Math Counts! Meet the Math Achievement Team

$Six member math team poses in-front of building.$

Nov. 8, 2024

Jennifer Minnie, Amanda Walchuk, Meghan Waybrant, Jeannie Armstrong, Shannon Shillinglaw, Nancy McCarthy are supporting the province’s Math Achievement Action Plan (MAAP) at PVNC Catholic

Wearing matching blue shirts with “Math Counts @ PVNC Catholic”, the six-member team consists of a Board Math Lead, three Math Facilitators/Coaches and two Math Consultants.

Beginning in Fall 2023, the Ministry of Education provided specific funding to school boards across the province to support its Math Achievement Action Plan (MAAP).

The MAAP has three priorities:

Ensuring fidelity of curriculum and use of instructional and assessment practices with a proven track record of enhancing student achievement;
Engaging in ongoing learning to strengthen mathematics content knowledge for teaching;
Knowing the mathematics learner and ensuring mathematical tasks, interventions and supports are relevant and responsive.

School boards must complete and submit their Math Achievement Action Plan to the Ministry each November and provide updates on goals identified in the plan in March and July.

To support the MAAP, funding has been provided for a Board Math Lead and Math Coaches and Facilitators as well as digital math tools.

Facilitators and coaches support effective math teaching and learning in Ministry designated Priority Schools which have been chosen based on Primary and Junior EQAO scores.

“We are pleased with the increase in EQAO results for grades 3, 6, and 9 but are focused on continuing the work towards our goal – student achievement and confidence in math,” said Jeannie Armstrong, Board Math Lead. “We are among only a handful of boards who have seen increases in all three grades. We know that this achievement is due to the collaborative efforts of our principals, vice-principals and staff throughout the system to ensure math is a priority.”

The coaches/facilitators support 12 schools throughout the system while the math consultants support all of the other schools.

The Math Team supports staff in using board and ministry resources and high impact instructional practices in math to ensure student confidence and achievement.

Its overall goal in this year’s MAAP is to foster curiosity, excitement and well-being among students and educators, leading to improved student learning, achievement and confidence in mathematics.

This will be achieved through explicit, systematic and culturally relevant instruction, as measured by report cards, classrooms and EQAO data.

“In addition, we saw growth in each and every priority school which also highlights the crucial role of our math coaches in supporting student achievement,” added Armstrong. “We will continually review ongoing student achievement data to ensure our interventions and supports throughout the system are intentional, timely and responsive.”

Meet the team:

	Jeannie Armstrong – Board Math Lead is starting her 5th year as Superintendent of Learning in January. Over the past four years, she has supported a a range of portfolios including Faith, Equity, Indigenous Education, Secondary Program, Math K-12, MLL, Special Education, Mental Health & Well-bing, Assessment and Evaluation and over the past two years as Board Math Lead, School Effectiveness and Student Achievement. “I am so incredibly proud to lead this incredible team of women who are supporting excellence in math education at PVNC Catholic. We are proud of our recent rise in EQAO scores, recognizing this is just one measure of success. Perhaps an even greater measure is the anecdotal evidence gathered from staff, students and parents who speak about witnessing the growth in student learning and confidence in math.”
	Jennifer Minnie – Math Consultant has taught K-12 for 18 years (13 in elementary and 5 in secondary). Minnie worked as a math coach last year and is excited about her new role as Math Consultant supporting Math/MiSA/ School Effectiveness. “I believe that every student has the potential to be a mathematician. My goal is to guide them on their journey of discovery, revealing that math is about more than numbers and that we can have fun along the way”
	Nancy McCarthy – Math Consultant has taught within PVNC Catholic for 10 years. She is in her second year as consultant supporting math and French. “My commitment is to foster confidence in every student and aim to make math an enjoyable and accessible subject for all.”
	Shannon Shillinglaw – Math Facilitator/Coach has been with PVNC Catholic for five years teaching grades K-7. This is her first year as Math Facilitator/Coach. “I am thrilled to teach math to PVNC students. It is exciting to watch students learn new things, discover patterns, solve problems, work together and realize they are capable of doing something they thought was challenging.”
	Meghan Waybrant – Math Facilitator/Coach is the Curriculum Chair of Mathematics at Holy Trinity Catholic Secondary School in Courtice. Waybrant has been with PVNC Catholic for 10 years teaching K-12. This is her first year as Math Facilitator and Coach. She worked one-on-one with Peter Liljedahl implementing building Thinking Classrooms. “I love sharing my passion for Mathematics with students and teachers, and seeing the a-ha moments when they are working through new concepts and problems. I am excited to be in this new role and working with students and staff around PVNC.”
	Amanda Walchuk – Math Facilitator/Coach has been with PVNC Catholic for 2o years teaching K-8 in Clarington. She was previously an assessment partner and participated in many professional development sessions in math, Deep Learning and pedagogy in early learning. She has additional qualifications in intermediate math and primary/junior math. This is her second year as a math coach and she has interest in inquiry-based learning and media literacy. “I am very excited to return to the role of math coach. It is amazing to get to see the growth and confidence in math that comes with building relationships with students and teachers in our schools.”