The Windsor Essex Catholic District School Board scored above the provincial average on all math and literacy standardized tests last year.
It saw major increases in Grade 9 applied math scores where 61% of students reached the provincial standard- that's 17% above the provincial average.
Emelda Bryne with the Catholic board says they have very specific hands-on strategies in place to help students gain confidence in math at every level.
"Students are very engaged in the activities, they are building confidence in the math learning and the conceptual understandings of what they are to learn in Grade 9 math is very visible today. Students are able to talk about their math learning," says Bryne.
She says the board has implemented math teams to help strategize different learning techniques and often have more than one teacher in the classroom to review math concepts.
The Greater Essex County District School Board saw a 12% drop in Grade 9 applied math scores with only 47% of students reaching the provincial standard. That is, however, above the provincial average of 44%.
"Sometimes changes in educators can make a difference. We're still looking at that data to see what we can attribute that specific decline to," says Superintendent of Education Clara Howitt. "We are above the provincial average and will stay aggressive in our efforts to support learning."
Grade 9 academic math scores are above the provincial average at 86%.
The public board remains below the provincial average in math scores for Grades 3 and 6 tests as well. The board is also below the provincial average in reading and writing scores but is seeing improvements in reading in Grades 3 and 6.
Howitt says they are always striving for improvements but their results are in line with other school boards that have similar demographics of low-income and english as a second language students.
"It's not fair to really compare if they're not the exact same type of scenario and context so we look to other boards across the province to determine if we are in line in terms of our composition," says Howitt.
She says they are constantly looking to other boards to learn what works for them and how they can apply it in their classrooms.