Alberta ninth-grade math scores take a hit with new calculator-free portion

Newly released provincial exam scores show Grade 9 students struggled with a new mental math portion of the test.
Just half of ninth-graders who wrote the math provincial achievement test last spring passed a new calculator-free segment that requires students to plow through 20 questions in 20 minutes, according to a report released by Alberta Education Thursday.
Three-quarters of the Grade 9 students passed the second part of the test, in which calculators are permitted.
“I fully expected