Like some math problems, the one the Calgary Board of Education (CBE) faces is proving to be somewhat challenging. There is room for improvement in student scores in the subject.
On Tuesday, the seven elected CBE trustees were given a look at the three-year strategy the board’s math experts are embarking upon to improve results and comprehension for students in grades 1 through 9. Approximately 91 per cent of CBE students in those years were “successful” with learning outcomes in math, although students in grades 7 to 9 showed “slightly lower levels of achievement” in using mathematical reasoning to analyze and solve problems.
“We heard a very strong sense in the strategy that we need to focus on basic computational skills, improving fluency, mental math; a lot of the things that parents provided feedback on during the engagements last year,” board chair Trina Hurdman said.
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One key to the school board’s strategy to improve math results is the deployment of math learning coaches to work alongside teachers in the classroom.
“The accountability of achievement is with the teacher along with the mathematics coach.”
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More than 70 CBE teachers expressed interest in becoming math coaches. 25 have been hired. The needs of individual schools are being assessed to determine where the coaches can be best utilized.
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Also among the recommendations is dedicating more time than is required by the provincial education protocols for math instruction.
In schools participating in the CBE math strategy, students in grades 1 through 6 will see an increase in instructional time from 47.5 minutes to 60 minutes per day, while students in grades 7 through 9 will see an increase from 33 minutes to 45 minutes per day.
The presentation on math strategy– intended to be informational in nature– wasn’t without tough questions. Newly-elected trustee Lisa Davis, who was part of a campaign focusing on improving math scores, quizzed administration on a number of parts in their plan.
“How do we think we are going to get different results using the same materials we’ve been using over the last number of years,” Davis asked at one point, seemingly pushing for consideration of a program called JUMP Math as an in-classroom resource. The program is already on the list of approved in-class resources by Alberta Education and is in use by a number of organizations.
“They have some very interesting Canadian research which we like,” Davis told reporters. “I think anytime you have existing resources that are research-based that we definitely want to be looking to see if we can use those to help shorten that development time.”
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Davis’ repeated referral to the resource seemed to provoke trustee Julie Hrdlicka to raise an eyebrow at the line of questioning given the intent of the meeting between trustees and administration.
“I’m kind of feeling a little uncomfortable that we are directing staff at this point and that is not the point of this conversation,” Hrdlicka said. “This is certainly a conversation that trustees can have some conversation about, but I’m feeling like this is an operational issue and they are sharing this information.”
“I think the questions have been rich, but I kind of feel like we’re getting into that point of directing staff and I’m nervous about that because individual trustees have different ideas and thoughts on this.”
“I certainly hope no staff feels they’re being directed,” said board chair Hurdman.
“It is the role of trustees to ensure results. It is not the role of the trustee to determine strategies or to reverse strategies the administration has chosen.”
“But it is our role to ensure appropriate targets are being set, that those targets are being met, and to hold administration accountable for student results. So, we’re about the outcome, not how to get there.”
Davis is one of three CBE trustees who ran as a slate of candidates under the banner of “Students Count.” One of the group’s key platform promises was to “fix” math in schools under the contention that “more students are failing math and the CBE is not fixing the problem.”
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