One in 38 students in Grade 6 meet math mark at Cathy Wever

At a central Hamilton elementary school, just under three per cent of Grade 6 students met the provincial standard in math on the most recent standardized test.

That means out of 38 kids in the class who wrote the test, just one made the mark.

If this sounds familiar, it's because the same school and grade scored the same low percentage in 2015-16.

Results from the 2021-22 Education Quality and Accountability Office (EQAO) standardized test - the first since before the pandemic - show Cathy Wever Elementary School had the lowest rate of students achieving 70 per cent and above in Hamilton.

The school fell well below the board average of 36 per cent and the provincial average of 47 per cent.

The impact of the pandemic hit some of our socioeconomically marginalized communities much harder than it did others," said Bill Torrens, the Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board's superintendent of program. It's going to take some time to recover."

This is true of all students, he said, though some have been disproportionately affected.

Longtime former trustee Judith Bishop said Cathy Wever's dismal" three per cent result could be dismissed as a pandemic blip" - except that it's happened before. Back then, Bishop called the results disastrous."

Still, she said, the latest results are a sudden drop" from previous years, when scores were in the low teens. School leadership and culture make a big difference" and could be a factor, Bishop suggested, adding that board support for educators is essential.

The population hasn't changed, so something has changed at the school," she said.

The school has had three principals in about three years.

Torrens said, generally speaking, staff turnover can be disruptive to student learning," adding that there is ample evidence" that strong school leadership is linked to higher student achievement.

The board declined The Spectator's request for an interview with the principal.

Parent Laura Farr said it's been harder to establish" communication with the uncommonly high turnover. In the past, a principal might stay three to five years, she said.

We would love to see someone there for more than a couple of years," said Farr, who is a member of the school council. There is a pervasive feeling amongst myself and some other parents that people feel like this is the school where you can kind of go prove yourself and then get promoted."

Her son was part of a Grade 3 cohort where just 17 per cent met the provincial standard in math, again, among the lowest in the city in 2021-22. In both grades, reading and writing fell below both board and provincial averages by up to 29 per cent.

But Farr's not worried about the results, and doesn't want her son to be either. Teachers shared throughout the year that he understands the concepts well and can apply them."

I see the tests that come home and he's doing OK," she said.

The standardized test is just one measure of success, and maybe not the most effective, she said. Her son was most worried about losing or breaking the assigned stylus and earbuds for the test, which is in a new digital format.

The kids were really stressed," she said.

At the same time, EQAO is important because it remains the only objective measure of achievement in Ontario schools.

At public institutions all over Hamilton, kids at every grade level are doing worse than most in the province in math, even in schools with socioeconomic advantages that tend to coincide with higher test scores.

Fewer than half (44 per cent) of Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board (HWDSB) third-graders met the provincial standard for math, compared with 59 per cent provincially. Overall, 36 per cent met provincial standards in Grade 6, falling again well below the Ontario average of 47 per cent.

There are often other things going on in lives that can impact outcomes," said Farr, who has been involved with the school for many years. Stress at home, behaviour issues and hunger can making learning and test-taking challenging, she said. Many families have trouble getting to school for the 8:10 a.m. bell, a barrier to attendance, she said.

Half the battle is just getting them to the door," she said.

Demographics can change, too, she said. Cathy Wever, where nearly half of students speak a first language other than English, has in the past had influxes of newcomers for whom language and disruption can pose barriers.

Catholic schools fared better in math, but, still, only 62 per cent of Grade 3s and 48 per cent of Grade 6s met the standard in math. At St. Patrick Catholic Elementary School, less than a kilometre from Cathy Wever, just 15 per cent of Grade 3s and 16 per cent of Grade 6s are meeting the standard.

Morris Hucal, superintendent of education for the Hamilton-Wentworth Catholic District School Board, said that while students at the school continue to struggle with math, at least one cohort has made great gains" in other areas since they were assessed three years ago. The current Grade 6 class improved by 13 percentage points in reading and four in reading from their Grade 3 results in 2018-19.

There is growth," he said.

Across subjects and grades, fewer students in the province met the standard last year than in 2018-19, prompting the province to hire nearly 1,000 teachers for specialized math and literacy programs, the province's education minister announced in April.

As part of the plan, the Ontario government will dispatch so-called math action teams to schools to recommend ways to improve performance, focusing on the lowest-achieving 20 per cent of schools according to EQAO data. Superintendents at Hamilton school boards say they have yet to confirm which schools might receive the support.

Some HWDSB schools have had challenges on an ongoing basis," Torrens acknowledges.

Half the students at Cathy Wever - a kindergarten to Grade 8 school on Wentworth Street North near Barton Street East serving some of Hamilton's poorest neighbourhoods - come from low-income households, while 20 per cent are in special education programs. Forty-five per cent speak a first language other than English.

In lower-income communities, insecure housing and poor nutrition can affect learning, Torrens explained, adding that students might attend several schools during their elementary career. Other known challenges associated with poorer neighbourhoods include poor access to educational resources, including materials, tutoring and technology, lack of family support and increased absenteeism.

Those do not create necessarily the best conditions for learning," he said.

Cathy Wever is a high-priority school, a board designation given to those in areas with greater socioeconomic challenges, which are consistently overrepresented among the worst performers in snapshots provided by EQAO.

The board has, in recent years, increased interventions to improve overall student achievement, particularly in literacy, Torrens said. Interventions include after-school tutoring, reading programs targeting students in kindergarten to Grade 2 and extra math supports for select schools.

For years, early reading has been a focus for the board.

Math hasn't been one of our annual plan priorities in the same way," Torrens said, adding that the board is currently developing strategic direction for 2023-24. We may see renewed focus on mathematics next year."

Currently, 12 schools including Cathy Wever have math facilitators - coaches who work directly with classroom teachers in what the board calls job-embedded learning," the superintendent said. This key response" might include helping educators plan, teach and assess students in the classroom to ensure that the math instruction is where it needs to be," he said.

The program has been in place for four years, though facilitators move around based on need. Torrens said the board has seen improvement in a large number of schools" with math facilitators, but wouldn't say which ones.

Bishop, who has remained an outspoken advocate for education since retiring as a trustee in 2014 after 26 years in the role, has continued to do her own reporting and analysis of EQAO results.

Though individual success stories exist, Grade 3 math results at high-priority schools have declined steadily - by 17 per cent - since 2008, Bishop's research shows. In fact, other than in Grade 6 reading, where scores have increased by 29 per cent, results show little change or improvement," the report reads.

By contrast, Catholic equal opportunity schools - those that receive additional support - have seen a steady show of improvement," she said.

It troubles Bishop that the public board hasn't made significant strides toward closing the gap.

One can really not say there've been any long-term gains since 2008," she said. When are we going to address this in this province? Because it has so many implications for equity."

-With files from The Canadian Press

Kate McCullough is an education reporter at The Spectator. kmccullough@thespec.com

Top 5: Grade 3 math

• Corpus Christi: 92%

• Greensville: 88%

• St. Paul: 83%

• Immaculate Heart of Mary: 82%

• Balaclava: 81%

• St. Gabriel: 81%

• Sir William Osler: 81%

Bottom 5: Grade 3 math

• Cecil B. Stirling: 11%

• Dr. J.E. Davey: 15%

• St. Patrick: 16%

• Cathy Wever: 17%

• Viola Desmond: 18%

HWDSB: 44%

HWCDSB: 62%

Province: 59%

Top 5: Grade 6 math

• Rousseau: 85%

• Our Lady of Mount Carmel: 79%

• Mountview: 79%

• St. Ann (Ancaster): 73%

• Norwood Park: 72%

Bottom 5: Grade 6 math

• Cathy Wever: 3%

• Buchanan Park: 6%

• Prince of Wales: 13%

• Dr. J.E. Davey: 15%

• St. Patrick: 15%

HWDSB: 36%

HWCDSB: 48%

Province: 47%