Students in the Toronto District School Board did not meet the provincial standard for math scores, new EQAO test results reveal.
Standardized math test results for elementary school students released Wednesday by the province’s Education Quality and Accountability Office (EQAO) reveal that students in Grade 3 and Grade 6 in the Toronto District School Board did not meet the provincial standard.
This year, only 67 per cent of Grade 3 students throughout the TDSB met the math standard, compared to 71 per cent between 2013 and 2014.
Grade 6 students scored 55 per cent, compared with 59 per cent between 2013 and 2014.
The TDSB’s Grade 6 scores appear to be slightly more successful when compared with the provincial average which show only about 50 per cent of Grade 6 students in Ontario met the standard.
However, one school seemed to make a marked improvement.
According to EQAO results released Wednesday, math scores at J.R. Wilcox Community School in Oakwood Village saw a significant increase in math scores from previous years.
Though only 20 per cent of students met the math standard this year, that number is up 4 per cent from previous test scores in 2013 and 2014.
Staff at the school attribute the spike in successful scores to extra workshops and additional professional development days for teachers pertaining to math – both of which are strategies that become mandatory for schools across the province as of September.
Some argue that schools need to change the curriculum and return to rote learning techniques – based on repetition for memorization -- rather than discovery learning, which allows students to draw on personal experience and interaction.
The TDSB director of education and education minister said the students need a balance of both methods to bring the scores up.
“If children don’t know how to apply it, they don’t understand the concepts behind it. If there are no connections to real life, they actually will not be able to memorize it,” John Malloy, the Director of Education at the TDSB, said Wednesday.
This year, the province will inject $60 million into a new education strategy aimed at increasing math scores in Grades 1 to 8.
Part of the money will go toward increasing the amount of time spent on math to 60 minutes per day.
Boards will also be required to appoint three “math lead teachers” in every elementary school as well as an annual day dedicated to professional development of math skills.
Speaking from J.R. Wilcox on Wednesday, Education Minister Mitzie Hunter said it was “urgent” that schools and school boards deal with the falling scores.
“I believe that this is why we have a priority and a focus on the math strategy starting this month, at the beginning of the school year,” she said.
“I know that all of our schools across Ontario are prepared to tackle this challenge. Just as we did in literacy, we’re going to see those same results in math.”
Below is a copy of the Grade 6 EQAO Math Assessment Question: Click here for the answers.
