Ontario announces $180 million to help students build math, reading and writing skills

Ontario's education ministry says it will invest over $180 million in classroom and at-home supports to boost students' math, reading and writing skills.

In a press conference Sunday, Education Minister Stephen Lecce announced the funding will bring in over 300 educators to help boost math competency and some 700 other educators to improve student literacy.

"We've seen the decline in reading, writing and math skills, and today's plan is a clear signal that we're not going to sit idle, we're not going to hope for the best," said Education Minister Stephen Lecce.

"We're going to invest through a comprehensive plan that really lifts the skills and the standards and frankly the ambitions of kids by making sure that they can exit their high school experience having mastered those fundamental skills."

The funding is the latest move the province is undertaking to help boost student performance in schools. Low test scores, particularly for math, have been a point of focus for the Doug Ford government for years leading up to the COVID-19 pandemic, Once the pandemic hit, disruption to learning due to lockdowns and shifts between virtual and in-person learning is seen as a factor as to why EQAO test scores and other skills have worsened or stagnated. 

Of the full amount, the ministry says more than $71 million will go toward a new math plan for the coming school year, building off the math curriculum introduced in 2020, which mandates financial literacy and coding in every grade.

Lecce says the changes include doubling the number of school math coaches, introducing one math lead per board, expanding access to digital math tools for students and parents, expanding financial literacy learning and giving training for new teachers to enhance math fluency and competency.

Meanwhile, Lecce says $109 million will go toward boosting literacy rates starting this school year. This includes the hiring of additional specialist teachers and making sure the over 400,000 students in senior kindergarten to Grade 2 are screened up to twice a year to make sure they're meeting provincial standards.

It also includes an "overhauled" language curriculum starting September that will help ensure young students can master basic literacy — something the province started working on last year after a scathing Ontario Human Rights Commission report found at least one-third of students graduate school without attaining the level of literacy needed to function fully in today's economy.

"We know parents. We've heard them loud and clear, particularly parents of young children that fear that if we don't act now in kindergarten and Grade 1 or 2 in those early formative years, that their kids could have lifelong impacts and roadblocks to success."

"We hear them and we're investing in them with a plan to get them on track."

Lecce says while all school boards will benefit from the new funds, a lot of it will go toward boosting outcomes in the lowest 20 per cent of schools that have historically underperformed in math and literacy EQAO testing.