More math in elementary schools

Ontario elementary school students will soon be getting at least one full hour of math every day.

Education Minister Liz Sandals says jurisdictions with better math scores than Ontario spend four to six hours a week on math, so the province is bringing in the new daily requirement. She says it will cost the province $60 million dollars to help students improve their math scores, with some of the money going toward professional development for teachers.

Standardized tests between 2009 and 2014 showed grade 3 Ontario math results declined by four percentage points while grade 6 results fell seven percentage points.