The Ontario government will spend the next year overhauling the math curriculum as another round of provincial testing shows elementary students continue to struggle with the subject.

“Every year, the scores have either stagnated” or dropped, Education Minister Stephen Lecce said Wednesday after the Education Quality and Accountability Office released results for the 2018-19 school year that he called “disappointing.”

The math overhaul was first announced by Lecce’s predecessor, Lisa Thompson, earlier this year.

Lecce announced that $55 million of the government’s $200 million, four-year math strategy will be spent in 2019-20 on teacher resources and supports, online tutoring, summer math camps and targeted help for 700 elementary and secondary schools as the province moves away from discovery math to a more back-to-basics approach.

High school math lessons are also getting a revamp, though that won’t be completed for a couple of years.

Provincial test results show that in Grade 3, 58 per cent of students met the provincial standard — which is equivalent to an A or B — which represents a decline in results from the past three years.

In Grade 6, less than half — 48 per cent — met the expectation, a one percentage point drop from the average over the past three years.

In Grade 9, results remained stable with 84 per cent meeting the standard at the academic level, but just 44 per cent of those enrolled in applied math — which the EQAO says “is a persistent achievement gap between students in the applied and academic courses.”

The EQAO also noted that in elementary schools, “Ontario students’ basic knowledge of fundamental math skills is stronger than their ability to apply those skills to a problem or think critically to determine an answer. In attempts to promote engagement and achievement, it is worth considering how we can further support students’ mathematical problem solving and critical thinking.”

When asked about the province’s back-to-basics approach in light of the EQAO comment, Lecce said the previous Liberal government’s “discovery” approach has not worked, and led to the decline in scores.

Lecce said the new curriculum is still in the works, and that the government will “realign” its math strategy funding to fit the revamped curriculum once it is in place.

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