Ontario Launches New Initiatives to Help Students With Their Math Skills

Published July 10, 2019 at 4:31 am

Math may just be one of the most important skills a student can learn while in school. And the Ontario government has plans to make math more accessible for all students.

Math may just be one of the most important skills a student can learn while in school. And the Ontario government has plans to make math more accessible for all students.

On Tuesday (July 9) the Ontario Government announced that it will be launching new initiatives (programs) to strengthen math skills for all students in Ontario, especially for students in under-served communities.

The goal of the initiatives is to help students develop the math skills they need to succeed, and find good jobs in future careers. The programs will help students retain and build on the math knowledge and skills they have learned throughout the academic year.

“We are listening to parents and educators,” said Stephen Lecce, the Minister of Education. “Ontario students need greater support to strengthen their math skills to achieve success in school and into their careers. This investment provides our young people with access to the skills they need to enter the workforce with confidence, and further underscores our government’s focus on STEM in the classroom.” 

And, despite it being summer vacation for most students right now, the announcement may have come at a good time. According to provincial performance results based on the EQAO mathematics assessments have shown a decline in recent years at the Grade 3 and Grade 6 levels in the English-language school systems. 

The government hopes to help improve math scores by investing more than $6 million for summer initiatives throughout the province, including: 

  • Numerous math-focused three-week Summer Learning Programs offered by school boards for students in Kindergarten to Grade 5.
  • Frontier College programs that support the development of foundational literacy and numeracy skills of high-priority students who live in under-served communities, including First Nations and remote communities.
  • Math at Home: a virtual summer learning refresher which gives students and parents a chance to retain learned skills over the summer.

These initiatives support the government’s four-year math strategy that focuses on fundamental math concepts and skills and how to apply them. In the first year, Ontario will be making $55-million investment to support the strategy.

The strategy will ensure that students are prepared for success in the classroom and in their future, teachers are confident and capable of teaching math, and parents and families can support their child’s academics.

Other resources available to students and parents include:

  • TVO’s Mathify: Ontario Certified Teachers provide free 1:1 English-language math tutoring for students in grades 7 to 10.
  • SOS Devoirs: Ontario Certified Teachers provide free 1:1 tutoring and educational resources in all subjects for French-language students from grades 1 to 12.
  • Doing Mathematics with Your Child: a guide for parents to help their children from Kindergarten to Grade 6.
  • Parent Engagement: Resources for success in math.

What do you think of these new resources?

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