Ontario's French-language boards outperform English-language boards by more than 30 percentage points in some areas of provincial standardized tests.
But that doesn't mean the French system is superior, local school board officials say.
The provincial pass rate for Grade 6 math Education Quality and Accountability Office (EQAO) tests in English-language boards is 50 per cent, while that rate is 82 per cent for French-language boards.
That large gap is also reflected at a local level.
Local English-language boards had rather dismal EQAO Grade 6 math results last year. Conversely, scores by their French-language counterparts were pretty decent.
Forty-two per cent of Grade 6 Rainbow District School Board students were at or above the provincial EQAO standard for math last year, and 37 per cent at Sudbury Catholic District School Board.
That compares to 79 per cent at Conseil scolaire catholique du Nouvel-Ontario (CSCNO) and 71 per cent at Conseil scolaire public du Grand Nord de l'Ontario (CSPGNO).
In some areas, however, local English boards do outperform local French boards in EQAO testing, including in Grade 9 academic stream math scores.
The Rainbow board pass rate sits at 77 per cent, Sudbury Catholic's is 87 per cent, CSCNO's 71 per cent and CSPGNO's 69 per cent.
“It just takes us longer,” said Judy Noble, superintendent of schools with the Rainbow board.
Overall, Ontario's EQAO math scores are flat and falling, causing much consternation, and even a promise by the province to review its school curriculum.
But if you look at the provincial French-language EQAO math results, they also fell by several percentage points in some instances over the past year.
When asked if the far higher math test results at the elementary level mean parents would be better off sending their kids to French boards, if they're eligible, Marc Gauthier, director of education with CSPGNO, said he wouldn't say that.
“I would never say there's better teaching,” he said. “I think we offer different things. I think our approach is different in some aspects.
“I would be able to tell you what we do within our system, but I would never compare myself to the other boards and say we are better than the other boards.”
Gauthier said the curriculum at Ontario's French-language boards is slightly different than the province's English-language curriculum, so the EQAO test is also slightly different.
“Those results weren't made to be compared between boards and schools,” he said.
Part of the explanation could be that English-language teachers have access to many more classroom resources than French-language teachers, Gauthier said, and may not be sticking as closely to the curriculum as their French counterparts.
That could make a difference in EQAO scores, he said.
Noble agrees it's difficult to compare EQAO results for French and English boards because the tests are different.
“So it makes it really hard to compare apples and apples,” she said.
The Rainbow board has three or four times the student population of French boards, and it pulls from a much more diverse group of people, including immigrants or those living in poverty, Noble said.
“We have significantly more students who have a learning exceptionality,” she said, adding that the Rainbow board has focused on helping those with learning disabilities, and that's made a difference in EQAO scores.
The Rainbow board doesn't generally compare its EQAO results to other school boards, whether French or English, she said.
“The way a board improves over time if they look at themselves,” Noble said. “We don't look at how we do compared to another board. We look at how we do over time, and we're comparing our trends to ourselves.”
