A local parent who's been critical of Ontario's math curriculum said she's glad the province has “finally listened to the people of Ontario” in helping students achieve better results in mathematics.
The province announced last week that starting in September, it's spending more than $60 million to bolster students' math scores.
It's doing things such as mandating 60 minutes of math per day for students in grades 1-8, bringing in up to three math lead teachers in all elementary schools and providing at-home resources for parents.
Nancy Deni, a mother of three first elected as a Sudbury Catholic District School Board trustee in 2014, said she's happy as long as the kids see the benefits of this spending.
But she is frustrated the province is throwing more money to solve an issue that she feels is the government's fault in the first place.
“As a taxpayer, I'm disappointed that it's going to take another $60 million of our tax dollars to fix a problem that is the ministry's own doing,” said Deni, stressing this is her opinion, not the board's.
“That's especially when I'm not happy with the debt situation in this province. However, if this plan works out and our kids benefit from these strategies, then I will be a happy parent and a happy citizen.”
Deni has been among a movement of Ontario parents advocating a back-to-basics math approach as opposed to the current system where students spend less time memorizing and more time exploring the ideas behind math concepts.
According to a press release issued by the ministry last week, from 2009-10 to 2013-14, EQAO Grade 3 mathematics results declined by four percentage points and Grade 6 results declined by seven percentage points.
While Deni still thinks memorizing the multiplication tables is a good idea — it's something she's worked on with her kids — she said she's come to see that “maybe a new way of teaching math isn't such a bad idea.”
In terms of the ministry's recent announcement, Deni said she especially likes the idea of math lead teachers — those who have received special training in math and who can pass their knowledge onto their colleagues.
The two local English-language school boards — Rainbow District School Board and the Sudbury Catholic board — say they've already implemented some of the measures being mandated by the province.
However, board representatives say they'd be glad to get extra funds to devote to math instruction.
“We are always really thankful when the ministry gives us more resources,” said Rainbow superintendent of schools Lesleigh Dye.
The board has already made sure its elementary students receive an hour of math instruction for the past decade, and added a further 10 minutes of mental math four years ago, she said.
“So our students in grades 1 to 8 are actually getting 70 minutes of math each and every day,” Dye said.
Sudbury Catholic director of education Joanne Bénard said elementary students at her board also already spend an hour a day on math.
Both boards also said they also already have an informal system of math lead teachers, as well as math consultants that work with the entire board.
“We've been making it happen, but having to redirect money from other areas to do it,” Bénard said. “If the ministry's going to give us additional funds to do that, that's great.”
She said she thinks last week's announcement is more an enhancement of the current system than a major change.
“It's not like we're having to take a different route here,” she said. “We're going to continue the course, but we're going to get more supports to do it, which is a great news piece.”
