Wynne’s education ‘update’ is all about the next election

If you don’t like what other people are saying about you, change the conversation.

That’s a line from “Mad Men,” the TV series about the advertising world in 1960s New York.

It also fits perfectly for Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne, who faces the province’s voters in nine months.

Although Wynne and her Liberal government have been pumping money into public education as if there’s no tomorrow, the math abilities of Ontario students are still sinking like a stone.

That’s true whether they are measured by the province’s Education Quality and Accountability Office, or against other countries and provinces.

An entire generation has a math problem. Ontarians are rightly alarmed, given that the modern economy rewards those who are good at math.

Over the past five years, the proportion of Ontario students in Grade 3 who met the provincial standard in math fell to 62 per cent this year from 67 per cent in 2013. For Grade 6 it was even worse — only 50 per cent of students met expectations, down from 57 per cent in 2013. Scores are also falling for the Grade 9 math tests.

Teachers sometimes blame parents and the home environment when students don’t achieve. But a detailed look at the results wipes out that argument.

This year, 21 per cent of students who had earlier met the standard in Grade 3, failed to meet it in Grade 6. These are the same kids from the same homes — and the longer they spend in school the worse they do. (By contrast, only four per cent of students didn’t meet the standard in Grade 3 but succeeded by Grade 6).

Wednesday’s announcement by Wynne that there will be a “curriculum refresh” and an “update” of how students are assessed by the Education Quality and Accountability Office is an attempt to change the conversation from those shoddy results.

The announcement pledges to make sure assessments are “culturally relevant, measure a wider range of learning, and better reflect student well-being and equity.”

The word “math’ is mentioned just once in the quotes from Wynne and other education leaders. But phrases like “critical thinking” and “problem solving” are constantly repeated. And there are other priorities, like student “mindfulness.”

All this is in lockstep with the agenda of the largest teacher union in the country, the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario.

The union opposes standardized testing of basic skills, on grounds that it is “narrow” and “promotes a distorted view” of achievement, according to union executive member and Waterloo Region teacher Greg Weiler.

Norah Marsh, chief executive officer of the accountability office, said she is “looking forward to hearing more detail” about Wynne’s plans. Critical thinking and problem-solving are important, but they are skills that “are already privileged, I would say, within the curriculum,” she said.

Marsh’s office has clearly shown that students lack vital math skills. With Wednesday’s announcement, Wynne has assured the union’s 78,000 teachers that instead of holding them accountable, she will be disregarding that message and possibly weakening the messenger.

Then, next June, those teachers will line up at the polls to show their gratitude.