Ontario Elementary Math Curriculum Updated After 15 Years

The provincial government has unveiled a new elementary math curriculum.

Speaking on Tuesday afternoon, Premier Doug Ford and Education Minister Stephen Lecce said the new curriculum will include learning to code and expanded learning on financial literacy.

According to a release from the provincial government, the new math curriculum for Grades 1-8 will:

• Build understanding of the value and use of money through mandatory financial literacy concepts;
• For the first time, teach coding or computer programming skills starting in Grade 1 to improve problem solving and fluency with technology, to prepare students for jobs of the future;
• Use relevant, current, and practical examples so students can connect math to everyday life;
• Put a focus on fundamental math concepts and skills, such as learning and recalling number facts.

Lecce blamed a decline in standardized testing scores on the former Liberal government's curriculum, which focused on problem-solving that grounds math in its application.

Officials say there will be 465 expectations students will have to meet over the course of the curriculum, which is fewer than in the previous curriculum, having removed areas such as temperature that are covered in other subjects.

Students will also now only get one overall mark for math instead of separate marks for each strand.

The math curriculum hasn’t been updated since 2005.

It was also announced on Tuesday that Grade 3 and 6 students will not participate in Education Quality and Accountability Office (EQAO) assessments during the 2020-21 school year while the ministry works to align the assessments with the new curriculum.

Students in Grade 9 and Grade 10 will continue to take the mathematics assessment and Ontario Secondary School Literacy Test (OSSLT), respectively.

The Ontario government announced last week that schools in Ontario will be open in September amid the COVID-19 pandemic, with precautions in place.