The Simcoe Muskoka District Catholic School Board is trying to help improve math skills.
A recent report on the 2018 math results from the Education Quality and Accountability Office (EQAO) of Ontario sixth graders showed that more than half failed the annual review of student’s comprehension.
Pauline Stevenson is a spokesperson for the board and says there are programs in place to help students improve.
“There is a key focus at our board for numeracy for sure,” Stevenson. “We’ve put in programs over the last several years to try and work on numeracy.”
These include professional development for teachers and a program for new grade nine students to get ready for new math challenges.
“They do a special math prep course to help them get ready,” she explained.
“There is work we continue to do and work that still needs to be done to improve numeracy,” Stevenson conceded.
She also touched on what might be coming from the new provincial government in terms of teaching guidelines.
“(The government) is looking at revamping math and what math looks like, but we don’t know what that looks like at this point,” Stevenson explained.
Results from the EQAO to individual boards is due in the next couple of weeks.
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