Jennifer McPhee
Northern News Services

Inuvik (Apr 29/02) - Nunavut students are scoring far below the rest of Canada in national mathematics tests.

The School Achievement Indicators Program tested 13- and 16 year-old-students across Canada last year.

Results were based on five skill levels. At level 1, students can complete very basic math questions, such as simple addition, subtraction, multiplication, division and reading charts.

The minimum acceptable level for 13-year-old students is level 2. For 16-year- olds, it's level 3.

But only 8.3 per cent of Nunavut's 13-year-olds and 11 per cent of 16-year-olds met minimum acceptable levels.

In fact, just 27.8 percent of 13-year-olds and 50.7 per cent of 16-year-olds even managed to score at the very lowest level.

And in a second problem-solving category, students did even worse.

So why did Nunavut fail the math test?

"We weren't surprised by the results," said deputy minister of education Tom Rich, attributing the poor marks to the language barrier, cultural bias and the newness of secondary education in Nunavut.

He said the tests, given in English, also use examples and reference points foreign to students here.

According to Rich, many communities didn't even have secondary education 10 years ago and this kind of testing is new to Nunavut.

"Virtually none of the students who took the test would have taken it before," he said.

To help students, the department will increase teacher training, develop a stronger Inuktitut program, and produce more learning tools with Northern examples.

Robin Langill, a mathematics teacher with 11 years experience in Coral Harbour, said he also believes language and culture barriers cause low marks.

"The test does not necessarily do justice to our students," said Langill.

He added teachers from the South should remember students in Nunavut have different cultural vocabularies.

The high staff turnover only adds to the problem. "The only thing that's constant in the North is change," he said.

Langill agreed the system needs improvement.

"Yes, we do need to improve math skills. No doubt about it," he said.

"The test results are just one little piece of a bigger picture. I don't know if anyone has all the answers to describe what the bigger picture looks like."