Manitoba Education issued the following News Release this morning.

May 16, 2012

MANITOBA IMPROVING QUALITY OF MATH EDUCATION BY STRENGTHENING CURRICULUM, HIGH-SCHOOL COURSES, TEACHER TRAINING: ALLAN

The province is working with its education partners to help improve the quality of math education in Manitoba, Education Minister Nancy Allan announced today at the Manitoba Education Math Summit at the Holiday Inn Airport West in Winnipeg.

“We want students to have a strong foundation in mathematics that prepares them for participation in our knowledge-based economy. An effective math education provides students with the knowledge and skills they need to succeed,” said Allan. This Conversation on Teaching and Learning Mathematics is an opportunity to share and discuss what we are currently doing, what we could be doing better, and what the future of teaching and learning math in Manitoba could be,” said Allan. “I’m looking forward to hearing from our partners in education about this important issue.”

A wide range of partners including educators, and business and industry representatives will be in attendance at the summit, with presentations from students, university mathematics professors, school division staff, mathematics education professors and industry.

The minister announced the province has identified three areas in which it intends to take action to ensure students receive a high-quality math education:

strengthening the math curriculum by ensuring the appropriate balance is struck between skill development, conceptual understanding and problem-solving abilities.; ensuring that high-school math courses have the learning expectations and outcomes necessary to prepare students for success in university and college programs, and the world of work; and working in partnership with the faculties of education to ensure that teacher candidates are prepared with the knowledge and skills necessary to provide solid instruction in mathematics in schools.

“By working together and taking action we will ensure that our students will get the quality math education they need for their future. As we all know, mathematics is fundamental in everyday life. From doing your taxes to taking measurements, a good understanding of math will give students a solid foundation to help them in everyday tasks.”

The province recently announced additional funding of $800,000 for the Early Numeracy Initiative to support school divisions with design and implementation of numeracy programming and teacher professional development to improve students’ math skills in kindergarten to Grade 8.

Other initiatives Manitoba is undertaking to improve student achievement in both the short and long term include:

providing a new, plain-language report card;
implementing a new assessment policy to ensure more rigorous standards in schools; and
reducing class sizes to 20 students in kindergarten to Grade 3.
More information about Manitoba’s math curriculum is available at: www.edu.gov.mb.ca/k12/cur/math/index.html.

(Note.  After reading the hansard today, WISE Math founders put in another request to meet one-on-one with the Minister of Education.)

WISE Math Initiative Consultations with Minister
Cameron Friesen (Morden-Winkler):
Mr. Speaker, this week is national Education Week and an appropriate time to focus attention on the state of math education in the province of Manitoba. Earlier this week, the Premier (Mr. Selinger) said that some math experts have been in direct contact with his Minister of Education, yet Anna Stokke and Robert Craigen, university math professors and founders of the WISE Math initiative, report that repeated requests to meet with the Minister of Education went unanswered for weeks until the minister’s assistant responded that the minister was too busy to meet with WISE Math.

Mr. Speaker, this coalition of math professors has successfully sparked a successful debate on declining math scores in Manitoba and the need to strengthen math education.

Will the Minister of Education explain why she is too busy to meet one-on-one with WISE Math to talk about this crucial issue?

Hon. Nancy Allan (Minister of Education): Well, I’m pleased to have an opportunity to correct the facts in regards to this particular situation.

I had the opportunity to meet with Anna Stokke and Robert Craigen in January of this year. I was fortunate enough to have colleagues of mine with me when we met. I had the Minister of Advanced Education (Ms. Selby) with me. I had the MLA for Kirkfield Park with me. I had several of my colleagues with me at that meeting. It was an excellent meeting.

They made–[interjection] Y es, they made a presentation, actually, to me about their concerns, about WISE Math, and it was an excellent discussion, an excellent dialogue. And not only have I met with them with my colleagues, officials in my department have also met with Anna Stokke and university presidents twice.

* (14:10)

Mr. Friesen: Mr. Speaker, there seems to be a question here in regard to one-on-one. WISE Math reports that they have–

Some Honourable Members: Oh, oh.

Mr. Speaker: Order, please. I’m having a great deal of difficulty hearing the question that’s being proposed here, and I ask all members, please, to ensure that the member is respected and has the opportunity to pose a question.

Mr. Friesen: The math here doesn’t add up.

WISE Math reports they have not been granted a one-on-one meeting with the Minister of Education. Now, the Premier (Mr. Selinger) stated that those experts in math in Manitoba, who had raised their voices expressing concerns, have been in direct contact with the minister.

Why’d the Premier lead this House to believe that the Education Minister had met one-on-one with Anna Stokke when, in fact, she doesn’t seem to have?

Ms. Allan: Oh, boy. I would just like to congratulate the new MLA for being the Education critic. I look forward to working with him. When I was in his constituency, one-on-one with him in his constituency, in opening up the Schanzenfeld school and–[interjection] Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

And then when I was with him two weeks later, one-on-one, breaking the sod for the new school that we’re going to build there because of our growing immigration program here in the province of Manitoba, he said to me, Mr. Speaker, he said, you know what, you’re here so much, you should open an office here.

Well, you know what? I meet with people one- on-one. I meet with people in groups. I meet with people in meetings. I meet with people with my caucus members. I meet with stakeholders all the time.

Mr. Speaker: Order, please. The member’s time has expired.

The honourable member for Morden-Winkler, with a final supplementary.

Mathematics Education Minister’s Consultations with Teachers

Cameron Friesen (Morden-Winkler): Manitoba students ranked second last among provinces in math in the recent Pan-Canadian Assessment Program test scores and second last in math in the 2010 PISA results.

Manitoba uses the same math curriculum as Saskatchewan. Y et, when the Saskatchewan saw similar results in their student test scores, that government responded quickly and facilitated a consultation and engagement process with front-line teachers. This Premier (Mr. Selinger) has said we have no inhibition in taking good advice on how we can improve on math education.

Will the Premier commit today to consult classroom teachers here, as Saskatchewan has done, and solicit good advice from front-line teachers on why math education has gone off the rails and how to get it back on track?

Hon. Nancy Allan (Minister of Education): I said when these–we received these results, we took these very seriously. I said we would work with our education partners, and we have been doing that. We put $800,000 into new funding in our education funding announcement in January for numeracy and literacy. We will provide PD for teachers to support that funding.

And I want the member to know that in May– this May, very shortly–we are hosting a conversation on teaching and learning mathematics in Manitoba. Our education partners will be there. All of our representatives will be there.

And I’m pleased to tell the member opposite that Anna Stokke will be presenting at the conference, and I would like to invite him today to attend the conference. I’d be more than happy if he would like to attend the conference. I’d actually drive over there with him, one-on-one.

Mr. Hugh McFadyen (Leader of the Official Opposition):.  Mr. Speaker, in the area of education, we have seen, thanks to people who work within the system, that things are going backwards rather than forwards in terms of what our kids are learning in schools. And I want to, as well, add my comments to the comments made by the member for River Heights (Mr. Gerrard) the other day, about the issue of math education. That’s an issue that we have been working on and our education critic, the member for Morden, has–had–Morden-Winkler (Mr. Friesen)–has made many, many comments and advanced this issue in a significant way.

But Anna Stokke and Professor Craigen from the University of Manitoba and others, have raised concerns about what they’re seeing in their classrooms. Students who are graduating from Manitoba schools are arriving in university ill-equipped to deal with significant challenges in the area of mathematics. And it shows up in so many different ways throughout the province and through our communities.
* (14:50)
We know that small-business people are finding that recent graduates are unable to deal with basic mathematical calculations. And what we saw, Mr. Speaker, years and years ago, because this wasn’t a change that was brought about by Manitoba teachers, this was a change that was brought about by bureaucracy within the Department of Education and imposed on Manitoba teachers, a change in the math curriculum which has taken things backward, which has created confusion for teachers, students and parents, and which has made it more difficult for students to master basic mathematical problems: addition, subtraction, division and multiplication.

And our teachers are doing their best but they’re required to teach to the curriculum that they’ve been handed by the NDP and those teachers are telling us that it’s the wrong way to go, that they want that curriculum changed. They believe in doing the best they can for our students and it’s really a problem and an issue that resides within this minister’s office, and that has long-term consequences for our province.

If our kids our unable to succeed in mathematics, it limits their ability to succeed in fields like engineering and science and medicine and business and so many other areas that are so important to developing the future of our province. The ability to challenge and tackle major problems, like environmental challenges around cleaning up our lakes and cleaning up our waterways and our air, are based on discoveries made by people who are equipped in the areas of science and mathematics to deal with complex and challenging problems. The ability to have engineers who can undertake great projects and build the future of our province, like hydro projects and transmission lines and other major works of engineering that move our province into the future. When we have an inability on the part of students to excel in mathematics, it takes away from our ability to train the best engineers who can solve these major challenges.
…

Our ability to produce more of those great thinkers is diminished when our students are unable to deal with complex challenges in mathematics. Our ability to protect ourselves in the future from major floods is reduced when we have less know-how amongst those involved in engineering. Our ability to design those great dams and transmission projects and other major works that will provide low-cost electricity to Manitobans are diminished when our education system fails to operate at its very best level.

And we believe that students should have the ability to pursue their dreams and to build on their own strengths, and as a province we’re enriched when we have students who excel in music, when we have students who excel in the arts, when we have students who excel in education and medicine and nursing and so many other areas. And this government, of course, puts value on all of those areas, as we do. But it’s a government that seeks not to put any value on professions like engineering and science and business and those other areas that are the wealth creators that enable us, Mr. Speaker, to have all those other good things that are important to our quality of life here in Manitoba. Our ability to have a vibrant arts community, our ability to have well-funded schools and good roads is a function of our ability to move forward as an economy. And those great steps forward are almost always taken by engineers and business people and others who have big ideas and translate those ideas into new businesses and new projects that create wealth and protect Manitobans.

So it’s a serious, long-term issue. It may, in fact, be the most significant long-term issue before legislators in this province today. There are lots and lots of short-term issues that we’ll debate, lots of irritants and challenges and immediate problems that face us. But, perhaps, the greatest long-term challenge we face as a province is the ability to get it right within our public education system, the ability to pursue excellence at every level and ensure that every child develops to their fullest capacity, to ensure that our teachers have a curriculum that makes sense, that’s forward looking, that’s constructive and pragmatic. And for all of those reasons, Mr. Speaker, we are concerned that this government seems not to recognize that there’s even a problem and that the budget does nothing to address this very significant issue.

If we look next door, Mr. Speaker, at Saskatchewan, when the issue of math education came to the attention of Premier Wall and his government next door they committed to address it. They launched a process to review the problem and they committed themselves to bring forward solutions. We need a similar approach in this province. As the issues are coming to light, and they’ve only really started to come to light in a significant way thanks to the efforts of people like Anna Stokke and other professors and teachers and parents throughout the province of Manitoba who have raised this to our attention, and now that they have we owe it to them to respond in a forthright, in a proactive and in a constructive way.

And it’s not a matter of politics, Mr. Speaker; it’s about the future of our province. It’s about our children and grandchildren, and we owe it to them to do the right thing today. And we know that at some point down the road they’ll look back and thank us for our foresight, or we’ll carry on down the path we’re on right now and we’ll live to regret the fact that we didn’t take action when we had the opportunity.

So I call on the government, Mr. Speaker, to pay close attention to what Anna Stokke, to what parents and others are saying, because these are people who are working with students each and every day. They see it up close. They know exactly what’s happening. They are educators within our public system of universities. And we ask the government to not disregard the concerns of our teachers and educators in Manitoba, to not show contempt for educators and professors and teachers in Manitoba, to listen carefully to what they’re saying and to act on it, and they’ll be given credit if they do.

Mr. Speaker, we can’t afford to fall behind our neighbours in other provinces who are acting, who are responding. They’re not pointing the finger and playing politics with the issue; they’re looking at the facts, they’re listening to what has to be said, and they’re acting on it. And there’s always an opportunity in public life to have the courage to not just play petty union politics all the time, but to actually look at the facts and make a courageous, bold decision to move our province forward in a constructive way and in a spirit of partnership with our front-line teachers who share the concerns that have been raised by members of our party and by educators at the level of our universities and colleges.

The entire Hansard can be viewed here.

(One small correction to Dr. Gerrard’s comments: Anna Stokke did not specifically say that the NDP has created a never ending cycle of innumeracy in Manitoba. A number of factors have contributed to the current state of affairs in the province.)

Sounds boring?  Well yes, but eye-opening in a way.  We may write about the outcome (assuming something comes of it) at a later point.  For now we want to make available some materials we had prepared in advance, and which we were permitted to distribute, but not to present formally in any way (we were told that the day was too tightly scheduled for this kind of input).

A brief explanation of what we’re posting here:

We were told that discussion would be based on comparisons with “models from jurisdictions that have been shown to be successful in national and international assessment initiatives”, and then we were pointed to Ontario and New Zealand curricular materials.

Ontario scores slightly a bit higher than Manitoba but since implementing a similar curriculum (except for the presence of standard algorithms), its outcomes have been falling over the last 3 PISA assessment periods — like Manitoba’s.  Internationally, New Zealand’s scores are moderate — slightly weaker than Canada’s.

We did not feel these jurisdictions met the stated criterion (see PISA data below) so we did our own comparisons against:

• Singapore, whose scores are almost unmatched and certainly well above Canada’s.  Further, their curriculum outcomes are very clear and easy to compare.
• The California State Standards outcomes, which are possibly the strongest in the U.S. and which have had a salutary effect on scores in that state while national U.S. scores have been floundering.
• Common Core State Standards:  a “compromise” document that brings back the standard algorithms and sets healthier grade-level outcomes.  In the past few years these standards have been adopted by 44 of the 50 states.

Here we compare milestones for Whole Number Arithmetic across these curricula, side-by-side against Ontario and WNCP.  And here we do the same with Fractional and decimal number arithmetic.

Finally, here is a sketch of what we believe is a reasonable and realistic set of outcomes, based on these comparisons, that could and should be implemented in Manitoba.

While we were permitted to distribute this information there was no opportunity given to present these documents coherently to the group today.  But we invite WISE Math JOINers and the General public to consider and respond by email to these discussion papers.

PISA Normalized mean scores 2003 – 2006 – 2009 (higher is better):

• Canada:  532 – 527 – 527
• New Zealand (est):   523 – 522 – 515
• Manitoba (WNCP):  528 – 521 – 501
• B.C. (WNCP): 538 – 523 – 523
• Alberta (WNCP): 549 – 530 – 529
• Saskatchewan (WNCP):  516 – 507 – 506
• Ontario:  530 – 526 – 526
• Quebec (for comparison):  537 – 540 – 543
• Singapore:  DNW – DNW – 560

Is there something wrong with the way math is taught in Canadian schools?

Robert Craigen and Anna Stokke also gave presentations to both the Manitoba PC caucus and the NDP caucus (both by invitation) earlier this year.

with Dr. Robert Craigen, Associate Professor of Mathematics at the University of Manitoba

Date: March 29, 2012
Location: Frontier Ballroom, Holiday Inn Winnipeg South, 1330 Pembina Hwy, Winnipeg
Time: 7:30am (breakfast is included with registration)

Registration details can be found at the following website.

NEW FUNDING TARGETS EARLY LITERACY, NUMERACY TO IMPROVE STUDENTS’ READING, WRITING, MATH SKILLS: ALLAN

News Release

New funding totalling $1.8 million for early literacy and numeracy initiatives will improve reading, writing and math skills of students from kindergarten to Grade 8, Education Minister Nancy Allan announced today at David Livingstone School in Winnipeg.  The new funding will bring the total amount of funding for early literacy and numeracy to $8.9 million per year.

“Developing strong reading, writing and math skills in the early years is critical to student success later in life and creates more opportunities for students in school and beyond,” said Allan.

Additional funding of $1 million has been allocated to the Early Literacy Intervention (ELI) grant, which supports literacy programs for the lowest-achieving students in Grade 1 of the English or French program and grades 1 or 2 of the French immersion program.  Funding is used to support reading recovery programs and/or locally developed early literacy programs that have demonstrated success.  Total funding for the ELI grant is now $7.3 million per year.

“Studies show that all children who participate in early literacy programs improve their reading and writing skills and 70 per cent of students show such significant improvement that they need no further supplementary support with reading and writing in the early years,” said Allan.

Additional funding of $800,000 has been allocated to the numeracy initiative to support school divisions with design and implementation of numeracy programming to improve students’ math skills in kindergarten to Grade 8, the minister said.  New funding will extend the grant, which previously included kindergarten to Grade 4 students, to include in grades 5 to 8 as well.

“Extending numeracy funding to students in grades 5 to 8 will give middle-years teachers access to new teaching strategies in mathematics to ensure that students get the math skills they need to succeed in school and beyond,” said Allan.

This announcement complements other initiatives the department is currently undertaking to support numeracy including the introduction of an updated math curriculum from grades 1 to 12 that has clear expectations related to the fundamental skills that all students will need in order to achieve in mathematics.  Additionally, Manitoba Education is collaborating with all of the faculties of education across the province to improve training for math teachers.

“The Manitoba government is committed to helping students improve their reading, writing and math skills and ensuring students have the resources and supports they need to reach those goals,” Allan said.