Manitoba students’ test scores will improve: education minister

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 06/12/2016 (3232 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Manitoba’s education minister vowed Tuesday the province’s students will improve in math, science and reading scores compared to the rest of Canada, but it’s going to take time.

Ian Wishart made the pledge shortly after a report from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development’s Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) delivered another blow to Manitoba’s education system.

Conducted every three years, PISA tested 540,000 randomly-selected 15-year-old kids in 72 industrialized countries and city-states in science, reading and math. Manitoba’s children ranked eighth in math in Canada, and ninth in both reading and science, rankings that were near identical to 2013 and 2010 results. Manitoba, however, is above the OECD average in reading and science and just below in math, while remaining ahead of several major countries.

“We’re not terribly surprised by the results,” Wishart said in an interview. “This is another brick in the wall that tells us we have issues to deal with.”

The tests were written last year while the NDP was still in power. Wishart acknowledged his predecessors tried to turn things around, but were too impatient in looking for answers.

“We’re prepared to be patient,” he said.

The Conservative government has targeted literacy and numeracy in young children — grades 2, 3 and 4 in particular — as its top education priority. It’s shortly after that the gap widens between kids who do well and those who struggle, he said. Kids in those grades are years away from writing PISA tests; the students who will write the next PISA tests are already 13 years old.

Early childhood education also has a role, Wishart said. “You have to come into the school years prepared.”

He also stressed Manitoba must also concentrate on science. “The sciences are arguably where the future is. I credit them (the NDP), they did spend money on science labs in schools.”

Despite the province’s struggles, other Canadian provinces scored exceptionally well.

British Columbia’s children are the world’s best readers, its score higher than that of any country, city-state, state or province within the 72 participants. Alberta’s children are second in science globally, followed by B.C. at third and Quebec in fifth. Singapore was first and Japan fourth.

In math, Quebec kids are third globally. Among countries, Canada is No. 1 in reading, fourth in science and sixth in math.

Wishart has already been talking to fellow education ministers across Canada about what works for their students, he will be talking to B.C. and Alberta and Quebec specifically, and he’s constantly listening to individual teachers’ ideas. “It doesn’t have to be the best (practices) in the world, it just has to be better practices,” Wishart said.

Ultimately, he said, “the solution is here in Manitoba.”

NDP education critic Wab Kinew said Wishart should be talking to Saskatchewan because it is most similar to Manitoba demographically, and their solutions may also be similar.

Wishart, however, noted that Saskatchewan’s scores were worse. “They plummeted,” Wishart said.

In science, Manitoba’s score of 499 surpassed only Saskatchewan’s 496 — Alberta was at 541, B.C. 539 and Quebec 537.

In reading, Manitoba’s 498 topped Saskatchewan by two, and was far behind B.C.’s score of 536.

In math, the subject at which the former NDP government threw the most attention and resources since the province’s performance went downhill, Manitoba’s score of 489 edged out Newfoundland and Labrador’s 486 and Saskatchewan’s 484 — Quebec scored 544.

Manitoba Teachers’ Society president Norm Gould dismissed the results Tuesday.

“They don’t give us local information on context, resources or student knowledge of the Manitoba curriculum,” said Gould, who said the OECD is a business and economic think tank whose analysis of what’s important in education should be treated with skepticism.

“If we want to know how Manitoba students are performing, ask their teachers. Manitoba’s teachers are some of the most highly trained in the country and use a variety of assessment and evaluation techniques every day in classrooms all across the province,” Gould said by email. “Manitoba teachers don’t need PISA results to tell us we have diverse needs and challenges in our classrooms. We know one area in which Manitoba students rank highest — child poverty.”

Two things have been clear throughout the testing’s history: Manitoba has a higher proportion of kids performing at the lowest level than the rest of Canada, and a smaller percentage achieving at the highest level.

Both Kinew and Brett Lough, president of the Manitoba Association of School Superintendents, pointed out that Manitoba kids still did well compared to the rest of the industrialized world.

Said Lough: “Of particular concern, are the significant number of students scoring at the lower end. For its part, MASS will continue to advocate for greater equity and quality in a universal public education system to address this need, working collaboratively with of its educational partners on developing quality indicators of student success in all areas of the Manitoba curriculum.”

“We need to deal with the issue of poverty,” said Wishart, who believes that the significant gap the data show between the bottom and top socioeconomic groups can and must be overcome.

Liberal MLA Jon Gerrard has not seen any sign of improvement coming from the Tories: “While we have heard much about cuts and fiscal responsibility during their first eight months in office, we have heard very little about a plan for improving education.”

Kinew said he suspects Premier Brian Pallister is setting up children for standardized testing, while reducing spending on education. “You’re not going to cut your way to a solution,” said Kinew.

nick.martin@freepress.mb.ca