Planned overhaul of Ontario’s mathematic education means going back to basics

BY PAUL JUNOR

The ongoing issue regarding the mathematics education of Ontario students has been a major preoccupation of stakeholders over the years. Many parents have raised concerns and issues with what they perceived to be failures of their children to comprehend basic concepts in mathematics.

The provincial government is also alarmed by the declining mathematics performance of students on the Education Quality and Assessment Test (EQAO), which is administered to students in grades 3, 6 and 9 in mathematics. Organizations, such as the Fraser Institute, have used EQAO results to rank schools, and this has been a deciding indicator when parents pick the school that they want their children to go to. Education officials and union representatives are cautious about these results as they realized that social, financial and other factors play a role. It is within this context that the government has decided to examine ways to change the math curriculum.

The decline in EQAO math scores has been attributed to the discovery math that was introduced by the previous liberal government in early 2000. This approach to mathematics education, emphasizes a problem-solving experiential based perspective. In this inquiry–based approach, teachers utilize critical thinking to find a solution to a problem rather than using simple computations. This pedagogical strategy moves away from rote learning and emphases learning by doing, to ensure that students build mathematical knowledge by solving problems using technology and calculators as tools to build on foundational skills. In each grade, there are seven “mathematical process expectations” that are integral to how children learn and apply mathematical understanding. These math actions are embedded in each math course.

On Wednesday, August 20^th, the Minister of Education Stephen Leece announced that 55 million dollars will be invested in 2019 to ensure that: students enhance their math skills, new teachers are administered math tests, enhanced summer learning programs are developed, as well as the hiring of more math teaching experts. These decisions were motivated by the decreasing math performance of students on the EQAO tests, and a desire to appease the public who are concerned about math education. In addition, there will be a revision of the math curriculum with an emphasis on learning the basics. They have also commitment 200 million dollars, which will be spent over a four-year period to ensure that there will be a subsidy for educators who want to improve their skills in mathematics.

The expectation that newly hired teachers pass a standardized math test has not been received well by the teachers’ unions. They see it as targeting teachers who may not have qualifications in math but are expected to pass a math test with at least 70% mark. On the other hand, there are many who welcome the return to a back to basics approach; they see it as ensuring that students receive a basic foundation in fundamental skills. The struggles that students have in the areas of application is related to their ability to apply fundamentals to problem solving. The challenge comes when they must answer open-ended questions or word problems, which involve communication, problem solving and analysis. The ability of students to demonstrate a high level of math fluency is often very difficult. The Minister of Education believes that the solution to the poor performance of students lies in emphasizing old-school rote method.  Memorization of timetables will be the basis for the learning of more complex and challenging concepts in this revamped math curriculum.

There are many math educators who are not happy with this back to basics approach, as they believe that it does not take into consideration the latest neuroscience research on how children learn math. They believe that the minister’s decision is based on ideological and political views, rather than on sound pedagogical and scientific practices. Therefore, students will suffer in the long run as they have grown up in a technological and digital world and how they learn needs to be adjusted to their thinking.