Ontario students struggling with math, testing reveals — province announces $200 payouts, ‘action teams’

Lecce also provided details of the province’s payout to parents, a $365-million fund that will provide $200 per child up to age 18, and $250 for those with special needs up to age 21. The money is to cover private tutoring or supplies for their children — although parents aren’t expected to submit any proof of how it is spent — and applications are now being accepted online.

“It could not be clearer that we must keep students in class without disruption, with a focus on catching up on the fundamentals — reading, writing and math — after two years of pandemic-related learning disruptions,” Lecce said, later adding that job action by teachers prior to the pandemic also played a role.

“All of this has impacted children in our province, and it’s set them back in reading, writing and math,” he said, adding lower scores are “a trend we’re seeing across this country and the western world. From the United Kingdom to the United States to all provinces in this federation, students are falling behind.”

Barb Dobrowolski, president of the Ontario English Catholic Teachers Association, said the test results “are not bad” considering the government closed schools to in-person learning for about 27 weeks, longer than most across much of North America and Europe.

“It’s a testament to the incredible work of students, teachers and parents to make sure that learning continued throughout the pandemic,” said Dobrowolski, whose union represents 45,000 teachers. “Considering what just went on the last two years, I think that Ontario has done very, very well,” she said referring to other jurisdictions where students fared worse.

Taking aim at unions — which are now in contract negotiations with the province, with support staff possibly walking off the job as early as Nov. 3 — Lecce said students “must stay in class in front of their educators, getting back to the basics of learning. We cannot improve math scores if children face the perennial threat of strikes, withdrawing services, where kids don’t get a report card to assess their academic performance.”

The math action teams will be dispatched to schools with low scores to improve teaching practices and supports for students.

To help with early literacy — which school boards’ research has shown was also impacted by disruptions during the pandemic — the province is spending $25 million on reading help, and starting next fall students in senior kindergarten to Grade 2 will be screened for reading progression, and will work with boards and unions “to establish a consistent set of recommended screening tools.”

The government also wants to work with school boards to create a standard for dealing with students who have high absence rates.

The latest EQAO testing results, which will serve as the new baseline for student achievement, found that 73 per cent of Grade 3 students hit the standard in reading and 65 per cent in writing. For Grade 6 students, 85 per cent met reading expectations, and 84 per cent writing.

Among Grade 9 students, 52 per cent met the standard.

The tests, taken by students in Grades 3 and 6 last May and June, were the first written online, and were plagued with technical difficulties.

The EQAO also blamed the pandemic for the results, adding it “has had a more significant impact on mathematics than on literacy achievement.”

Because last spring’s tests were the first to be held online, they are not fully comparable to previous pencil-and-paper tests.

Karen Littlewood, president of the 60,000-member Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation, welcomes the addition of more math teams, but said “the money is really quite small when you consider the size of the province and the number of people who might be necessary.”

Talika Walsh, a Brampton mother of boys aged 14 and 17, one of whom has special needs, called the payout “an insult” and a “drop in the bucket.”

“It’s a Band-Aid solution that does nothing,” said Walsh, whose younger son Ajani has autism, is non-verbal and is struggling to catch up.

“Do you know, realistically, how many hours he has missed because he couldn’t sit still to focus and be taught?” she asked, noting a few sessions of tutoring won’t make a dent in his learning.

NDP education critic Chandra Pasma said “our kids deserve to have extra help from caring adults each and every day when they go to school, not just an hour or two outside the classroom, if they’re lucky.”

Kristin Rushowy is a Toronto-based reporter covering Ontario politics for the Star. Follow her on Twitter: @krushowy