, they can be incredibly distracting and harmful. 

 We all are aware of the helpful side of numbers when we’re planning events, budgeting or designing and building something.  They allow for a precision that has become invaluable in certain areas of our lives.  But are numbers the best way to express everything?  Imagine your child asking if you’re proud of him. Is 8.5/10 an appropriate response?  There are certain aspects of our lives that are not quantifiable in such a way that the use of numbers is appropriate.

So why the fuss about numbers?  Report cards, new admissions, provincial reform and Fraser Institute reports have all been part of my life recently.  Let’s start with report cards and provincial reform.  The Ministry of Education has introduced a new approach to learning and evaluating that is currently being implemented in Secondary One and Two.  There are some really positive aspects to this reform (now being called “renewal”) that have focused on a style of teaching and learning where individual skills (competencies) and inter-disciplinary work are paramount.  In many ways, we have been doing these things for years but the mandate from the Ministry has given us an opportunity to look at our best practices and grow as a school. 

Then comes evaluation, and we’re playing with numbers.  How do who accurately and fairly report how well students are doing in the areas we’re being asked to evaluate?  There have been some very strange report cards generated in the name of reform!  Do we now ignore content grades completely?  Of course, as the parents of last year’s secondary one students know, we have decided to provide both content and competency evaluations. But the question remains: What do the numbers that we report really say about the student?

Before giving my perspective on this, I would like to shift to the Fraser Institute report that evaluates schools based primarily on Provincial examination results.  How valuable are those numbers?  Well, if we raised the prerequisite averages needed for advanced Math and Science courses to 85 from 75, and dropped our Langue Maternelle French program and taught Canadian History in Secondary 4 instead of Secondary 3 and offered 516 and 416 Math classes our results would skyrocket!  Would we be a better school?  I think offering kids the opportunity to be challenged in their academic endeavours serves them far better than the ninety percent they could achieve in easier courses.

When we really consider what Loyola stands for and how we hope to form our students, the numbers game doesn’t make much sense.  From the time they apply for admission we look for more than numbers in our students.  We use more than eight different criteria to evaluate an applicant and we frequently don’t accept the students with the highest score on the entrance exams.  Right from the beginning we’re trying to find those students and families who wish to develop the same values as we claim to teach.