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School district targets kids’ math training

The Coast Mountains School District is no longer employing a numeracy coordinator, but will instead form a team of teachers to work with a consultant and develop a mathematics plan.
8157418_web1_170830-TST-Grade4.FSA.CMSD
Coast Mountains School District report for Grade 4 students 2015-16.

The Coast Mountains School District is no longer employing a numeracy coordinator, but will instead form a team of teachers to work with a consultant and develop a mathematics plan.

Math and literacy success is significantly lower in this district compared to the provincial average, with more than 50 per cent of Grade 7 students not meeting expectations in math.

As a result, the school district’s number one goal is to improve math and literacy. Last year it hired a numeracy coordinator to start a district-wide plan to improve math education.

The move was prompted by local teachers, and school district director of instruction Janet Meyer said good progress was made.

“That work, on a foundational level, was completed,” said Meyer.

This year the numeracy coordinator position was discontinued due to funding, according to the school district.

“The Numeracy Coordinator position, funded through the Education Fund, is no longer provided by the Ministry of Education,” said superintendent Katherine McIntosh in an email.

“Therefore, upon Karen Scales’ retirement in June 2017, the position wasn’t renewed.”

The numeracy coordinator position cost the district $140,000, a typical administrator salary, said Meyer.

But Meyer says work is ongoing to develop a district-wide math plan, known as a numeracy framework.

A relationship has already been established with a well-known education consultant Carole Fullerton, who specializes in math, and has been contracted by the district to work with educators on a plan.

Fullerton will be presenting in Terrace on Sept. 22, a non-instructional day for teachers’ professional development.

After that the district will form a focus group of local educators to work with Fullerton to develop a district numeracy plan.

Meyer said they have no set deadline.

“We will oversee the group and gauge the progress throughout the year… but there’s no hard and fast date that it needs to be done by,” said Meyer.

Click here for prior story on the numeracy struggles in this district.

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For a closer look at student performance, the following charts are taken from the Ministry of Education website and show students’ performance based on the standard Foundation Skills Assessment (FSA) tests.

The first two are Grade 4 stats, and the second two show the Grade 7 stats.

8157418_web1_170830-TST-Grade4.FSA.BC
8157418_web1_170830-TST-Grade7.-FSA.CMSD
Coast Mountains School District report for Grade 7 students.
8157418_web1_170830-TST-Grade7.FSA.BC