Students must master math

RE: Don’t hold students back (Dec. 27)

I never suggested that we hold students back. I did state that they should have to master the basic math concepts of a grade before they are moved onto the next grade’s math concepts. I suggested this could be done by streaming students for math (and English) at the primary level.

I once participated in a successful program where all the students in the primary grades were streamed in English using the classroom teachers plus the special education teacher. This ensured optimum attention for the students since the classes were smaller and the students in each class were working to master the same fundamental skills.

Another approach could be to pull students from their primary class (not during English) to a class at their level provided by the special education teacher.

Susan Nelan advocates moving students on with an individual learning plan but does not address the realities of implementing this in a classroom of 20 to 30 or more students (if you are a junior grade teacher). Teachers who promote the IEP as the answer, I respectfully suggest, have probably not had to implement one. Regardless, this approach is not working. Just look at EQAO math scores and the fact that universities and colleges have had to implement prerequisite English and math remediation classes for students entering post-secondary courses. Linda Chenoweth, Hamilton