PORT HASTINGS: While students within the Strait regional school board (SRSB) are still leading the province in several portions of the latest mathematics and literacy assessments, some SRSB members are calling on the board to ensure support is available for students struggling with these subjects in later years.
The SRSB was the highest-performing board in Nova Scotia in Grade 8 mathematics and reading, with the board also topping the province in the ideas, organization and conventions segments of the Grade 8 writing assessment and tying the Conseil scolaire acadien provincial (CSAP) for the best results in the language-use section of the writing assessment.
The Strait region also scored highest in Grade 10 reading and finished behind only the CSAP in Grade 10 writing, with a second-place finish also achieved in the Grade 10 Mathematics at Work program and a fourth-place finish chalked up in Grade 10 mathematics.
While many board members echoed the comment of SRSB superintendent of schools Ford Rice that the board was “very pleased” with the latest student assessment figures, West Guysborough representative Chelsea Burke and West Antigonish representative Richelle MacLaughlin called for additional support for students falling beneath the provincial average in specific areas.
Noting the fourth-place finish for the SRSB in Grade 10 mathematics, which also saw three of the SRSB’s 10 assessed schools fall below the provincial average, Burke suggested that the early senior-high years are often difficult for students.
“I’ve been tutoring math for quite some time now, and Grade 10 is always seen to be the issue,” Burke recalled during last week’s SRSB meeting at the board’s central office in Port Hastings.
“It’s been six or seven years that I’ve been tutoring, and that’s my number one grade in terms of difficulty…”
MacLaughlin noted that, while she does not wish to make an example of any particular student body that is experiencing trouble with numeracy at the senior high level, she would like to see a network of support for any students coming up short in the province-wide assessment process.
“For myself and as board members, we don’t want to go down into exactly which school or which class [is underperforming], or anything like that,” MacLaughlin stressed.
“But for me, this is an opportunity where we can link all of those pieces together to be able to provide a support to be able to help those students improve from where they are, and they’ll be able to bring those numbers up.”
Rice pointed out that the SRSB employs a math mentor who works specifically with senior high students, and following last Wednesday’s board meeting, the superintendent told reporters that the board will further investigate how to bolster its test scores and assessment results at the Grade 10 level.
“As with any assessments, there are some areas that need further attention,” said Rice.
“But in some areas, we are still the top-performing board in the province… We’ve had steady, strong performance of our students in provincial assessments, depending on the assessment. Generally speaking, we’ve been strong regarding our student performance in provincial assessments.”