Governors are concerned about poor maths scores in Thames Valley schools

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Dismal math results in some local classrooms have Thames Valley District school administrators wanting to know if a plan intended to improve students’ grades is actually working.

At one school in the London board, just six percent of the Education Quality and Accountability Office (EQAO) Year 6 students’ math performance met or exceeded provincial expectations, a “completely unacceptable” result, said trustee Marianne Larsen.

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“This is a concern of a number of administrators,” she said during a debate this week, “specifically, what are we doing to support these schools?”

Here is the percentage of Thames Valley EQAO students who met the provincial math standards:

• 59 percent of group 3 students
• 48 percent of 6th grade students
• 47 percent of 9th grade students

Here is the percentage of Ontario EQAO students who met provincial math standards:

• 61 percent of group 3 students
• 50 percent of the students in group 6
• 54 percent of 9th grade students

Standardized EQAO tests assess how well students in Ontario’s public education system are doing in reading, writing and math.

Ontario’s Ministry of Education has designated 62 schools, including 53 elementary schools, in Thames Valley as “math priority schools” based on last year’s EQAO results, according to a staff report detailing Thames Valley’s “math action plan.”

“The intent of the plan is that it will improve the grades in the provincial assessment,” said Superintendent Sheila Builder. “(I’m here) to provide a report to the administrators on what we are doing specifically to support our priority schools. . . what we do to increase those scores”

The plan, which comes from a $71.8 million investment by Queen’s Park in 2023, includes professional education for teachers and administrators, digital tools to track math performance and a website that provides math support, Builder said.

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The board must report student performance data to Queen’s Park three times a year, with the first set due Nov. 15, she said. But Larsen said administrators have no idea “if all these wonderful things you’re proposing even work” to help students.

“Maybe, maybe not – once we know, we can move very quickly,” she said.

Interim education director Bill Tucker said long-term trends show the board is “moving in the right direction.” But he suggests senior school board leaders need to take a more active role in supporting teachers.

Larsen said there needs to be “a shift in the narrative” when it comes to learning math.

“We always hear people say, ‘I’m not good at math,’” she said. “What we actually had to do was a complete change of thinking.”

Not all Thames Valley schools had poor EQAO maths scores, she added, noting one classroom scored 100 percent last year. “They’re doing something there.”

Administrators will meet with school math administrators in February to check whether the math action plan is improving scores.

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@HeatheratLFP

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