Math Strategy to Help Students
A comprehensive math strategy is adding books and other resources to Nova Scotia classrooms to help students master critical math skills.
Education Minister Jane Purves announced Math Matters today as part of the first annual Minister's Report to Parents. The report includes the most recent provincial, national and international testing results and an action plan to improve student learning.
"Nova Scotians need a solid foundation in the basics -- reading, writing and math," said Ms. Purves. "We've launched several early literacy initiatives. Math needs the same kind of attention."
Testing results show that elementary students are struggling with math. The new strategy aims to support students and teachers to improve students' grasp of reasoning, logic and problem-solving skills.
"Students need more time to focus on math," said Ms. Purves. "We're looking for about an hour a day, depending on the grade level."
Primary to Grade 2 students will spend 45 minutes daily on math while students in grades 3 to 9 will spend a full hour. High school students will spend a minimum of 110 hours per credit of math. Year-long math course options will be explored for semestered schools.
Ms. Purves noted that the extra time needs to be quality time.
"We'll ensure that it's quality time by supporting our teachers with resources and professional development," she said. "Teachers have asked for support with the new math curriculum, and we know they will use it well to help their students succeed."
From 1997 to 2002, Nova Scotia has phased in a new math curriculum for primary to Grade 12. It was developed according to standards set by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics.
This spring, 880 teachers will get professional development to become math leaders for teachers in primary to Grade 9. Every teacher in these grades will also receive a practical resource that links curriculum outcomes to classroom teaching. The resource will include sample lesson plans, homework and other learning activities.
"Students need books to learn," said Ms. Purves. "We've already invested more than $2 million so that every junior and senior high school student has a math text book."
About $500,000 has gone into graphing calculators, fraction blocks and teacher resources to help Grade 1 to 9 students learn to do math in their heads. About $350,000 is buying a set of books for each elementary school to help students learn math concepts, from spacial sense to algebra, through reading.
The high school curriculum includes advanced courses. It also aims to meet the needs of struggling students with programs like Math Plus. The program is currently being piloted with Grade 10 students at 12 Nova Scotia schools and is helping many make significant progress.
"Math Plus is certainly increasing students' confidence and skill levels," said Anna Spanik, a Grade 10 teacher at Queen Elizabeth High School. "It's not a magic potion that will fix problems for every student, but for those who haven't met all of the junior high outcomes, Math Plus can help students get back on track so they're prepared for a Grade 11 academic math course."
The Department of Education will work with Nova Scotia universities to give student teachers more opportunities to prepare for teaching math.
"The Grade 5 math testing results are absolutely unacceptable, but hiding the fact that there's a problem wouldn't improve student learning," said Ms. Purves. "We need to keep testing to diagnose problems and keep providing support so that our students succeed."
Provincial testing will continue in elementary school. Grade 8 students will write math tests this June. Grade 12 math exams will be added in 2004. Students will also continue to participate in national and international tests. The results will be published annually in the Minister's Report to Parents.
"Once our testing results help us identify problems, we all need to work together on the solutions," said the minister. "Parents, teachers, school boards and the department all have a role to play to ensure our students get the math skills they need for future learning and for life in the real world."
The math strategy will require school boards to develop action plans and set targets to improve student achievement.
The Minister's Report to Parents and Action Plan are available at www.ednet.ns.ca . Copies are being mailed to all schools and to parent groups that are members of the Nova Scotia Federation of Home and School Associations.