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Local school boards looking at ways to improve math scores

More than 50 per cent of Ontario Grade 6 students did not meet provincial standard in last year's EQAO standardized math testing.
Lakehead Public School Board

THUNDER BAY – Both local English-speaking school boards are looking to find ways to improve their math teaching, as fewer than half of Grade 6 students across Ontario met the provincial standard for math in last year’s standardized testing.

Only 33 per cent of Lakehead District School Board Grade 6 students achieved the provincial standard of a Level 3 or 4 in math while the Thunder Bay Catholic District School Board had 46 per cent of students hit the mark, shown by last year’s Education Quality and Assurance Office test results that were released earlier this week.

Both of those fell below the Ontario average of 48 per cent.

“It is something we take very seriously, as the whole province is,” public board superintendent of education Sherri-Lynne Pharand said on Thursday.

“We know that mathematical concepts and mathematical thinking is a foundation for so many life skills and their futures. We’re doing everything we can to improve.”

The Grade 6 math scores pale in comparison to the Grade 3 and Grade 9 results. The public board had 50 per cent of Grade 3 students at the provincial standard, while the Thunder Bay Catholic District School Board had 56 per cent of their students at Level 3 or 4, with an Ontario-wide rate of 58 per cent.

Both boards surpassed 80 per cent of their students at the provincial standard in Grade 9 academic math, while the two boards were ahead of the provincial average of 44 per cent of students at that level in Grade 9 applied math.

Why the Grade 6 scores fall short is being questioned, Pharand said.

“I think that question is the big question that we’re all asking ourselves,” Pharand said. “Some of the things that we know to date about Grade 6 mathematics – the concepts from kindergarten to Grade 3 are really more concrete and they become more abstract mathematical concepts in the junior grades, particularly at the Grade 6 level.”

Thunder Bay Catholic District School Board superintendent of education Allison Sargent pointed to changing curricula as a possible explanation.

“I think math has changed a lot,” Sargent said.

“There’s a large language component to the math. There’s a lot of problem solving involved in the math. I think historically it was a lot of rote memorization. That has changed a lot and we’re asking our students to really think and think critically about the problems they’re solving. That’s challenging for a lot of our students.”

Sargent said the Catholic Board is working with Lakehead University to develop math pedagogy. As well, principals and school improvement teams will be meeting in the coming weeks to work on next steps.

Pharand said the public board will be doing a deeper dive of the results through individual item analysis.

The vast majority of the students who fell short of achieving the provincial status are in Level 2, with many at the higher end of that stage, Pharand said.

“We know that our students are almost at that Level 3,” Pharand said. “We’re also looking at what is it they need to make that jump from Level 2 to Level 3 – which is like a C to a B – so they have that solid foundation in math.”



About the Author: Matt Vis

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