CBE TRUSTEES DEMAND CHANGE AMID FALLING TEST SCORES
Declining academic results seen in math, English and among Indigenous students
Worried about poor test results in math, English and among all Indigenous students, public school trustees want administrators to show what’s being done to improve falling scores.
Administrators with the Calgary Board of Education brought forward a report at Tuesday’s meeting saying academic results show students are making “reasonable progress” in all subject areas.
But trustees disagreed, countering with a series of motions outlining declining test scores and demanding better learning strategies in numeracy, literacy and for Indigenous students in all subject areas.
Lisa Davis, newly elected in Wards 6 and 7 after promising to fix math, wants improved strategies to address increased failures in math, particularly among Grade 6 and Grade 9 students.
“When we look to our role in preparing students for their future, parents have been clear that strong math skills are an important component of their education,” Davis said.
“While we can acknowledge the significant efforts staff are making to improve results in this area, we need to acknowledge the current results do not meet the board’s standards for reasonable progress.”
Davis brought forward new data showing acceptable results for Grade 6 math are now at their lowest level since 2010, and have shown consecutive declines since 2014.
Excellence scores for Grade 6 math are also at their lowest levels since 2010 and have dropped significantly, with only 14.3 per cent of students achieving grades of 80 per cent or higher in 2016-17, down from 17 per cent in 2013-14.
And Grade 9 math results are at their second lowest rate since 2010, with 65.8 per cent of students lower than the provincial average for the first time in seven years.
Davis also pointed to declining results in English language arts, with only 76.2 per cent of students achieving acceptable standards last year, the lowest level since 2010-11 results. With declines in averages in five out of the past six consecutive years, it is the first time the CBE has fallen below the provincial average.
After Davis asked for more details on improvements and changes to both the math and English learning strategies by the end of April, trustees supported her motion unanimously.
Meanwhile, Julie Hrdlicka, trustee for Wards 11 and 13, raised concerns around results for First Nations, Metis and Inuit students, saying that overall, those students’ test scores are 40 per cent lower than the scores of non-Indigenous students.
“We are seeing Indigenous students continuing to struggle in their learning,” said Hrdlicka, whose motion asking for details on improvements and changes for Indigenous learning strategies was also unanimously supported.
Pointing to a combination of increased dropout rates, reduced high school completions and declining standardized test scores among Indigenous students, Hrdlicka added “we need to shake this up. It has to be addressed.”
Davis also asked CBE superintendent David Stevenson to collect data trends on test scores for grades 6, 9 and 12 over the past three years and bring that back by the end of March. But Stevenson said it would be too difficult to complete in such a short time.
Davis argued school-by-school breakdowns allow for schools to learn best practices, but she was voted down.