CBE students lag behind province when it comes to math

Calgary students are achieving strong results on their exams in most subjects, but still have room to improve when it comes to math, according to the Calgary Board of Education. 

On Tuesday, the board released highlights of student results on the 2016-2017 diploma exams and provincial achievement tests.

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The provincial tests are one of the ways the CBE measures student success, along with report cards and student surveys. 

Results are sorted into two categories:

• Acceptable standard: A mark of 50 per cent or higher.
• Standard of excellence: A mark of 80 per cent or higher. 

The number of Grade 6 students achieving the acceptable standard or standard of excellence met or exceeded the province in all subjects. 

The number of Grade 9 students that met or exceeded the acceptable standard were equal to or higher than the province's results in French Language Arts, Science and Social Studies, and in French Language Arts, Mathematics, Science and Social Studies at the standard of excellence.

Results were similarly high for high school students' diploma exams. 

"Teachers, students, parents and our community partners continue to work together to support student learning and academic success," said chief superintendent David Stevenson in a release.

"As always, we review the results, analyze the data and look for areas of future improvement,"

Math needs improvement

Math is one of the areas the CBE has identified as needing improvement. 

"Well, certainly we've identified math as an area of focus. We've seen excellent results for our students at the standard of excellence but that's one area we want to look at and one area we'll be targeting with some of our learning coaches," CBE superintendent of learning Jeannie Everett told CBC News.

The CBE's results were 4.3 percentage points above the province in Grade 6 math, but just 65.8 per cent of Grade 9 students achieved acceptable standard — below the provincial average of 67.2 per cent. 

The board is implementing a new K-12 math strategy this year. Everett says math coaches will be deployed to 40 schools as part of the new initiative. 

Strong results from Calgary Catholic School District

The Calgary Catholic School District says its math scores are higher than the province's results, but it did see a drop in scores compared to last year's results for Grade 6 math. 

For the 2016-2017 school year, 71.2 per cent of Grade 6 CCSD students met or exceeded the acceptable standard in math, and 12.9 per cent met or exceeded the standard of excellence.

As for Grade 9 students, 69.5 per cent met the acceptable standard in math — 3.3 percentage points above the province — and 19 per cent met the standard of excellence, 0.3 percentage points above the province.

The CCSD met or exceeded the acceptable standard and standard of excellence in nearly all subjects, only lagging slightly behind the provincial average in Grade 6 English and Science.

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