It appears math isn't exactly a strength for local English-language Grade 6 students.
For several years, the provincial pass rate on elementary school standardized math tests has been dropping, causing the government to introduce initiatives to improve training for math teachers.
The worst scores on the Education Quality and Accountability Office (EQAO) test results — released earlier this month — are in Grade 6 math, where provincially, 54 per cent of students met the standard this past year.
That's down seven percentage points from 2009-2010.
Unfortunately for two local school boards, the provincial trend is reflected here.
Grade 6 math test results with students at both the Sudbury Catholic District School Board and the Rainbow District School Board are actually lower than the provincial average.
Just 42 per cent of Grade 6 Sudbury Catholic students passed the math test, down from 48 per cent five years ago.
With the Rainbow board, 49 per cent of Grade 6 students are meeting the math standard, down from 56 per cent five years ago.
To tackle the problem, the province is rolled out a $4-million training initiative for math teachers earlier this year. Rainbow and Sudbury Catholic also say they're in the process of working with their teachers to improve math teaching.
Some are blaming the poor math scores on a change to Ontario's curriculum.
Over the past decade, the province has moved to a system where students spend less time memorizing things like the multiplication tables and more time exploring ideas behind certain math concepts.
The two local French boards, however, seem to be doing much better when it comes to math scores.
Conseil scolaire catholique du Nouvel-Ontario (CSCNO) Grade 6 students had a 84-per-cent pass rate on the math test, up three per cent from five years ago.
Their counterparts at Conseil scolaire public du Grand Nord de l'Ontario (CSPGNO) had a 85-per-cent pass rate, up four per cent from five years ago.
Grade 3 students' math results are much better than those of their Grade 6 counterparts.
Provincially, 67 per cent of students passed this past school year, as opposed to 56 per cent of Sudbury Catholic students, 61 per cent of Rainbow students, 74 per cent of CSPGNO students and 77 per cent of CSCNO students.
Grade 9 students also did much better — at least those attending English boards — where in the academic stream, 81 per cent of Sudbury Catholic and 78 per cent of Rainbow students passed their math exams.
In the French boards, though, 72 per cent of CSCNO and 63 per cent of CSPGNO Grade 9 academic stream students passed. The provincial average is 84 per cent.
In general, reading and writing scores are much better than math scores, no matter what board or grade level.
CSPGNO received some good news on its Grade 6 reading scores, where 93 per cent of students passed the tests this past year, as opposed to 82 per cent five years ago.
In fact, its students ranked second provincially in this category.
“These results are very positive, and we are extremely proud of our students and the progress they have made,” said CSPGNO director of education Marc Gauthier, in a press release.
The other three local boards are also doing relatively well with Grade 6 reading scores, with 74 per cent of Sudbury Catholic, 75 per cent of Rainbow students and 89 per cent of CSCNO students passing the test.
Sudbury Catholic students actually jumped 11 percentage points in this area over the past five years, as did CSCNO students.
To view the full EQAO results, including breakdowns by board and schools, visit www.eqao.com.
