Math scores flat and falling among elementary students in Ontario
Posted Aug 30, 2017 03:47:26 PM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Math test scores have not improved — and have decreased slightly in some cases — among elementary school students in Ontario.
The province’s Education Quality and Accountability Office released results of standardized tests that show for the second straight year only 50 per cent of Grade 6 students met the provincial standard in math. Four years ago students fared better, with 57 per cent of Grade 6 students meeting the standard.
And among Grade 3 students, 62 per cent met the provincial standard in math, a one-percentage-point decrease since last year.
Norah Marsh, the CEO of EQAO, said math scores remain a concern, but digging deeper reveals one area the province would like to focus on.
“For the students who met the standard in Grade 3, not as many are meeting it in Grade 6,” she said. “Certainly, that’s an area of focus as far as intervention between Grades 3 and 6 so they can achieve better results.”
Cathy Bruce, the dean of education at Trent University, said, however, that she was cautiously optimistic by the students’ math scores.
“Now we’re flat-lining and that’s a really good thing,” she said. “I wouldn’t have expected to see a big jump all of a sudden — that’s not how it works. Math is a complex area of the curriculum and it’s complex both for teachers teaching it and students learning it.”
Meanwhile, writing levels among Grade 3 and Grade 6 students declined by one percentage point since last year to 73 per cent and 79 per cent respectively. But over five years the numbers are worse, showing a drop in reading standards by four percentage points in Grade 3 and three percentage points in Grade 6.
“Math has been a focus provincially, but we can’t lose sight of the writing piece,” Marsh said.
The EQAO’s report said reading has improved slightly for Grade 3 students, with 74 per cent meeting the provincial standard, and remained steady for Grade 6 students, with 81 per cent meeting the provincial standard.
