Math test marks still slipping

By Joel Wittnebel/The Oshawa Express

The struggle continues.

The release of the latest EQAO test results has once again made it clear that more needs to be done to engage students in math.

The testing, administered by the Education Quality Accountability Office throughout grades 3, 6, and 9, along with the Ontario Secondary School Literacy Test (OSSLT), shows that while the majority of kids in Durham Region are reaching or exceeding the provincial standard for both reading and writing, that number drops dramatically when it comes to math.

“That’s an area of focus for us and, of course, knowing that math is such an important subject area for our students, we want to work together across the board to ensure our students are achieving the best that they can in that subject area,” says Tracy Barill, the superintendent of education at the Durham Catholic District School Board (DCDSB).

The latest results from EQAO, released last month, show not only a decrease in math accomplishments from the primary grades to Grade 9, but also a steady drop-off in interest in the subject.

Data shows that 64 per cent of students in Grade 3 are at or above the provincial standard in math, down from 66 per cent the year prior. That number drops to only 55 per cent of students at the provincial standard in Grade 6. For Grade 9s, 41 per cent of students in the applied level are at or above the provincial standard, while 76 per cent are meeting that standard at the academic level.

The same trend can be observed at the Durham District School Board, where 69 per cent of Grade 3s are meeting the standards, but that number drops off to 53 per cent for Grade 6s, causing the board to recalibrate its focus on the subject.

“This year, we’re going to ignite math and that is going to be an intentional and precise focus,” says Lisa Millar, DDSB’s director of education.

In order to do that, both school boards agree that increasing student engagement in the math curriculum is top of the list.

In a survey administered as part of the EQAO tests, students in the older grades show a general disinterest in the subject, and many openly admit they don’t think they’re good at it.

For the applied level, 31 per cent said they do not like the subject and 28 per cent admit they don’t think they have the skills for it.

Millar says the key is finding a way for the students to relate to the material, and for DDSB, that means technology.

“Technology engages students, it’s their world,” Millar says. “They are digital citizens and so technology can be used in very creative ways to make math more engaging and exciting.”

By finding ways to show students a real-world connection between them and mathematics will be the critical piece, she says.

At the DCDSB, a new program is already looking to up the student engagement.

UP Math (or Ultimate Potential Math) at Monsignor John Pereyma is working to find the struggles students have with math and focusing to work through them.

“We do tend to find that many students have similar challenges with respect to numeracy,” says Leanne Oliver, the mathematics curriculum chair at DCDSB. “We’re really honing in on helping the students to explore those concepts and master the learning and then share it with one another.”

With a particular focus at the secondary school level, the program has helped to boost the student’s attitudes toward’s math to double the provincial average.

“We find that focusing on how students think about math is really, really imperative to changing how they’re going to achieve,” Oliver says. “We really do feel that we’re on the right track.”

On the literacy side of things, both school boards are showing strong results, with a high percentage of kids meeting or exceeding provincial standards for reading and writing across all levels of testing.

And Barill says now is the time for kids to stop saying they “aren’t math people.”

“We all have to stop saying that…we’re trying to change that mindset in our educators, in our students, in our parents, because they have to be people people,” she says. “Numeracy is a critical skill for the 21^st century.”