During a recent school board committee meeting in Truro, a full report was shown breaking down statistics for Grades 4, 6, 10 and 12 mathematics performances from data that was gathered from a Nova Scotia assessment and exams as well as the school board’s regional exams.
“They are slightly below the provincial (stats) across the board,” said board vice-chairman Keith MacKenzie.
“By the time (students) get to Grade 8 the deficits are getting bigger,” said Darlene MacKeen-Hudson, CCRSB co-ordinator of mathematics, adding recent changes to curriculum may impact some results.
“We need to focus on the elementary level. If you don’t get that basis, it’s a (big) hurdle,” she said.
Statistics indicate CCRSB expectations are not being met, for the most part, in addition to provincial scores. For example, a target for Grade 4 mathematics for the board is 85 per cent. Only
74.6 per cent of students tested met the goal.
In Grade 6, only 68.7 per cent of students met the board’s target of 78 per cent.
Regarding high school, 71.6 per cent of Grade 10 mathematics students met the assessment expectations; the board’s target was 85 per cent.
For Grade 12 mathematics, 64.1 per cent of students met the expectation. However, CCRSB’s target goal was 78 per cent.
In Grade 12 advanced mathematics, the board’s 85 per cent target was met when 85.1 per cent of the students tested met the goal.
In addition, about 69 per cent of African Nova Scotian and First Nations students who were tested met expectations.
There were more than 1,000 participants in the Nova Scotia assessment and between 300 and 1,000 students taking part in the provincial and CCRSB exams.
MacKeen-Hudson said there are many supports in place to help improve results. There’s an increase of mentor support and professional learning opportunities as well as credit bridging, which identifies students who require extra help, to name a few.
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