Significant drop in the level of schoolchildren in mathematics

Another hard blow for national education.

According to a major study, Cedre, published on September 30, the level of CM2 schoolchildren fell sharply between 2014 and 2019 in mathematics, while their performance had remained stable between 2008 and 2014. The statistics department of the Ministry of National Education (Depp) selected 200 schools, both public and private, for a sample of 6,000 CM2 students.

The evaluation focused in part on the programs published in 2015 and implemented at the start of the 2016 school year, at the time of François Hollande and his Minister of Education, Najat Vallaud-Belkacem.

The three mathematical fields of the program were the subject of an investigation: numbers and calculations, quantities and measures and space and geometry.

● More weak students and fewer strong students

While between 2008 and 2014, the average score had remained stable, it fell by 17 points in 2019 to reach 232 points.

The weakest groups, whose mastery is fragile, even very fragile, see their numbers increase: they include 54.4% of students in 2019 against 42.4% in 2014. Conversely, the proportion of students in the best-performing groups, those whose pupils have the best possible outcomes at the end of primary school, have fallen: 20.2% in 2019 against 29% in 2014.

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● Private schools spared by the drop in level

The differences in levels remain very marked by the social origin of the pupils.

The drop in performance between 2014 and 2019 does not concern pupils belonging to the most advantaged schools.

It does not affect, for example, pupils in private sector schools under contract.

On the other hand, the drop is significant and significant in public sector schools: minus 17 points in public schools outside priority education (average score of 233 in 2019) and minus 26 points in public schools falling under priority education (score average of 202 in 2019).

● Less fun doing math

Even more worrying, fewer schoolchildren do math for fun (67.1% in 2019 compared to 75.8% in 2014).

Indeed, they are less interested in learning mathematics (85.8% against 92.4%) and are less likely to wait impatiently for the sessions (54.7% against 77%).

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The Cedre study also looked at 300 middle schools, focusing on the performance of third year students.

The drop in the average score observed in 2014 continued in 2019 with a drop of 6 points of the same order as that already observed five years earlier between 2008 and 2014. As for schoolchildren, we note an increase in the number of pupils in the schools. low levels and a reduction in higher levels.

In 2019, nearly a quarter of students (24.6%) are in the weakest groups against 15% in 2008. The level of the most advantaged colleges, which has fallen significantly, largely explains the phenomenon. .

That of the least advantaged colleges does not vary significantly.