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The kids are just getting back to school now, but the report card for Ontario’s math curriculum is in and it’s a fail.

Last week the Education Quality and Accountability Office released their standardized test results for 2018. The good news is that Ontario’s students in Grades 3, 6 and 9 are doing well when it comes to reading and writing. The bad news is they are failing at math.

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Just 49% of Grade 6 students met the standard in math.

Defenders of the system are quick to point out that failing to meet the standard doesn’t mean students are failing math. To meet the standard, a student must get at least 70%.

So while it is true that students are not failing, the percentage of students able to meet the standard has been falling for years.

In 2010, 61% of students in Grade 6 met the provincial standard. By 2014 that number was down to 54% before falling to today’s pitiful 49%.

Grade 3 results are down as well, with just 61% of students meeting the standard in math, down from 71% in 2010. While students in the academic stream in Grade 9 are holding steady with 84% able to meet the math standard, applied level students are struggling.