Analyzing Student Supports in Destreamed Math: Helping Students Succeed and Make Informed Choices About PSE was written by Natalie Pilla, Ryan Tishcoff & Jackie Pichette, Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario.
Ontario’s destreaming policy shows early signs of success, but equity and awareness gaps remain
The July 2020 decision by the Ontario government to destream Grade 9 compulsory courses, starting with Grade 9 math, has the potential to create more equitable opportunities for students graduating high school. Past destreaming policy efforts have been unsuccessful and ongoing evaluation is essential to monitor the success of the current policy. A new report by the Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario (HEQCO) finds that the policy is showing early signs of success. Most students surveyed achieved a passing grade in Grade 9 math and a large proportion reported generally positive experiences of equity and well-being in their classroom. This was not experienced equally as students with special education needs (SEN) reported additional challenges. Survey findings also suggest province-wide academic supports have been useful to those who access them, but usage rates have generally been low.
HEQCO developed and administered surveys to more than 1,600 students who had recently completed Grade 9 math in two western Ontario school boards. The surveys asked questions about their experiences with equity and inclusion, plans for their future education as well as widely available academic supports.
Most students (80%) either earned or expected to earn a passing grade or higher in the destreamed course and a large proportion also planned to enrol in the academic stream for Grade 10 math, which provides more options in Grade 11 and beyond. This success was not experienced equally as students with SEN were more likely to find destreamed Grade 9 math difficult and were less likely to earn or expect to earn a grade of 70% or higher. Students with SEN also reported fewer positive experiences of equity and well-being and were less likely to enrol in the academic stream for Grade 10 math than those without SEN. Many students were unaware of the equity intentions behind the destreamed Grade 9 math course, were uninformed about the implications of their course selections for postsecondary pathways and felt unsupported in making course selections. This lack of awareness could result in students restricting their postsecondary options through their Grade 10 course selections, in which case the negative effects of streaming are delayed rather than addressed.
The five academic supports appeared to be working well for more than half of the students who accessed them. However, access rates for most supports were generally low, with fewer than 30% of students accessing the majority of the supports. The supports that students accessed most frequently and found most helpful were Desmos* (an online platform that provides free digital classroom activities) and in-school tutoring.
Based on these findings, HEQCO recommends that school boards and the Ministry of Education:
- Continue to invest in and promote a range of academic supports.
- Evaluate board-wide supports and strategies to facilitate improvements and ensure their long-term success.
- Continue to invest in equity strategies, including professional development for educators that reflects and responds to students’ needs.
- Evaluate and improve knowledge mobilization strategies to ensure that students and parents are aware of the destreaming policy and its implications for course selection.
- Develop a provincial educational data infrastructure to facilitate the evaluation of the long-term outcomes of the destreaming policy.
HEQCO plans to continue to investigate the implementation of the destreaming policy as all Grade 9 compulsory courses are included. We will continue our work with the two partner school boards to next engage teachers and administrators and gather their impressions of continued destreaming strategies for a follow-up project.
Analyzing Student Supports in Destreamed Math: Helping Students Succeed and Make Informed Choices About PSE was written by Natalie Pilla, Ryan Tishcoff & Jackie Pichette, Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario.
* The Ministry of Education has no direct relationship with the proprietors of Desmos.