The majority of Halton's public high school students achieved above the provincial average in recently-released results for the 2007-08 Grade 10 Literacy Test.

Fourteen out of Halton's 16 conventional public high schools exceeded the average of 84 per cent of students across Ontario who passed the test.

Ninety per cent of Halton District School Board (HDSB) students who wrote the test for the first time were successful in demonstrating their reading comprehension and writing skills.

At the Halton Catholic school board, 92 per cent of students at its seven high schools scored above the provincial average of 84 per cent, with all the schools above that mark.

For the third straight year Oakville Trafalgar was tied or outright the public high school with the best pass mark in Halton at 97 per cent.

The only two conventional high schools with the Halton public board that didn't score above the provincial average were Robert Bateman (80 per cent) and Aldershot (77), both of Burlington.

In the past six years, the Halton public board's overall Grade 10 Literacy Test pass figures had been rising before flat-lining the last three years: 80, 85, 88, 90, 90 and 90.

The Education Quality and Accountability Office (EQAO) prepares and evaluates the Grade 10 Ontario Secondary School Literacy Test (OSSLT). In all, 3,610 HDSB students wrote the test for the first time on March 27 of this year.

Ruth Peden, acting associate director of the Halton public board, noted that a pass in the literacy test is not an individual score of at least 50 per cent but a student who meets the provincial standard of Level III of academic achievement, which is roughly a 'B' average.

Peden noted that the loftier pass standard is part of the reason why the Gary Allan Score program students scored so low. She explained that they are a small number of students in Grades 9 and 10 who receive school community outreach education, getting a half day of math and English instruction with the other half day spent at a supervised co-op site.

"The focus is on their re-entry into the (conventional high) school. They are kids who have fallen through the cracks. It's more attitudinal; they've lost interest in school. To try to engage them we try to get them in an environment that is away from the (traditional) school," observed Peden.

As for Aldershot High School's drop-off in the number of students who passed the literacy test, to 77 per cent from 95 the previous year, Peden said it's somewhat puzzling.

"Aldershot is probably our smallest school with the fewest number of students in the cohort (grade) writing, but we are looking at it because it stands out to us, too."

Overall, Peden said the HDSB's students are doing well on the literacy test. "The Grade 10 Literacy Test results are an indication of the efforts of educators to improve students' literacy skills across the board."

A board press release said that high school staff works with their feeder school colleagues to identify students who may struggle with their literacy skills and plans the necessary remediation and support programs.

The following are the literacy test results for Milton's Halton public school board high schools and the percentage of students who passed the test at each school.