Holding up a mirror to the Canadian K to 12 education system produces a dozen or so jarring images. Over the past year, surveying the 10 provinces and three territories, a chequered pattern emerges with quality standards and student performance all over the map.
For every hopeful sign, troubling concerns represent trends which may, borrowing Dr. Paul Cappon’s apt turn-of-phrase, “leave us internationally-challenged” in the years ahead.
What stands out in the national educational landscape? My own Our Kids Report Card of the best and worst of 2011 in education offers a few surprises.
THE BEST—HOPEFUL SIGNS
• Hitting a Plateau With the Help of Alberta and Ontario
Canadian 15-year-olds achieved respectable results on the latest Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) tests released Dec. 7, 2010. Driven by Alberta and Ontario’s improved results, Canada finished eighth among 65 OECD countries in mathematics, seventh in science and fifth in reading. When the PISA results sunk in in early 2011, it became clear that Canada had plateaued and five of the top 10 countries were Asian, led by Shanghai (China), Singapore and Korea.
• Driving Higher IB Standards
Only 141 of the 1,926 high schools offering the full International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma Programme are located in Canada, but they definitely punch above their weight. A handful of the 14 full diploma “IB World Schools” belonging to the Canadian Accredited Independent Schools (CAIS) ranked among the world’s finest. A brand new cohort of 11 Nova Scotia public high schools also achieved respectable results in May 2011, when 84.7 per cent secured a pass, compared to only 70.3 per cent across North America.
• B.C.’s Online Learning Renaissance
A November 2011 report on K-12 Online Learning, authored by Wayne State University’s Dr. Michael K. Barbour, lauded British Columbia for its innovative leadership in promoting and expanding online learning. Working in collaboration with the B.C. Teachers Federation, that province leads the way with some 88,000 of Canada’s 206,000 registered students, spread over 68 different distance education programs.
• Setting the Early Learning Pace
An Early Childhood Education report, released in November and inspired by the late Dr. Fraser Mustard’s research, called for greatly expanded universal programs to give kids the best possible start in life. Quebec’s $7-a-day program earned that province top spot on a new Childhood Education Index, followed closely by P.E.I. on the strength of its new full-day kindergarten and fresh start initiatives.
• Toronto’s Multiple Choice School Initiative
On Nov. 17, the Toronto District School Board trustees decided to move forward with the final stage in its Africentric school pathway, pledging to establish the first secondary school within the next two years. In addition, the TDSB also approved opening nine elementary alternative learning options, including two academies specializing in boys’ and girls’ leadership, three in sports, two in health and fitness, and two in vocal music.
THE WORST—TROUBLING SIGNS
• Cyberbullying in Schools
The suicide of Mitchell Wilson of Pickering, Ont., an 11-year-old bullying victim suffering from muscular dystrophy, shone new light on the growing incidence of horrendous new forms of bullying. In Nova Scotia, Wayne MacKay, chair of a Cyberbullying Task Force, declared that he was “overwhelmed by the extent of the problem,” after receiving more than 5,000 online responses and meeting with 35 focus groups totalling 1,000 students from across the province.
• Muslim Prayer in School Controversy
On July 8, 2011, the Toronto District School Board touched off a firestorm of controversy when it issued an official statement that the Muslim students attending Valley Park Middle School in North York had a “constitutional right” to pray during school hours. Although the school was 80 to 90 per cent Muslim and had been quietly allowing it on Friday afternoons for a year, it became the latest test case reopening a deeply divisive public issue.
• Withering of Canada’s Education Monitoring Council
On Oct. 10, 2011, Dr. Paul Cappon released the final report of the Canadian Council on Learning (CCL) and raised serious questions about Canada’s drifting K to 12 education system. When CCL disappears in March 2012, an “enormous vacuum” will be left at the very centre of our national education leadership as we soldier on without any effective means for setting Canada-wide performance goals.
• Firing of Elected School Boards
Nova Scotia Education Minister Ramona Jennex shocked everyone in late November 2011 by dismissing the entire elected South Shore school board, the third such action in five years. This time the minister faced a stiff public backlash when local parents rallied to protest the mass firing and to stop pending school closures. Earlier in the year, P.E.I.’s Doug Currie also wielded the axe, firing the entire Eastern P.E.I. School Board, again in the wake of prolonged school closure skirmishes.
Gazing into 2012, spotting the sun amid the gathering clouds requires concentration. Teachers will go into schools each day, as always, performing yeoman service without hearing enough in the way of appreciation. Without the CCL around, provincial education ministers will likely feed off their own glowing media releases, leaving us to muddle through in a more competitive international world. It would likely take an “Occupy the Schools” movement in rural and small town Canada to arrest the relentless process of “big box” consolidation gobbling up small community schools. Let’s hope that the tiresome “War Games” waged by the paid mouthpieces of the “key stakeholders” will subside, so we can focus first, last and always on what’s really best for students.
Why is the overall pattern so chequered? Without the Canadian Council on Learning, where can we look for independent, reasonably balanced assessments of public policy issues? Will 2012 be the year that we rise to the global challenge, open the provincial windows, and start putting students first in education?
Your top choice for Best of 2011 warrants a response. In PISA reading results: Finland and Korea (S) are real competition based on real nations.
Shanghai and Hong Kong simply do not count since they are cities and not nations. They are totally unrepresentitive of China (PRC) since they represent the very top cities in education. Shanghai university rate is 80% PRC is 20%. I have visited schools in Shanghai, Hong Kong as well as the rest of the PRC. Believe me there is no comparison, these are “showcase” cities. If Canada could choose only our city with the very best results to represent Canada we would also do even better.
Singapore is doing things very well but considering this totally artificial city-state a nation is a joke.
Therefore Canada is in the top 3 with Finland Korea and ourselves. Finland has a child poverty rate of 4% (Canada 15% some say 12%). They demand MAs from their teachers and supply nutitious meals and free post secondary. A little secret, almost all television and cinema in Finland is English imported material as the costs of producing shows in Finnish is of course prohibative. As a result, if young people want to watch popular TV or movies, they must read the subtitles. Seriously this is listed as one factor among many in excellent Finnish reading results.
The Korean PS system relies on a massive night time tutorial system for its results to the point that they needed to pass a national law to close tutorial schools at 10PM.
Canada has the best results in the English speaking world. and the 3rd best results on Earth. For anyone to be less than celebratory about this is manipulative and unpatriotic.
Can we do better? Of course everybody can do better. We need to ape the Finns first. They have far fewer teaching hours in class and their students do much more independent work.
Paul, I’m not sure you accurately characterize my report as lauding the BC model in the “B.C.’s Online Learning Renaissance” section. While BC does have the highest percentage of students enrolled in one or more courses, that may also be largely due to the fact that the Ministry has such a high extent of regulation to allow everyone to be accurately counted. I should also note that Alberta has seen a great deal of K-12 distance education growth, with absolutely no regulation whatsoever (the exact opposite model found in British Columbia). Ontario, another jurisdiction that is seeing significant growth, initially had no regulations at all but has recently began instituting more significant regulation.
The lesson for me from the four years that I have been conducting this study – and I would hope for the readers of the report – is that each province has different needs and different contexts. As such, the response to how it had and will continue to use K-12 distance education and online learning will differ. While there are things about the BC model that I think are useful – such as the ability to track students (particularly as a researcher in this field), there are other things that I don’t think would be useful if implemented in other provinces.
Reviewing the national education scene in Canada is no easy task. Over the past three years, I have been tracking education news and policy matters — and continue to find the vast majority of people to be inhabiting provincial foxholes. A few individuals stand out as exceptions — Dr. Paul Cappon (CCL), Kate Hammer (The Globe and Mail), Michael Barbour (Wayne State University), Jodene Dunleavy (CEA), David Wees (Stratford Hall, BC) and Charles Cirtwill (AIMS) stand out in this regard. So do several of our regulars on Educhatter.
Some regular members of the Educhatter community will know that I try to prepare Year in Review pieces from different provincial vantage points. The Our Kids 2011 review was an attempt to produce a balanced, east-west, assessment.
Yesterday, The Halifax Chronicle Herald published a 2011 Nova Scotia Education Review that struck a decidedly different tone. Here is a brief sample of the piece to give you a sense of how different the educational world looks from the narrow lens of one province:
“The year 2011 in Nova Scotia education reminded me of a rollercoaster ride, with peaks and valleys that were enough to raise your hair and dash your hopes. Life in and around the Primary to Grade 12 school system felt much like one of those “rollercoaster years” experienced by parents raising adolescents.”
For the full Nova Scotia 2011 Report Card, see: http://thechronicleherald.ca/opinion/49548-education-rollercoaster-s-highs-and-lows-2011
I also track educational trends in Canada’s smallest province and the Charlottetown Guardian was kind enough to run another Year in Review commentary reflecting a strictly PEI perspective.
What’s my point? We do inhabit “provincial worlds” when it comes to education — and, in a globally-oriented world, it may put us at a disadvantage.
It’s not a simple question: Having lived in Quebec for 8 years, I do see the advantage of having education entrusted to the provinces. Provincial autonomy also allows Alberta to provie a superior system focused on quality and choice.
While we can claim to have provincial systems responsive to local conditions, there are long-term costs. That’s a public policy issue that will need to be addressed in 2012 and beyond.
I would agree, that provincial systems are responsive to local conditions, however due to the nature of centralization, schools cannot be truly responsive to their students’ needs as well as the local community. The centralization model, there is a trade-off with students and local needs for stability in funding and collaboration of the stakeholders within the education system. In the positive light, stability in funding compared to the American model, where a school board is unable to meet the payroll, and union teachers are willing to work for free.
http://delcotimes.com/articles/2012/01/06/news/doc4f06739c6527d723254759.txt?viewmode=fullstory
It is inconceivable for a Canadian school board, not being able to meet payroll due to the very nature of the centralization school model in Canada. The price that is paid, is the inability at the local level to have full autonomy to addressed the needs, as well as controls placed on the schools, to control expenditures and controls on students’ learning needs that are beyond the funding of the classroom. The negative outcome it forces the students, parents and local interested parties to accept stability, for limited access to education services, as well as having limited input in the decision making of their children’s education. More importantly the centralized model imposes conditions that limits a parent’s ability to work for the best interest of their children’s education, rather than the goals, aims, and agendas within the education system. Firing a school board without local input, or even a heads up, is an example found in a centralization model, as well as ministries of education limited school board power and authority to control expenditures as well as to prevent and control autonomy at the local level and the communities.
Sure the provincial systems are responsive to local conditions, but the provincial systems are responsive by be being an reactive system, rather than a proactive system at the lower levels of the education system. In turned, the centralization model, prevents proactive measures to occurred at the school level. The very place it is needed, to attend to the individual learners’ needs, as well as the local conditions. The reactive protocols, within a centralization model, tends to create inequalities according to income, knowledge, and skills of the local players. to complete for the scarce resources and access to education services beyond the classroom. as well as inside the classroom.
” The city’s public school board is considering sweeping changes to its meeting procedures that would abolish public input, eliminate individual trustee questions and maintain sole authority to broadcast proceedings.”
Read more: http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/Calgary+Board+Education+considers+changes+limit+public+input+meetings/5884607/story.html#ixzz1iyI5P5bs
It allows the major stakeholders within the education system, to have the ability and the power to complete for their best interests and agendas, without undue concern of the ramifications at the bottom levels. “On behalf of the members of the Canadian Union of Public Employees Local 3550,I appreciate this opportunity to outline what this non-teaching staff group believes should be considered by schools, central departments and the Board in reviewing,
amending and developing the 2011-2012 Proposed Budget and future multi-year plans.” http://cupe.ca/updir/cupeab/reports/3550%202011%20Budget%20Presentation.pdf
One can see it as a positive light, but from my view point, 2012 will be more of the same, where students and taxpayers are at the bottom of the list, as well as the increasing focus of tending to the best interests and agendas within the education system, to concentrate power and authority within, and imposing increasing restrictions at the bottom.
The history of local decision making in Ontario has been the history of the relentless centralization from the little red school house with its own board of trustees seen in the famous “Heritage Minute” to local boards to county boards and further to multi-county boards in rural and small town Ontario and megacity boards TDSB Hamilton-Wentworth, Ottawa Carlton Thames Valley and so on. The ratchet has never turned backwards towards more local control.
This has also been accompanied by the emasculation of the powers of local boards over taxation, curriculum, labour relations and we feel the next step in Ontario is province wide bargaining.
There are very powerful forces at work making sure the wheel always turns in one direction because sometimes local people “get it wrong”.
Good luck turning that oceanliner around.
It began like this
http://www.historica-dominion.ca/drupal/content/heritage-minutes/rural-teacher?media_type=41&
There is indeed powerful forces within the education system, to prevent and limit autonomy at the local levels. But the image of the public education system, portraying themselves as being the sole experts in all things education, is loosing its shine, as well as the original optics of the heritage moment, of The Meeting of School Trustees. It can no longer be said, that trustees of today are found lacking in their abilities and skills to manage a school, or a number of schools.
Today, there is external forces outside of the education system that are becoming powerful forces to counteract the forces from within. The stakeholders within, dismiss them easily, because of the strong centralization models and control over curriculum, school practices as well as the regulation regime, to place limits, obstacles and silencing of the outside voices, and their messages. However, as the years row by, the public education system and its model, is under intense pressure, causing stress cracks throughout the whole education structure. as there is more and more controls placed at the bottom. A top-down structure, with decision making, power divisions, accountability taking place lateral across the individual levels of the system, as well from the top to the bottom levels. The exception is at the school level, where the controls limits the input, the power and influence of all, and must step into the political arena, and complete for the resources and increased autonomy against the other schools in the school district, within the rule-based regime and protocols. Even within the school model, the individual groups that composed a student population, must complete for the resources and curriculum changes against each other. The inclusive classroom is an example of it, and is often cited as saving money. The SE money that would have gone to remediation, is now increasing the funding of the classroom, but not the resources or the remediation of the SE students. Now, the classroom teacher has been given the duty to complete with the other teachers appealing to the principal on the various needs of the individual inclusive classroom. Saving money – may give the appearance, but in reality the inclusive classroom limits the resources according to the knowledge and skills of the individual teacher to obtain the needed resources for her students. Some teachers are better skilled than others to win over the principal,and his budget concerns.
So what about the external forces? Quite a few, and too many to mention in Canada, but they are becoming a major influence, and are quite capable of throwing in wrenches to the centralization model, to cause a lot of problems for the major stakeholders and their agendas, within the public education system.
Curriculum concerns:
In Finland, “Mathematics does not concern professional mathematicians only. Mathematics is used more and more in ordinary professions and the problems involved are different from those in the PISA survey. In Finland, as in many countries, the mathematics curriculum includes concepts and skills which once have been put there because somebody has thought them useful. In most cases time has shown that these special skills do not meet the demands of the society any more. The Finnish curriculum architecture and teaching practices require considerable changes to meet the challenge. Here Finland is not alone.’
.http://elib.mi.sanu.ac.rs/files/journals/tm/23/tm1221.pdf
From Finnish professors to the newest kid on the block, the math professors of WISE in Canada.
“The purpose of this initiative is to form a coalition among concerned parents, citizens, teachers, employers, scientists, mathematicians, and post-secondary instructors with the purpose of rallying together to improve K-12 mathematics education. This is a non-partisan initiative that was founded by math professors in Manitoba and Saskatchewan who feel that math education has reached a state of crisis in schools and are prepared to lobby for changes.”
http://wisemath.org/
A world-wide phenomenal, that is applying pressure at the stress cracks from outside for major changes of math curriculum, as well as educating people that PISA is not an indicator for math preparedness at the post-secondary level.
Bullying and the public education policies concerning bullying.
The external forces are presenting opposition to the current bullying policies. From within the Canadian education system, an educator pushing for change that is contrary to the official policies of bullying.
“Shouldn’t social scientists be considering the possibility that the endless barrage of anti-bullying messages may be making children even more vulnerable and desperate? How should bullied kids feel when they are constantly exposed to the lie of “Bully-Free Zone” posters in school corridors? How can they be indifferent to insults when they are taught that “the sticks and stones slogan is a lie” and that “words can scar them forever”? How can they feel empowered when they are told they are powerless to handle bullying on their own but need the help of everyone around them? How should they feel when they follow the instructions to inform adults on their bullies only to find the hostilities against them intensifying and their peers calling them “snitches”? How can they be optimistic when celebrities declare, “It gets better,” but it’s only getting worse? Is it any wonder that children despair and take their own lives in growing numbers?
Why is the world’s crusade to eradicate bullying failing? It’s because it was spawned by panic — panic over school shootings and child suicides committed by victims of bullying. And panic diminishes rational thinking. “
http://www.privsec.com/blogs/blog5.php/2011/12/17/bullying-backlash-more-laws-beget-more
The main force outside of education that wants control is the corporate world. In the USA and increasingly in Canada, they fund the think tanks that attempt to bend the PS system towards their priorities. They want more vocationalism at all levels. It is a human-capital agenda overall. They would like to see more testing, more math, more science, more tech, and make English courses more functional and less oriented to quality literature.
Naturally this is at the expense of those sujects and areas within subjects that contribute to individual happiness or equity. These would include French and other languages, poetry, great literature history, geography, music, art, phys ed etc. It is really Spartans (corporate world) against Athenians (everybody else).
In the USA Bill Gates, Eli Bpoad, the Walton Family Trust, the Olins, the Koch brothers and other huge financial interests finance the reform movement or it would not have the money to run a lemonade stand. Human capital and/or privatization is the endgame. The rest is windowdressing.
The corporate world finds the whole local control multi school board difuse model to difficult to influence and too democratic to totally bend to their will, they seek therefore to centralize power in provinces so they can be dominated and controlled at that level.
There is no such concept in our public education that the “local control multi school board diffuse mode” is too democratic; let alone democratic. As Gatto said the system has become pschopathic – it has no conscience. Our system is very similar.
As for for local governance models, local boards are controlled by the Education Ministries, educrats, associations and teacher unions with centralist objectives.
You’re right Steven. Anyone who believes that elected school trustees guarantee local control is dreaming. In Ontario, we could do away with our local trustees and no one would miss them. Why? Because they’ve become long arms of the MOE. Attend a school board meeting and one gets treated to re-issues of prescriptive news from on high.
School boards in many places in Ontario are seemingly in place only to be the hatchet-man for the gov’t and close schools, (with the exception of the two Toronto boards which, at last count have close few if any schools).
So which is it Doug? A centralized model benefits the stakeholders within the education system as you have pointed out, or a centralized model benefits the corporate world. Democratic system? Highly doubt it Doug, when the only time a voter has a say, is at a time of an election, and yet that doesn’t even count anymore, given the ability of provincial education ministers to fire the whole lot of trustees. A pseudo-democratic appearance, to ensure that the bottom users are for all purposes are dancing to the tunes of the agendas and controls of those within the education system. But that is harder to do these days, with the advent of technology and the new knowledge networks that come with the technology. Could it be the public education systems, are developed a cold, sneezing every time someone from the corporate world, a parent or a citizen’s group are exploring one of the stress cracks throughout the education systems.
And the stress cracks are there for good reason, because the public education system can no longer control the levers as they once did, nor enforce many of the rules within the regulation regime of the educrats to control the outsiders and their agendas. One can only so far ignoring the stress cracks of the foundation of a home, and I do believe that it can be applied to the psychopathic actions of the education system, as Steven has described, to ignored the stress cracks throughout the system, and not just the foundation, to satisfied the self-serving interests of the stakeholders within the education system.
Choose to ignore the stress cracks at your peril Doug, and the rest of the BLOB. Choose to ignore the professors that lie outside the education faculties at your peril. Choose to ignore the business and industry sectors at your peril. Choose to ignore the messages of the bottom level, the parents at your own peril Doug and the rest of the educrats. Choose to ignore the teachers within, who have different messages other than the well-crafted messages of the public education system, that are in sync with the other outsiders, at your own peril. At your own peril, is a practice that is practice throughout the education system, ignoring the final outcomes of education policies.
Another negative, and as I have just discovered today, is redefining the criteria, the narrowing down of the criteria for education services beyond the inclusive classroom. 2012 is a year, that sure looks to become the beginning of the clash of direction and reforms within the education system and the major stakeholders. Ignoring the stress cracks, within the public education system results in major reforms that ultimately serves the best interests of the students, because of the clashes of the stakeholders within. Opportunities abound for the outsiders and the few insiders within the education system, to assert their knowledge and experiences that are opening the future doors of students, that have been slammed shut by the stakeholders within the public education system.
One of the outside voices – “University professors in Saskatchewan and Manitoba have banded together to form the Western Initiative for Strengthening Education in Math (WISE Math), in order to lobby education ministers to bring back traditional methods of teaching math.
Robert Craigen, an associate professor of mathematics at the University of Manitoba and a member of WISE Math, called the Saskatchewan government’s review a good first step.
However, he said the consultation meetings with teachers will be held behind closed doors, meaning there will be a lack of public discussion.
“The consultations themselves were highly limited. They were not the sort of thing that gave mathematicians an opportunity to comment at a detailed level,” he said.
Craigen said parents should also be consulted, as well as academics in mathematics and other disciplines such as science, engineering, economics, medicine and management.”
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/story/2011/12/19/sk-math-education-review.html
At the Saskatchewan Ministry of Education peril, to ignore the outside voices and their collective knowledge and experiences. Par for the course, looking at any provincial education system, public discussion is not a democratic principle that they practiced a lot in. Yes, within the system, but even here it is always behind closed doors. Yes, ignored the stress cracks, cause by the stakeholders within the education system, at their peril, and sooner or later the stress cracks will have their way and cause much damage within the education system and the self-serving agendas within.
Another voice, often slapped about as if it is a mere fly. Just a pest, and not even given the respect, let alone when the pests insert their legal options. Sometimes the actions of one, a mere fly to most within the education system can do much to shake the very foundations of the stakeholders within the public education system, causing the stress cracks to widened where real damage can be done to the self-serving agendas within the public education system.
“Moore said he was driven to take the case as far as he could because he couldn’t accept that the educational services provided to his son should be judged according to what is offered to other learning-disabled students, insisting that public schools should be expected to help all children succeed. Learning-disabled children have IQs similar to typical students.”
“That view was backed by Justice Rowles, who wrote in her dissenting opinion: “Reading is part of the core curriculum and is essential to learning. The accommodation sought by Jeffrey and other SLD (severely learning disabled) students is not an extra, ancillary service; instead it is the way by which meaningful access to the service can be achieved.”
North Vancouver school officials wouldn’t comment on the Moore case while it’s before the courts, but Julie Parker, director of instruction, said much has changed in schools since 1997. All students are now screened for learning disabilities in kindergarten and interventions are provided for the 15 per cent in need of extra help. “I think North Vancouver is one of the leaders (in special education),” she said in an interview.
The Supreme Court of Canada is expected to consider the Moore case early next year.”
http://www.ldac-acta.ca/en/about-ldac/who-we-are/85.html
Note the attitude treating the Moore case as a mere fly, What has not change despite the increase funding and reform changes in SE, is that remediation of the core learning difficulties are not remediated in the 3 Rs. They are given the dumb-down work, in exchange for weak proficiency in some aspects or all aspects of the 3 Rs.
That is mainly true but only because Harris and McGuinty between them have detroyed local control.
I am surprised, Doug, but isn’t your thinking a bit too provincial, when it is happening across Canada, in its various forms and mutant variations? Would you not say, that it is the agendas of the stakeholders running the show, rather than the sitting provincial governments? The only stakeholder within the education system, that has far less sins is the teachers’ unions, but even here they play the political game with skill and flair to protect their own interests. However, do little to fight practices and policies that slams the future doors of the students. The union plays the game, to protect their interests, and that they have done an excellent job for their members, but at the expense of the students and society’s ability to effect change.
More recent news, that will widen the stress cracks, as well as increasing the clashes of the stakeholders within the education system.
“But if all that goodwill is real, then there should be some willingness to accept that the province’s current financial challenges – a $16-billion deficit and slow economic growth and potential credit-rating downgrades – require some sacrifice. And it should at least be possible to consider, if not a return to Harris-era class sizes, whether caps and targets could safely be raised a little from where they are now. ”
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/adam-radwanski/time-for-mcguinty-to-reconsider-class-sizes/article2295504/
“A First Nations Education Act could arrive before Parliament this year, aimed at breaking the cycle of failure on reserve schools and representing one of the most important and unexpected priorities for the Harper government.
So far, this new initiative has been masked by accusations and controversy over who’s to blame for the crisis conditions at Attawapiskat, or discussion on whether natives on reserves should be given property rights.”
.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/john-ibbitson/tories-eye-creation-of-formal-native-education-system/article2295443/
“Research projects at universities and hospitals on everything from advanced health technologies to digital media have ground to a halt after the Ontario government pulled the plug on $66-million in funding and loan programs – and there could be more to come.
The government withdrew the research funding to free up money for other programs that it says have a better track record of creating jobs. A senior government official hinted that other grant programs could also be on the chopping block as every ministry faces pressure to find savings.”
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/education/universitynews/ontario-universities-hospitals-in-shock-after-66-million-funding-cut/article2296894/?cmpid=nl-news1
The final one, an article implying the legal rights of students with disabilities, when there is no such beast under any legislative across Canada.
“A memorandum to school boards quietly posted on the ministry’s website last month says children with conditions such as Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder are entitled to special education supports and services if the condition interferes with their learning.”
http://www.thestar.com/living/article/1112930–students-with-adhd-have-legal-right-to-supports-in-school?bn=1
Could it be implying legal rights, in anticipation of the ruling of the Moore case? I bet it is, because the public education systems are going to need some cover to protect their precious image rather than facing the realities that the public education system has done wrong for their SE population.
Interesting points. The provincial systems responsiveness to local conditions have left serious cracks in both rural and urban education – no wonder the pattern is so chequered as Dr. Bennett says.
Maybe it is time to seriously consider “decentralization” and the conditions that have made it more appropriate than ever – both financial and social.
Perhaps most communities are not homogeneous and may not have a shared perspective on the education they desire; especially in Nova Scotia, but a basis for agreement could turn this around and do what is essential.
Put students first.
http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0012/001202/120275e.pdf
Good luck with that. You need to demonstrate to one or more political parties that there is a huge groundwell of support for decentralization. They sure don’t see it or want it.
That is a given Doug – which is why I stated that most communities (let alone political parties) may not have a shared perspective on education.
The fear and firing of school boards that defend small community schools and programs is more evidence that top down educrats defend a fractured system without conscience.
But it is not a matter of luck. The funding for centralization will eventually dry up with consistantly poor government management. What then?
Here is a criticism of both Swedish left and right.
http://super-economy.blogspot.com/2011/03/on-swedish-voucher-system.html
Steven – there was a time in Ontario when “shifting the balance” to more site based management looked like a sure thing. What stopped that? Those who saw their empires threatened – Ministry & board bureaucrats and teacher unions. The fear was that school councils might actually become empowered at local school level and do the job that the blob did.
Within the education system, they ignore the voices, the advances and as well as the noise with the evidence showing the public education practices regarding dyslexia are all so wrong.
Cruise over to my province, just to see what is new on the front of dyslexia. Of communication is not a strong point, and as usual it came in the form of a newsletter that nobody reads. The outsiders don’t bother reading it, unless the outsider knows where to look for it.
Some positive news, in having access to e-material in the form of the text books and other books such as novels. Positive, because there is no heavy criteria to meet, and one just has to have a diagnosed disability for access. However, the bad news nobody told the parents. Par for the course.
In catching up, I spotted the use of two resource books for teachers, as well as other books authored by those within the national and the international education system. I look for the book, Overcoming Dyslexia, but it is not on the menu, and probably its author is an outsider, and a respected researcher, if not the top researcher in NA, is another outsider being ignore.
However Overcoming Dyslexia, as well as other researchers, laymen, teachers (the odd ducks within) are standing up for the dyslexics and the way they learn. Positive, because they see the dyslexics with strengths, and the not the public education system way, which is seeing dyslexics as something that needs to be fix, to become the part of the norm.
A new movie – http://www.thedwordmovie.com/index.php/trailer
“This film reveals that dyslexia is a neurological issue, not a character flaw. It explains that the struggle with the written word is not an indication of one’s ability to think, to create, or to solve problems – all valuable skills in the world outside the classroom. This film also reveals that some of our greatest leaders in Business, Law, Politics and Medicine are dyslexics who succeeded in spite of their learning challenges. The film also shares some of the more practical – and occasionally humorous – tips on how to deal with dyslexia on a daily basis. Hopefully, this film will help dyslexics and their families realize that the challenges of early education will be behind them one day, and that the future can -and should – be brighter for dyslexics.”
Watch for the combination lock clip in the trailer. In August of 2008, I had my 13 year old, for ten to 15 minutes practicing to open and lock the combination lock. For the whole month of August, until she could do without needing her sight. Funny thing, useless when it comes to locks, but is highly skilled in a lab filled with chemicals. The film, will add more pressure from the outside, and the dumb things that the public education system does to the dyslexics.
From a confession of a teacher, and rather a good one, who is stating the opposite of those within the education system.
“I have a confession to make. It involves a basic failure on my behalf. What’s worse, my failure impacted students whom I care deeply about: students with dyslexia and other language-based learning challenges. It involved waiting for test results before putting accommodations in place for students who were struggling in my class. Of course I didn’t fail them intentionally, and by about the third time I got an evaluation back that pretty much said what I imagined it would, I started putting help in place for the student right away. The discovery of my own blind spot led me to wonder if other teachers were accidentally failing their students in similar ways.”
Gotta love it, how many teachers get published at the Yale Centre for Dyslexia and Creativity?
http://dyslexia.yale.edu/EDU_KidsCantWait.html
The third item, is a former teacher, who is now a multi-millionaire. Curious?
“Riordan’s books are all some combination of modern day kids and ancient mythology. Percy Jackson is a boy who has ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) and dyslexia. He struggles in school. But then one day he figures out that those disabilities give him superhuman powers. He is, as it turns out, half human and half Greek god—a “demigod”.”
http://rockcenter.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/01/09/10081420-changing-the-way-kids-look-at-the-world-one-book-at-a-time
At the top, latest videos – the third one from the left. Must watch, and a powerful way to put dyslexics and other disabilities in front of the public. The reluctant readers, many of them with disabilities love the books. “As a mother, what struck me most was just how passionate these kids are about reading. Several of them told me they’d never read an entire book or a series of books before Percy Jackson came into their lives. Steven Thames said he likes the books because they’re funny. River Stevens said, “I like the books, ’cause they’re kind of engaging and there’s adventure and you can learn about Greek Mythology.”
Whatever happen to the Greek myths and other myths, in the public education system? I just know, I had to purchased such books, and look in the public library that told stories of ordinary kids who had something special about them. I started my youngest on Greek myths and the Aesop tales. Why? It engaged her, and she was learning an old set of knowledge, that no other classmate had knowledge of.
And yet those within the public education system, ignores the voices from the outside.
Two more facebook sites to educate the outsiders on the ways of the insiders of the public education system.. Should add pressure to the stress cracks inside the education system.
http://www.facebook.com/edubeatz#!/edubeatz?sk=wall
The one is a favorite, and it is about time for parental rights.
“Our legal defense fund has been created to protect parental rights against an increasingly belligerent, government ideology which is using our schools as vehicles to indoctrinate children with values that oppose what is taught in the home by parents. We believe a tipping point has been reached in Canada. Without immediate intervention, parental rights to direct the moral education of their own children will be lost in several respects.”
http://www.facebook.com/edubeatz#!/defendingparents?sk=wall
Both facebook pages from the city of Toronto, that should add pressure in the stress cracks seen over at the OISE. The teacher faculty and researchers of the OISE, may be working overtime, putting band-aids on the stress cracks as they widened.
Another pattern, that will probably be continued is the non-stop directives at parents, where much of it are solutions/answers for parents who are found lacking in some aspect, and to convince them or to win them over to the overall goals of the education system, and the connecting outside agencies that deals with education material for families.
ABC Literacy sponsored a poll, to determined that Canadian parents are missing time to help their children.
http://abclifeliteracy.ca/
http://www.parentcentral.ca/parent/education/article/1113654–how-to-teach-your-kids-math-and-reading-through-everyday-activities
The media jumped on it, The Star link –
Although helpful, I can’t help wonder if some of the advice is giving the message of reaching for the lowest bar. “Getting children to look at a frozen pizza box for baking instructions encourages them to find information — another key literacy skill, she noted.”
Another study, conducted by Simon Fraser University and the University of British Columbia on air and noise pollution near schools. Conclusion was, schools in the big cities, found on major roads are exposed to high counts of air and noise pollution, as well as finding there is a link of low-income schools and major roads. “Amram said the study looked at overall patterns across Canadian cities and said the relationship of closer road proximity for schools in poorer neighbourhoods was pretty consistent across the cities they investigated.” http://www.parentcentral.ca/parent/familyhealth/article/1111811–what-the-location-of-your-child-s-school-means-for-health
I can help but to wonder, if the study will be used to help close down schools, and if this is not just the beginning of studies to pushed for closures, on the march to big boxed schools?
Another pattern where parents are the creators:,”A sort of Grade 5 Math for (parent) Dummies, the 140-page refresher course for math-rusty grownups defines terms from algorithm to vertex and warns them which methods are now outdated. It walks parents, lesson by lesson, through the textbook Math Makes Sense 5 by Pearson Publishers.
“These days parents get left out of the picture, but if we want to help our children we need to understand how math is being taught, and there is a gap between the way most of us learned and how math is taught now,” said Dunn, whose children are now in Grade 8 and 11.
“My kids would bring home homework on a photocopied page from the textbook with very little description of the terms, so unless you’re a teacher, you wouldn’t understand,” said Dunn.”
http://www.parentcentral.ca/parent/education/article/1113668–dad-decodes-math-s-mumbo-jumbo
Although helpful, but I do wonder what the retail price is. “These books will be sold to parents through the active participation of the School Councils. They will be sold to councils at the wholesale price, for distribution to parents at the retail price. This will allow councils, if they choose, to apply the difference as a donation to their ongoing fundraising efforts.”
http://www.mathguideforparents.ca/About.php
Going back to the article, “TDSB numeracy coordinator Anna Jupp hasn’t seen Dunn’s book, but welcomed any tool that keeps parents from balking at math they don’t recognize. Often the new terms are meant to describe more accurately exactly what is being done, she said”
I would beg to differ big time, and the new terms are not at all precise, and leaves a lot of room to interpreting the new definitions, based on the parents’ knowledge in math. In part, the math professors have a lot to say about the new math terms, that leads to confusion for the students, as well as deep understanding of math concepts.
Note the attitude of the TDSB educator – “that keeps parents from balking…they don’t recognized.” Somehow, I think they don’t want parents to questioned but to accept all and everything, the edicts from the public education system.
It’s all about who gets the money we are forced to donate.
The students?
Heck, they don’t even vote so who cares?
Andrew, I assume you are talking about education material for parents via through the school councils. Funny thing about it, one won’t find outside material created by parents, that have not not been approved by those within the education system. The Math Guide for Parents, is approved because it is in sync with the new approach in math, which is not so new, but rather another attempt to guide parents to accept the new approaches in math, without questioning it.
I’m talking about the ever-increasing millions of dollars in taxes that go to a shrinking and deteriorating public education system.
And what communities are at risk? Sounds familiar. Parent mentors?
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/political-bookworm/post/education-reform-through-community-action/2011/11/29/gIQApxcf9N_blog.html
Everybody demands local control but everybody hates the school boards.
We have elections for the province and the school board. It is called democracy. I prefer power to the boards but if anybody thinks it will be more decentralized than that they are dreaming.
Many armchair critics with keyboards have a lot to say but the elections are when decisions are made. The point is “is there a majority demanding change” I don’t see it and neither do the politicians at either level.
“Everybody demands local control but everybody hates the school boards.”
School boards did it to themselves. When the decided to become more about upholding provincial policy and top-down management the gave up their links to their schools and their constituencies.
We were warned YEARS ago that if we moved to the Carver method of decision-making this would happen. How did school boards help build strong school and community councils? Short answer….they didn’t. The “blob” did everything in its power to keep a lid on those councils which did have the ability to become very effective and involved in decision-making.
However, it was more in keeping with the agenda to keep school council fundraising and doing busy work. Except now, in Ontario school councils are the hub of the ARCs in the guise of school accommodation reviews.
An election to have the privilege of hiring the henchmen for the ministry and the other stakeholders within the education system? Not much of a democracy, when the stakeholders actively hand picks, selects and donate campaign funds to trustee candidates. Or to see the self-entitlements, pat on their backs, and the look at me righteous attitudes especially in the so many provincial and national conventions of boards?
http://www.mbschoolboards.ca/whatwedo/C2011/ROP%202011%20for%20web.pdf
Of course the stakeholders within the education system, do not see the majority demanding change, when the people are silenced in so many ways, starting with the many hoops and climbing ladders, just to speak at a school board meeting. Can’t have an ordinary parent, or a group of parents speaking on things that run counter to the messages and agendas of those within the public education system, because it is not the ways of a pseudo-democracy system or the ways of the public education system.
Calling people from the outside armchair critics, as well as other names is typically found within the public sectors, that are rooted in pseudo-democracies systems, to obtain the power at the expense of the public. Lessons could be learn hailing across the pond, where the public education system in England is falling on hard times in terms of stakeholders defending their kingdoms against the final outcomes.
“His discovery is the starkest example yet of the literacy crisis in the capital’s deprived areas which inspired the Standard to launch its Get London Reading campaign aimed at training adults to provide literacy support to primary schools in poorer areas.
The remedial education blitz comes as Newham council said it is set to exceed its target of securing 2,000 jobs for local long-term unemployed at what will be Europe’s largest urban shopping centre when it opens on September 13 next to Stratford’s Olympic Park.
But Mr Burton, who has lived in London for seven years, said the most dramatic discovery was how many applicants for work on the site had been failed by the education system. He added: “We brought tutors in for the people we thought might make it because their enthusiasm levels were high.”
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard-olympics/article-23983067-bosses-shocked-by-hundreds-of-games-staff-who-cannot-read-or-write.do
Doug, you ought to surf the many articles from the titians of note in British society,and the public, who have very harsh words for a public education system that continues to silence the public in so many different ways, and shifts blame unto the public for the negative outcomes in society. Fifty percent of students at the post-secondary level, now take remedial courses, and is rather amazing, because of the doubling of tuition hikes. Most of the students attending post-secondary, are students whose families can afford it.
Champagne socialists running our public education systems, and the term champagne socialists will be coming soon in NA, and I suspect it will show up in Ontario and BC in so many ways. According to the European articles, champagne socialists don’t care about the final outcomes of students, nor how well students are educated, or if the students can figure out 2 + 2 = 4. They only care about serving their own best interests and to have the power to be able to serve their best interests.
Hopeful signs, as well as troubling signs in our chequered public education system.
Troubling signs, or more of the same signs telling the public who rules the roost,
“How to pass with a 24%
In Ontario, students can re-do the part of the course they failed, instead of repeating the course”
http://www.torontosun.com/2011/12/09/how-to-pass-with-a-24
“Dancing around the bullies
Proposed provincial law lacks a reporting mechanism”
http://www.torontosun.com/2011/12/02/dancing-around-the-bullies
“Education budgets about to burst
Don’t expect the word “zero” to be on teacher union lips when they head to the bargaining table for a new contract that’s supposed start next September”
http://www.torontosun.com/2011/12/30/education-budgets-about-to-burst
” Trustee by-elections are anyone’s race”
http://www.torontosun.com/2012/01/10/trustee-by-elections-are-anyones-race
“Undermining parents”
http://www.torontosun.com/2011/11/22/undermining-parents
I would not considered any one of the above links hopeful signs, but than again the public education system has been designed for those who work within the system, and the education of students are secondary to the needs of the best interests of the stakeholders.
It looks to be the year of the parents’ unions in good old United States.
Sparked by a fellow named Scot Oki, back in 2009.
“In Oki’s mind, the chief roadblocks to change are clear. A hidebound educational bureaucracy resistant to reform, coupled with well-organized teachers unions. “So long as the Washington Education Association [WEA] doesn’t back reform, nothing will happen,” he says.”
“.Oki believes his new organization, named The Parents Union, would mobilize parents and concerned Washington citizens into an independent, grassroots base of power that advocates for children’s learning. Its mission is unambiguous: To provide the political will to pass much-needed legislation at the state level, work to improve the educational system at the school district level, and steer changes at the school, classroom, and individual student level.”
http://crosscut.com/2011/08/25/education/21235/The-Parents-Union:-A-new-force-for-education-reform-/
Parent unions being formed across many states, and in many cities.
In New York City, the parent union took the powers to be to court.
“The case, New York City Parents Union, et al v. The Board of Education of the City School District of the City of New York, et al, and Harlem Success Academy Charter School 1, et al, was a request for a preliminary injunction which would have required the agency to immediately collect back rent and payment for services from all charter schools co-located in public school buildings.”
http://www.nycparentsunion.org/archives/894
A parents’ union from what I believe hails from somewhere in California.
“We believe the time has come for the creation of a Parent’s Bill of Rights – a codification of what parents should be able to expect and even demand from their teachers, administrators, boards of education and legislators. One of the first initiatives undertaken by The Parents Union will be to sponsor a national contest to create a Parent’s Bill of Rights. Below is a
sample draft.”
http://www.myparentsunion.org/parents-bill-of-rights
And the beginnings of the national parents’ union, to lobby in Washington, and dues are $20 yearly. Affordable for all, and membership can quickly grow, since there is a lot more parents than teachers and the collective voices of the education system. The site is new, but watch for it in the future news making waves in Washington.
http://www.theparentsunion.org/about-us.html
When are Canadian parents going to become fed up with the public education system, who seem to think parents and their kids are window dressing to ply their self-serving interests and often unto the unsuspecting public.
Below is typical of a teachers’ union defending their best interests, as well as telling parents what they need or do not need.
“Report cards are not essential to communicate to parents the progress of their child,” said Jason Gammon, acting vice-president of the Greater Victoria Teachers’ Association. “Teachers have many options around how they can communicate with parents, and teachers will communicate with parents as they deem appropriate.
“If students are struggling, teachers are proactive in communicating that concern to parents and this information is usually addressed well in advance of the first reporting period,” he stated.”
http://blogs.vancouversun.com/2011/10/30/teachers-more-than-willing-to-meet-parents-union-leader-says/
The kind of stuff, and the reason why parents’ unions are forming in the United States. What the stakeholders state, are always in some make-believe world, and reality is totally different. Of course this comes from province, and a public education system’s actions and inactions to where a education case is being heard by the Supreme Court of Canada. A province where it is okay to discriminate against the members of a group, because no one else is receiving the education services.
Parents’ union, and perhaps a national one, might be the wrench, to gummed up the current public education systems, and more importantly the stakeholders within the education system, will have to come up with better responses than the union guy in the above quote. Parents would beg to differ, and often are the last ones to find out that there child is struggling.
“Everybody demands local control but everybody hates the school boards.”
Not quite. Everybody hates the school board educrats.
They are the ones who are screwing students and citizens over.
I should have added that the school trustees are usually weak and subservient. When they dare to question the system they get “fired”.
Doug, you ought to surf the many articles from the titians of note in British society,and the public, who have very harsh words for a public education system that continues to silence the public in so many different ways, and shifts blame unto the public for the negative outcomes in society. Fifty percent of students at the post-secondary level, now take remedial courses, and is rather amazing, because of the doubling of tuition hikes. Most of the students attending post-secondary, are students whose families can afford it.
Of course they blame the school system, they are Tories. They blame the state for everything. The fault in the UK is neither the “people” in general or the public schools. It one of the most rigid class systems anywhere and, as a result incomes are polarized and as a result achievement is very bad at the lower levels. Have you ever visited a public housing project (council estate) in the UK Nancy? I have and they make Jane Finch look like Rosedale. You simply cannot have a class system that rigid and expect high achievement from lower classes. It does not happen. The Tories cannot fix it without a massive effort to reduce poverty. This is not their game. The Tories everywhere exist for one and only one reason- to protect the interests of the rich.
A Quality Counts 2012 report has just been released and Education Week gave it big play on January 12, 2012. Ten years after No Child Left Behind, the Americans are doing a lot of soul searching — trying to figure out what went so terribly wrong. Judging from the headline, Education Week has made an earth-shaking discovery – “Yardsticks Vary by Nation” around the globe!
Who would you guess speaks for all of Canada — once again? Surveying the 10 provinces and 3 territories, what might he say about how the Canadian system ensures proper accountability for student performance?
For the full story, see:
http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2012/01/12/16testing.h31.html?tkn=ZRXFgiQ5krPVo%2FsHmf1v%2Bh33GqSq%2ByE1LBEQ&cmp=ENL-EU-NEWS1&intc=EW-QC12-ENL
Answer: Dr. Ben Levin, Toronto, OISE
Comment:
“We don’t declare our schools to be failing,” says Ben Levin, an education professor at the University of Toronto and a former deputy education minister in Ontario. “But we differentiate our support for schools based on their level of performance. … So if you’re in a school that has not very good performance, you’re going to get more support both from the district and the province.”
Once again, the architects of the current Canadian system (with questionable accountability) are the only ones asked to assess its effectiveness. At the risk of sounding like a broken record: Never underestimate the influence of Michael Fullan and his apostles outside of Canada.
Our best provincial system is that of Alberta — and the Edmonton model is worth exporting. So why do Fullan and Levin still have the ear of the OECD, ASCD, and Education Week? Do the internationalists think Ontario ( the fattest system) speaks for Canada? Without Dr. Paul Cappon singing a slightly different tune, they are now free to generalize about complex matters and to spout the Ontario line freely without fear of contradiction.
The Education Week story on the State of Global Education has sparked a rather fascinating little side-show which I described, tongue in cheek, as a Canadian “Education Showdown” on Facebook. :
The Quality Counts World 2012 report in Education Week prompted me to respond, right after none other than Annie Kidder, Founder of Ontario-based People for Education and ( like Doug Little) a great admirer of the Finnish school system.
http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2012/01/12/16testing.h31.html?tkn=ZRXFgiQ5krPVo%2FsHmf1v%2Bh33GqSq%2ByE1LBEQ&cmp=ENL-EU-NEWS1&intc=EW-QC12-ENL
Shame on Education Week! They must have edited out Dr. Ben’s equally lavish Finnish hymn of praise.
Memo to Annie – Don’t you know that Levin thinks Ontario is already North America’s Finland?
Thank-you for at least infusing some common sense, and you’re right. Shame on Education Week! Annie Kidder uses a lot of words to say very little actually. Nothing’s changed there.
I think internationalists are getting blindsided by this offering.
Pathetic.
not everyone thinks Finland’s system is terrific.
http://www.teachersatrisk.com/2011/07/19/dont-tell-me-anything-more-about-students-in-finland-and-how-great-the-education-system-is-there/
One of the biggest challenges we do face in assessing the state of Canadian education, as TDSB, has aptly pointed out, is the woeful lack of informed discussion online. Putting it bluntly, the challenges are increasing the participation in online forums and raising the level of discussion.
After gently curating Educhatter for 2+ years, I tend to agree with TDSB in offering this assessment:
“For whatever reason, quality online discussion on education issues seems unable to get off the ground in Canada. Not only do we have no blogs of anything approaching the quality of the better American ones, we have no message boards, listservs, or online fora either. A few have come and gone, but none have survived more than a couple of years. The sites we do have tend to feature the same dozen people over and over again.
It’s not a left-vs.-right thing – the liberal/progressive side has had no more success than the “reform” side. There are some good models out there in the USA (and the UK). Canadians, whether educators, parents, or involved citizens, can get involved with some of the quality sites available.
The U.S. also has a large number of excellent discussion fora on Yahoo groups, Google groups and independent sites on a multitude of education issues. You’ll find a number of Canadian regulars there, because there is nothing here to address Canadian issues with the range of issues, depth and quality of analysis, and participation by informed contributors that the US sites have.” (Ty TDSB)
What evidence did TDSB present? A very impressive list of some of the best American blogs in several categories, marking the best ones (IMO) with an asterisk.
TDSB’s categories were as follows:
Group 1: Center-right to right in political orientation:
Group 2: Centre-left to left in political orientation:
Group 3: Hard to pigeonhole but worth following:
Group 4: Teacher Blogs
Group 5: Currently inactive (Rich archives and worth reading):
Group 6: Some good parent blogs, diverse POVs:
Now for Educhatter’s challenge to you…Identify ONE decent Canadian blog in each of these categories! Apply the same criteria used by TDSB – quality of discussion and range of participation.
For the zealots (including me): A stretch goal – find two you think might be worthy in each category!
What am I up to? Next year, let’s see if we can build the “hot topics” in online discussion into a Year-in-Review commentary.
not everyone thinks Finland’s system is terrific.
http://www.teachersatrisk.com/2011/07/19/dont-tell-me-anything-more-about-students-in-finland-and-how-great-the-education-system-is-there/
All of those factors have been taken into account. Foreign students in Finland do better than anywhere else. The experts agree, There will always be someone who does not agree.
Group 2
http://www.thelittleeducationreport.com
“We don’t declare our schools to be failing,” says Ben Levin, an education professor at the University of Toronto and a former deputy education minister in Ontario.
Of course not. That would be admitting you screwed up. Instead, write it on a piece of paper that we are No.1 and file it away somewhere.
There, that should do it. We’re officially No. 1.
Next problem!
Say, why not “officially” declare our economy is booming and has never been better. That ought to fix it. Now we’re No. 1 there as well.
If they do Doug, than the reason is because they are taught in their first language, and their faith. At the moment there is a shortage of Muslim teachers.
The Teachers At Risk site has valid points, and comparing Finland to Canada, is like comparing apples to oranges. Doug, and other advocates of Finland, want to cherry picked, and leave the rest that do not fit the parameters of their country’s education system. “I don’t want to write a post outlining all the challenges new immigrants face that can affect the them as they enter our schools. But, some students who are immigrants come to grade 9 illiterate in their mother tongue, and we are expected to teach them so they will pass and earn 16 credits by the time they are 16 years old. Some parents are struggling to learn English themselves and can’t support their kids and help with homework or assignments. Some parents work at two jobs to put a roof over their children’s heads and food on the table and aren’t there for there for their kids after school.” http://www.teachersatrisk.com/2011/07/19/dont-tell-me-anything-more-about-students-in-finland-and-how-great-the-education-system-is-there/
One comment that states it all, but expressed in the teachers’ comments – “It is crazy. We need home grown solutions, not imported ones.”
Just like Finland that developed their own home grown solution, Canada and other countries need to developed their own solutions, that best addresses the education needs of the children and the country.
Paul mentions education sites, and Catharine provides a link. Teachers At Risk is such a site to be put on the short list under teachers, Such common sense and rather refreshing to see teachers defend the students who are academically at risk.
“These students come to grade 9 with huge gaps in their knowledge and skill sets. These gaps set students up for failure. I think socially promoting students is morally wrong. We’re not doing students any favors by passing them now when they haven’t mastered course content just to fail them later because the gaps in their knowledge prevent them from mastering the next grade’s content. That’s not being respectful of our students.”
http://www.teachersatrisk.com/page/4/
I always had to go to the American teachers sites, to obtain the inside peek of the teacher’s side of things. I only knew that teachers were very important for the sake of my child’s education, and in Canada it is very difficult when the system discourages open and transparent discussions and debate. When social promotion is discussed, what rarely is debated the harm that is cause by social promotion, and is easily dismissed by the educrats, based on a reality that does not exist in the current education system. Real remediation does not exist, and what takes its place is a completely watered-down version of remediation that does nothing to close the gaps of students.
In much the same way the Anne Kidders dismissed, using the words of the upper crust at the OECD. “Andreas Schleicher of the OECD has warned that we should be wary of focusing solely on those things that are, as he describes them, “easy to teach and easy to test.”
Right on Kidder, dismissing the things that can be measured with validity, so you can continued to live in the alternative world, that foundation knowledge and the testing of that foundation knowledge are not important, because they are easy to teach and easy to test. Even the teachers at Teachers at Risk would have to disagree with you on that, as would I have to, but the state of the education system provides the evidence that accountability is lacking in the public education system, especially when they dismissed so easily the reality of students. Personally, the American teacher blogs, in part guided me with the home tutoring and re-teaching my child, and that I am thankful because there is solid information and common sense coming out of the blogs based on the true reality, and not some alternative world.
The hard copied tests, and the grades became my measure of accountability to myself and my child. The grades told me if I needed to fine tune, dropped the teaching method, or keep it, as well as providing the small victories for celebrations of going to the ice cream shop for a job well done. And that I got from a teacher blog, to treasure the small victories because the small victories leads to the big wins of overcoming the learning struggles. As for Fullan and Levin, they have not received the memo to returned to the real reality, and start to search for solutions that are well-suited for Canada and its provinces. Neither has Kidder, but than again she thinks the status-quo is just ducky for the Canadian students, as long as she is not living next door to the low-achieving school or be force to have her children attend the school, like some Canadian students are force to, if they want an education.
I had the misfortune of sitting on a plane last November surrounded by the organizers of the OECD conference and topics for the upcoming conference.Very interesting,my listening ears were on full cylinders,when discussing how they would deal with Aboriginal Education issues,it showed me from the horses`s mouth how everything is smoke and mirrors,bloody frightening.The essence of education is missing because policy and the real isuues don`t interconnect.
Dr.Ben Levin is very comfortable with his wishy washy Chauncey Gardner statements,same as Doug,the conductors have no music,there is no symphony,just platitudes.
Was there a “goldern age” sometime in the past when we did better? No there was not.
Are there COUNTRIES that do better than Canada? Only Finland with a child poverty rate of 4% v Canada 15% ; and Korea with its massive after school tutoring program.
Are we for the status quo? No we are for increased spending, smaller classes, ECE/ELP, less poverty, summer programs, after school programs, increased teacher education and PD.
Will corporate reform work? Look at the USA the lab of corporate reform and one policy after another falls apart, How do you like NCLB?
Will progressive reform work? Look at Finland the lab of excellence through equity. Very little “choice”.
Is it the teachers or their unions fault? No the successful nations and states (USA) are highly unionized, the failures have weak unions.
Golden platitudes, even.
Below a 2011 report from the Ontario Education of Excellence, and is an eye opener on the direction, trends and the latest fads, based in part on the science and the dogma within the public education system.
“Ontario is home to a vibrant cluster of “education
entrepreneurs” working with the education system to help
improve student learning. When we talk about education
entrepreneurship in this paper, we are referring to socially
innovative ventures, either for-profit or not-for-profit,
that have developed innovative programs or products
that seek to enhance K–12 education in Ontario.”
http://www.marsdd.com/news-insights/files/2011/11/MAR-EDU6645_Education_Document_final.pdf
Rather a long report, but it represents the who’s who in the education companies outside of the education publishers, and Doug if you are reading it, you should be more concern of the infiltration of non-profits and profit education companies, than raging about the big corporations. This report, we be on the same side, if only for spending big dollars, for little gain.
What has really raised my eyebrows, are two companies and their connections from everything between A to Z in education. No wonder bullying is increasing, as well as learning struggles in our schools, when the main premise is that children are not suffering learning problems, but rather mental health problems, that prevents them from learning. My dander went up the full ten notches, when they stated learning disabilities and the prescribe treatment found in our public schools, are meant for children who have severe learning problems, as well as leaving the impression, that the LD children are well taken of in the schools. Yes, the severe LD students, are picked up much earlier. but the education system is not designed to picked up the students from mild to moderate LD problems at the primary grades. But this education company peddling their education products to the Ontario education system, as well as to the parents, is implying only students who are severe have learning disabilities, and all other students fall into the newly created category of learning differences.
“LEARNING DIFFERENCES
A child who struggles but doesn’t fit the Learning Disability guidelines may have what is known as a Learning Difference. These “unconventional” learners may have underlying cognitive issues which manifest themselves in a range of areas such as listening, reading, conceptualizing and mathematical computations”
http://www.think-2-learn.com/wp/our-solution/
The new trend, and I have suspected it since the early days of inclusion, is to take the 80 % plus of the mild to moderate LD children, identified or not identified, as well as students who are the causalities of poor instruction, under the new heading learning difference. Very creative on the educrats as well as outside education companies, where they no longer have to deal with the pesky problem of reading, writing and numeracy instruction or the expense to remediate the causes beneath the learning problems. Cognitive exercises will do the trick, instead of the hard work of remediating the core weaknesses, that are impacting the strengths and can actually masked the strengths of the students.
“.” If children are not prepared to use all of their cognitive processes effectively, they will be ill equipped for the future and be unable to maximize their full potential. The bottom line is, children must be able to confidently and to clearly “THINK” before they are able to effectively “LEARN.”
http://otepinc.com/
I am not thrilled, but if they are going to spend money, they should be going to the true experts as well as a trip to the Children of the Code and software designed to improved cognitive weaknesses of children. Last time I check, all human beings have weak and strong cognitive processes, but children who have weak cognitive processes in the phonological areas of the brain, as most LD children do have, need to be re-taught in reading, writing and numeracy. No amount of cognitive exercises, will improve the weaknesses without the reading, writing and numeracy remediation.
Today (January 15, 2012) The Ninjamatics’ 2011 Canadian Weblog Awards’ finalists were announced, including a category for Education.
Over the last two weeks, forty six jurors poured over 461 nominated weblogs, measuring the nominees against ten criteria.
They have now selected the the top five weblogs in each of a multitude of categories. The overall winners will be picked from this shortlist over the next two weeks.
Here are the sites short-listed for Best Weblog About Education:
Association for Responsive Trusteeship in Calgary Schools
http://www.knowyourtrustee.com/blog/
Doug – Off the Record
http://dougpete.wordpress.com/
Images of Learning Project
http://imagesoflearningproject.com/info/
Teaching By the Book
http://www.teachingbythebook.ca/
Terri’s Teaching Treasures
http://terristeachingtreasures.blogspot.com/
EDucation is a new category for 2011, but I did spot a couple of 2010 Blog winners that might be considered crossovers:
PhD in Parenting
http://www.phdinparenting.com/
A 2010 Blog winner with a lot of zip is Erica Glasier: Oversocialized! It’s zany and outside the box –the way education should be!
http://ericaglasier.com/
What do you think of the weblogs on the list? Do any stand out as being outstanding? If these are the best of 2011, what does this say about the state of professional engagement in Canadian education?
None of my Canadian favourites made it to this rather odd list of the supposedly Best Canadian Education Blogs of 2011. Most of the nominees may well be shameless self-promoters!
Where is Stephen Hurley’s Teaching Out Loud? How about David Wees’ 21st Century Educator? How could they miss Do The Math? After all these years, doesn’t SQE’s School of Thought deserves recognition? And where, for heaven’s sake, is the amply staffed and heavily funded People for Education (P4E) Community Blog?
Most of the Education Blogs on the Ninjamatics 2011 List appear to be “Me. Myself and I” digital soap boxes. Over to you, Educhatter regulars…
Still trying to figure out why the Association for Responsive Trusteeship in Calgary Schools is in with the mix of blogs created by teachers Except for the Calgary blog on responsive trusteeship, the blogs are not my kind of reading, and the blogs cannot be high traffic, where a search engine would turn them up.
At least the Calgary Trustees blog is on the first few pages of Google, using the search term “school board trustees”. Can’t be much traffic, judging by the empty space under comments.
Par for the course, business as usual for the public education systems, using excuses as well as their actions not to provide an education for students of the intellectually disabled. Business as usual for the folks at P4E, by ignoring the plea from the concerned citizens and parents of a school district who claims no money in the pot. In much the same way, as there is no money in the pot for any of the students with disabilities that impacts their learning, as well as preventing them from receiving a well-rounded education, to reach their full potential and become contributing members of society.
“We are parents, relatives, friends, and community members who wish to support our children with intellectual disabilities and have them grow into independent individuals with full and rewarding lives. We feel that this can best be accomplished by them participating in a co-op class during their high school years and that NLSS has the ability to provide this course. They provide co-op to the rest of the student body so why discriminate against our children and deny them who need it the most?
It certainly does not seem that the employees of the school board realize that they have a job because of my children, which includes my son with intellectual disabilities. That their pay cheques are funded by my tax dollars. To be ignored or worse be patronized is discouraging but not enough to make us go away on this important issue for all disabled children in Ontario, and all citizens in the bigger picture.”
http://www.nlssddclass.blogspot.com/
Just asked any parent who is requesting something above and beyond what the education folks are willing to give to address the educational needs, and one will hear what the education does not do for their children. But if a parent asked based on the SEC factors, not enough income to provide, not enough food, being gay, or the right to hear no references to God, or the parents of a bully demanding the victim to move to another school, the education authorities will move heaven and earth to meet the demands, that often discriminate at the expense of others. When it comes to the educational needs of the individual students with disabilities, they will thumbed their noses at students with disabilities, and are far too eager to shutting, nailing and sealing the future pathways of students with disabilities. The public education system is the biggest elephant in the room, the biggest obstacle to overcome when it comes to reaching the full potential of students with disabilities. Even the mundane kind, of being fluent and proficient in the 3 Rs, the education system puts up the road blocks to ensure no one with a disability that impacts learning will even become proficient in reading, writing and numeracy. It is left up to the parents to sort out.
The overwhelming experiences of parents with the public school system are very positive indeed. A small minority have negative experiences. This small group are overwhelmingly parents of SE students.
Of course many are frustrated because they see SE as a pit stop that will help their child rejoin the mainstream soon.
Teachers and many bureaucrats see especially elementary SE as a kind of ‘stream’ or alternative program probably for the duration of the child’s school life.
Doug`s view on SE is correct,this is an archaic response to research that was completed in 1995 on what to do when a child is struggling in grade 1-2-3 etc.and falls in the category of education malpractice and sheer neglect.
Dr.Reid Lyon stated in 1990,”if we knew as much about Aids or Cancer as we do about how to intervene here and the medical profession didn`t follow through there would be cause for malpractice”.
A friend of mine who is a speech pathologist and sees the “game”,assess,develop and IEP and file,says I don`t understand,why don`t the parents sue-
This morning,I received an e mail about crowd funding-I said to myself,what about crowd suing?
Again Doug, as you have stated, the majority within the public education system see it as a kind of streaming, that discriminates against the students with disabilities on their educational needs. As one American parent puts it, if a student is of mixed raced, gay or transgender, low income and living in the slum with a disability that impacts learning, the education system will do everything to assure equity, and the sole exception is tending the educational needs of the students to reach their potential.
The inclusive classroom has ensure the entrapment of students with disabilities in a suspended limbo, where they rarely received the remediation needed to upgrade their academic potential. Why? Just in case the labeled student rises above the rest of the students with disabilities, because that would be unfair to the other students with disabilities who never received the upgrading. Done in so many ways to make it discriminatory in Canada, that makes the American system appear to be a most fair and just education system, when it comes to students with disabilities. But alas, it is an illusion because both systems have maintain the elephant to guard against students who are requesting education services beyond the resources and ability of the classroom.
And Doug, parents see SE classrooms as a pit stop, because that is constantly being hammered out by the school and school boards. Once in, it is really difficult to gain access to more challenging courses even when the student is maintaining high 90s in the SE class. You are also wrong about the satisfaction levels of parents and students, because what is not track is the final outcomes after graduation of high school. The public education system, does not track it because it knows it would bring down the carefully crafted image of the public education system. How many resent paying for remediation at the college or university level on stuff that should have been taught in the K to 12 system? How many parents resent paying for the second time on courses that their children failed, because they did not have the foundation knowledge needed to pass the course the first time around? How many students dropped their intended pathways, and go to fields to work around their knowledge gaps and gaps in the 3 Rs? I bet the last question posed, is where the vast number of students are, downgrading their dreams as well as looking at the real reality, that certainly do not matched the crafted messages of the public education system.
What is never surveyed are the people who have exited after high school, the retired people, the grandparents, and other interested parties who have no children attending a public school. in the K to 12 system. The crafted messages of the public education system, claiming satisfaction is easier when parents and students are blocked by the elephant guarding against all who dare to asked for more, than what the education system is willing to give. The use of gradeless report cards comes in handy, to prevent parents from effectively advocating for their children. Why? Little Suzie, needs help in her reading and the response, Little Suzie is doing just fine and there is no issues that has been reported in the gradeless report cards. And than the but comes in, that Little Suzie could improve on getting along, doing neater work, and coming to the school ready to learn, but Little Suzie does not need to improve her reading fluency, because she is doing fine. .
I`d like to add that the Learning Disabilities Association,as far as recommending remediation based on research and attaching to the weak phonological awareness theory is completely CLUELESS!
They have done parents a tremendous disservice-pathetic.
Their umbrella is too wide,they represent all-that means they serve none,only themselves.
Agree Joanne, especially the Learning Disabilities Associations. Should be added, that the Canadian learning disabilities associations do not recommend any specific remediation regarding language difficulties. By the way it is like pulling teeth from a hen’s beak, to get them to recommend outside private services that provides specific remediation for language problems, and sends most parents back to the public school, What services are provided, follows along the prescribe methods of the public education system. They play nice, in order to get the government grants, and they will not upset the applecart to improve conditions for the LD children in the public schools, if it means an end to their little empire.
On their front page – “Since 1963, we have provided leadership and support to people with learning disabilities (LD), their parents, teachers and other professionals. Working with our network of provincial/territorial and local partners, we provide cutting edge information on learning disabilities, practical solutions, and tools you can use.”
http://www.ldac-acta.ca/
Searching through the site, one would wonder what are they doing for the kids with LD, compared to the wealth of information at the American sites. The American sites, will stress low phonemic awareness as one of the major signs, as predicting reading difficulties, and how to prevent it, and what to look for in the public schools. However on the Canadian LD sites. phonemic awareness is mentioned once, in the glossary of terms.
“Phonemic Awareness/Phonological Awareness – the ability to recognize the distinct sounds in words, which is required for further language and reading development.”
A very important term to understand, the earlier the better for all parents and the education of their LD children. But no, the definition is very much like the terms found on the public education sites, combining phonemic awareness and phonological awareness as one and the same. From my understanding, they are two distinct terms, and as such the American LD sites list both terms separate,
The American National Centre for Learning Disabilities -
“Phonemic Awareness
The awareness that spoken words are made of sounds, and the ability to identify individual sounds in spoken words.”
“Phonological Awareness
The ability to understand the relationships of sounds in spoken words. At a simple level, children can identify rhyming words. At a more complex level, children can identify similarities in sounds and spellings.”
http://www.ncld.org/ld-basics/glossaries/glossary
Without phonemic awareness, a student will have difficulty in phonological awareness. But than when I have argued with the so-called experts in the public education system, it is all dismissed as being American babble of the experts, as well as defending the entrenched system of ensuring students with disabilities, will received exactly the same education services, as all other students with disabilities, because it is fair, and no one with a disability gets an unfair advantage within the sub-groups of disabilities. The Canadian learning disabilities enables and condones the practices of equity, that actually discriminates against all students with disabilities.
But there is hope, when there is the Supreme Court of Canada, willing to hear a case, that is all about the systemic discriminaton practices of the public education system and how they discriminate on the educational needs of students with disabilities.
I go back so far that I remember Bill 82 coming in. Just before that, a trustee named David Clandfield later Dean of New College UT put a map of the Toronto board on a wall behind his desk. On that map he put red sticky circles if the SE class was “slow learner” a polite way back in the day of saying “mildly retarded” or EMR. There were yellow dots all over the map where so called Learning Disabled LD classes were held. LD in those days actually meant SLD or a specific identifyable disability dysflexia for example. The yellow dots were in Rosedale, Forest Hill, Beachers, High Park and North Toronto the rich and middle class areas. The red dots were everywhere else, the poor and working class areas.
Not only the Toronto board but the newspapers and the province were shocked. Clandfield basically said “the truth is in the map. If you are poor and not doing so well you are “retarded” if you are middle class and up, you have a specific problem but you are not “retarded”.
The response of the MOE was basically to change LD to “you are not keeping up with your classmates and we are not sure why” and SL and EMR were abolished.
Not much really changed, labels and a tad of conscienceness.
Not much has change Doug, and they still call it a specific learning disability, for the middle class and up, and the more generic learning disabilities for the low income kids. The population for LD students are much higher for the low income students, compared to the higher income groups. Worse yet, due to the new reforms made in SE, students can get on the accommodations route, without bother going the route of going for an assessment to find out what are the root causes for learning struggles. As well, in a low income school, higher percentage of students are on accommodations than in the higher-income schools. Within a school that has a balance of high to low income students, often the low-income students are identified early on and put on accommodations, but for the higher-income students this is not the case. All income groups receiving an assessment early is like playing a game of craps. The students keep on rolling snake eyes, and the parents with higher income and higher levels of education are most likely to obtain an assessment whether the parents want one or not, but not until after grade 3.
However, regardless of the numbers regarding LD students identified or not identified, the students are still not receiving the remediation in the 3 Rs, according to the individual’s student’s learning weaknesses, and for the most parts accommodations are taking the place of remediation. Also, remember the large numbers showing in the low income schools, are mainly due to acquired learning disabilities due to instruction and curriculum practices, because developmental learning disabilities occurs in the same numbers across all social and economic status lines. The only explanation that there is higher numbers in the low income, is the instruction and curriculum practices of the schools. In schools with a balance of income groups, the students that are identified and label come from the lower income students, with one or two representing the higher income groups. Funny thing, the students that eventually get real help and have an easier time escaping the SPED room, are the students whose parents are of the higher income groups. However, the vast majority of remediation of the 3 Rs, is left up to the parents to sort out, as well as navigating the system in seeking knowledge within the education system and outside of the public education system.
The supreme court case, the Moore case is a typical example of the treatment and the lack of remediation for the dyslexics in the public education system. What really must gall the educrats, is that Mr. Moore hails from the blue-collared sector, and not some fancy white-collar professional, You see Doug, even here the public education system would not dare to used the same tactics for the professional parents, as they would with the lesser working class, when it comes to disabilities of students. At least in the high-income schools, the chances of early assessments, as well as well providing some type of remediation are much greater than the typical schools. The only province that I see that does a slightly better job is in Alberta, and that is because there is focus on a firmer foundation in the basics for all students.
If the Supreme Court rules in the favour of the Moores, Ontario will be paying a very dear price for ignoring and openly discriminating against children with disabilities when it comes to the education portion of the students. I am sure that they will, because I cannot see them ruling making it legal to discriminate among the various sub-groups, based on no student can obtain a single service, if none of the other students are receiving the service. As well the Moore case, is based on what is missing, the remediaton of the 3 Rs, that no student is receiving in the first place. The school board wants to retain the right to openly discriminate on a group of students, where all the learning issues are in the areas of reading, writing and numeracy. Remediate them, and most LD children can returned to the classroom, ready to learn, because they now have the foundation to stand on. But the public education systems across the country, and the various agendas would like to keep the status-quo for children with disabilities.
Doug,anyone reading your last post,I commend you for your honesty,might want to actually cry.But thank you.
I had forgotten the specific events Doug notes above but have always been aware of the class bias behind labels and efforts to improve education. This phenomena goes back to the origins of IQ testing in France and how it was corrupted in the U.S.
So
in helping current and future teachers do a better job
are we best served by
- introducing a large list of conditions, neurological causes and classroom “remedies”
- better diagnostic classroom assessment for all students
- a look at the class, racial, and gender origins of labelling
- a combination of the above
Reflecting on this,why not call Dr.Keith Stanovich and get his input,he did everything he could to get Teacher Training to change.
“The building is divided.”
John says:
So
in helping current and future teachers do a better job
are we best served by
- introducing a large list of conditions, neurological causes and classroom “remedies”
- better diagnostic classroom assessment for all students
- a look at the class, racial, and gender origins of labelling
- a combination of the above
I have read this and wish to respond within 24 hours,I really want to think about it.
Love the post,it says,how can we do better?
John, interesting premise on the origins of this type of bias. But would you not agree, the bias is across all parts of society, and is entrenched in people’s thinking. Rather hard to eliminate bias inside the schools, when most biases are hidden and become part of the unconscious,mind. “Psychologists at Harvard, the University of Virginia and the University of Washington created “Project Implicit” to develop Hidden Bias Tests — called Implicit Association Tests, or IATs, in the academic world — to measure unconscious bias.” http://www.tolerance.org/hiddenbias
In the world of disabilities, lots of bias when it comes to their abilities, and more so for the kids with the invisible disabilities. The above link states that biases are difficult to change and will dismissed experiences that does not support their biases. I have experienced the hidden biases regarding learning disabilities early on, My 16 year old deals with it, when ever she is out volunteering, selling tickets and the handling of money. It is a well known in the small community that my child has a learning disability, and some people through their actions without actually stating the words, expresses that she has lesser ability, implying she should not be working with cash. My youngest does respond with lightening speed, and places the person in an awkward position to explain why they think that she should not working with cash. The typical response is that she has a learning disability. My youngest does it with humor without demeaning the person, and if her friends are around, they come to the rescue stating, she is smarter than the rest of us, or a line like that. Did it change the bias towards learning disabilities? Maybe, but I am not at all sure, when the adults quiz me why I think my youngest child has a shot at university.
Within the schools, it is much different experience for my dyslexic child. She has proven over many years, that she does have the stuff that merits special attention from the teachers, to work on her weaknesses, as well as improving her strengths. Since high school, I have detected and observed a change dealing with students who have a disability. Teachers see students with disabilities as having potential to succeed, rather than dumping them in the basic courses and call it a day.
In total agreement – the sooner the better for all students.
“So
in helping current and future teachers do a better job
are we best served by
- introducing a large list of conditions, neurological causes and classroom “remedies”
- better diagnostic classroom assessment for all students
- a look at the class, racial, and gender origins of labeling
- a combination of the above”
Low phonemic awareness as well as sequencing can be corrected, to the point where it is no longer interfering with learning. For the vast majority, if not all LD students, schools provides very little in extended intensive targeting of specific problem areas to raise the low scores 60 or below, to a low-average of 85. Bias enters the picture, where most believe that there is little one can do to improved the weaknesses that interferes in reading, writing and at times numeracy without a high cost to the school board budget, and the more troubling aspect, therefore it is not worth the time and effort to use scarce resources on the LD population. The number one solution is the accommodations route, as if they are no different from the physically disabled that needs wheelchair access to the school.
The experts in the LD field have responded back, if all students had early reading assessments starting in grade 1, at least 40 percent of the students will have problems in phonemic awareness. It will be a mixture running the gambit across all SEC factors, and only a few of them will have the developmental dyslexia. Over 80 percent of the dyslexics fall in the mild to moderate category, and if taught based on the science and research in reading, the chances are very slim for dyslexic children ever making use of SE services, or even being labeled. Using the reading science, by the end of grade 3, over 90 percent of all students will be at grade level or higher in reading.
Of course it would require major changes and new focus in the primary programs, as well as fleshing out the hidden biases as well as the biases that has been more or less institutionalized within the education system model. Whole language and the many versions in my opinion actually reinforces the hidden biases that run along the SEC factors, as well as intelligence biases. Critical theories that are often embedded in the pedagogical practices,does not help either, when reading, writing and numeracy skills no longer have to be taught explicitly to students. No wonder the professors at the universities and colleges are complaining about the weak foundation in the 3 Rs, as well as as the students’ thinking skills.
There is more than enough rich literature on biases that wreck havoc in society, as well studies and research from all parts of the research world, inside and outside of the education systems and the white ivory towers of the post-secondary institutions. What I have read, the closest that comes to my reality as well as my child’s reality, and what I have experienced, is the research conducted by the American civil rights organizations. Below is just one of the many links, claiming it is the biases that is preventing real change in equity and equalization in our schools. Concluding, “The problem of school bias and pushout is prevalent but not insurmountable. Despite its widespread existence, the phenomenon can be overcome if students, parents, teachers, administrators, advocates, and communities rise to the challenge of creating systemic change to create welcoming and inclusive schools. Every child has the right to “be a kid” and to enjoy that right while still receiving an education. As a society, we have a responsibility—to our own benefit—to educate all of our children and to do so in a manner that allows each child dignity.”
http://www.aclunc.org/s4a/full_report.pdf
The Canadian schools may be more equitable, but it is the hidden biases that will do a number on the education policies in all aspects, and in the end hurting the students that are at risked, running along the SEC factors. A good place to begin, is in the primary grades to ensure that all students have a solid foundation in reading, writing and numeracy, based on the science to counteract the hidden biases that are dividing our children in their various camps, and causing much division and strife with the schools. It has not been a welcoming environment for my LD child, because much of her school life she has been subjected to social stigma based on her intelligence, as well as the hidden biases held by the educators and education policies that placed limits on her potential for academic progress and achievement.
14
Lots to agree with
BTW
I have 2 disabilities
congenital
I hide them well
in grad school my suprevisers were specialists in both
disabilities and
‘”gifted” ed
I learned lots from them
and about me
Thank you John, because it is a subject near to my heart, and can easily start a war of words and bitter disagreement. I hated all the tears and rages of my youngest child, when she was younger, because most of it came from the biases that are held about my child and her abilities. It was never overt actions that screamed out discrimination, but the more subtle kinds that are hard to pinpoint and flesh out.
It is why my 16 year old does her best to hide her dyslexia, and has insisted at the school level, do not pull her out of class without warning her, so she has time to developed a cover story on why she was pulled out. At the moment, the memory of her being a SPED student by the other students has been temporary forgotten, and there is no point in giving the other students friendly reminders that she is being pulled out for testing, alternative test settings, and so forth. My 16 year old has become part of the crowd of the higher achiever students, and she earned it, by working hard at home on the foundation skills in the 3 Rs, and therefore gaining the other students respect, as well as seeing her that she is capable just like them.
My youngest treasures the respect, and for her to come out of the closet figuratively speaking, she is risking herself to be exposed to the biases that run along the intelligence lines. I don’t blame her, but I do wish as she goes off to university and into the world, she will educate people on the biases. The best teachers are the ones that have experienced bias and the difficulties in overcoming the bias.
Gobbling up small schools and the hangover that comes from over consumption.
http://southshorenow.ca/archives/2012/011812/news/index029.php
Had to comment Steven, I started to laugh at your comment. Than after I had read the article entitled, “Grassroots organizers plan small school summit
‘We’ve seen a frightening trend in the past of schools closing’
I became curious who is Dr. Michael Corbett, after reading the part only invited guests. ” The daylong summit at the Nova Scotia Community College – Lunenburg Campus will end with an open discussion led by a facilitator.
Among the 50-plus people expected to attend are school board and Department of Education reps, provincial elected officials, municipal leaders, community partners, educators, parents, and school advisory committee and home and school association members.
“As it is by invitation only, it is not open to the general public,” said Ms Wamboldt.
“I would urge any parents and community members who are interested in the future of small community schools to attend their local home and school meetings. In the future we may be able to open our platform to a wider audience, but for this, our first summit, it will be for key stakeholders only.”
http://southshorenow.ca/archives/2012/011812/news/index004.php
Best technique, if you want to turned off parental engagement, by telling them they are not invited. As well telling the parents, the voice that speaks for you is the school council. Never found much use for the current school councils, and I dare say a lot of eyebrows of parents went up in the SSRSD after reading the article.
Just before I explored Dr. Corbett, I search a little bit on small school summits. It does appear the idea originates from Ontario, and they are quite fancy affairs. I dare say, parents can come if they pay the price at the door, but no doubt it is a lot higher than the $10.00 affair at the small school summit. A miss opportunity when a major stakeholder is missing, and it is the parents. The opportunity to educate the parents on the other stakeholders take on school closures, as well as hearing from interested parents their take, that has not been filtered by the school council.
Dr. Michael Corbett has all the credentials, but it took me a well to find anything that he has written, and has been published on the net. I did find one article, an essay called, “The Edumometer: The commodification of learning from Galton to the PISA .”
http://www.jceps.com/index.php?pageID=article&articleID=125
It is obvious he is against any type of assessments of children. “The sad irony is that the processes of education including edubabble and the pseudoscience of assessment appear to those farthest outside the process as a sacred mystery. Those middle class parents who understand systems of formal education from the inside understand both the educational discourse and the fact that it is just discourse and not the final truth about learning. They also understand as Annette Lareau showed in Unequal Childhoods (2003), that the “system” can be manipulated and controlled by strategic intervention and that people working in the education system can be influenced.”
Did he drank the kool-aid of the aristocrats within the education system? Just wondering, because even well educated middle class parents, have been confronted with a system that will not do anything, until the lawyer shows up at the school, or at the school board. Or the rare meetings of appeal panels, where parents show up with their lawyer to do battle for their child, for accommodations. If parents were that influential, school closures would not be on the menu, unless the school was in major disrepair.
“I want to encourage us to imagine schools without tests, without grades, and that do not devote so many scarce resources (in the case of public schools) to finding out what parents, teachers, relatives and neighbors to a large extent already know and that is that there are differences between children. These differences can be measured with contrived instruments of assessment, but what do they tell us that was previously hidden? I want to argue that good educational assessments provide us with thick descriptions of how particular children learn. I want to argue that good educational assessments are predicated on deep knowledge of individual children and on how to support those children’s growth. I want to argue that only by understanding the history of current assessment practices can we begin unravel the mess we have made of the public schools and the children and families who must endure them.”
I really don’t know what to think about Dr. Corbett, but I do want to asked a few questions, especially along the lines of the solid foundation in the 3 Rs and the key to children acquiring deep knowledge and being able to express themselves. Isn’t that what schooling is all about, because my child had deep knowledge, but did not have the skills to expressed her knowledge. All types of assessments and evaluations she had done, clearly shown it, and her key was the 3 Rs, as I believe it is the key for most children to obtain a solid foundation to stand on, to be able to access the knowledge.
Too bad the average parents are not invited to this summit. I shall assume that the average parent would asked difficult questions, as well as pointing out the inconsistencies of their words.
Hi Nancy,
I too would encourage the reading of “Learning to Leave” by Michael Corbett. I had the chance to read it over Christmas and it contextualizes the dillema rural and coastal areas in Nova Scotia are faced with in light of the centralist objective. I found it interesting that It also addressed the need to apply programing that would benefit small community needs as they relate to students who wish to remain in their chosen community – a radical and unpoular idea nowadays.
I would also recommend the heart breaking story by Alistar Macleod called “The Boat”. It is in the Volume “The Lost Salt Gift of Blood” a compilation of Macleods short stories. It frames the plight revealed in “Learning to Leave” with veracity.
Education reform runs in many different directions, Nancy. Mining the Internet for past utterances and writings can be problematic. In the case of Dr. Michael Corbett of Acadia focusing on his international testing views can be downright misleading. Mike is what I would describe as a sincere, committed educational progressive, but he’s also Canada’s leading historian of rural education and that’s where he is making a tremendous contribution.
Before writing him off, you may want to consult Dr. Michael Corbett’s report on Education on a Smaller Scale, co-written with Dr. Dennis Mulcahy of Memorial University, and his truly fine book, Learning to Leave (2008). We have a lot to learn from Mike on rurality, changing demographics, and place-based education.
Michelle Wamboldt and Lief Helmer are true community activists and the Small Schools Summit will be well worth attending. Let me assure you, it’s a genuine grassroots initiative and one aimed at empowering citizens to defend community schools. I will be there alongside Steven, supporting their efforts.
Another example of the war games and the casualties. Completely unnecessary.
http://southshorenow.ca/archives/2012/011812/comment/index002.php
However, decrying cuts affecting classrooms while historically supporting big box extravaganzas seems a little out of sync in todays world to me.
I did my research, especially on rural education research. Read the story The Boat that Steven suggested to read, and came to a new set of information, as well as a new premise on the research taking place within the education systems in Canada.
There is the poor cousins in research, that receives less education dollars than the richer cousins in ESL or constructivist pedagogy or dare I say, reading remediation using whole language approaches.
Rural education research, ignore for the most part by the policy planners as stated in the paper titled, “Education on a Human Scale”, “If we are truly in an age of “evidence based decision making” then our literature review will demonstrate unequivocally that research and scholarly opinion supports maintaining and developing small schools such as River Herbert and Wentworth. Small schools are both viable and valuable sites for quality education.”
http://www.ruralbc.gov.bc.ca/library/resource_corner/spssi/academic_papers/Education%20on%20a%20human%20scale_5%20April.pdf
There is a growing body of rural education world-wide, but in Canada it is small, and easily dismissed by the educrats in school closures. Actually the educrats uses far different measures to determined validity of the school, and than use the research evidence from the rural education and small school research, to state that the students will have higher achievement attending a large school. The big box schools that a centralized education model, strives for.
“In a report entitled “Small School Might” the Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory (2002) Kathleen Cotton reported that all over the country “staff members at large schools are making their institutions smaller and more friendly, [so that] students feel less alienated and teachers more empowered.” The reasons they are do that is: In small-school environments, the studies show, all students—whatever their ethnicity or place on the socioeconomic ladder—tend to achieve at higher levels, have a greater sense of belonging, feel safer, are less likely to drop out, and are more likely to participate in extracurricular activities and go on to college. Furthermore, parent involvement is higher in smaller schools, as is teachers’ job satisfaction.”
The education planners, policy decision makers,continued to based their decisions on the many agendas within the public education system, rather than the best interests of all students, and as well to ensure true equity based on the needs of the school, the students as well as the local community needs. Research dollars and what is research reflects the intense focus to prove that big schools are better, if not that, to discredit the research and data gleam from the rural education research, or in most cases applied big urban policies in rural settings. “A growing number of educators and policymakers believe that existing assembly-line schools that inhibit our students’ and teachers’ potential need to be replaced by smaller schools which are better designed to support teaching and learning. And we have evidence that small schools are indeed better for our children: All else equal, they produce higher achievement, lower dropout rates, greater attachment, and more participation in the curricular and extracurricular activities that prepare students for productive lives. There is real potential for the current small schools movement to transform the educational landscape in America [and Canada] for the better.”
Too bad, that within the education systems there is a different agenda being carried out, and the ironic part a lot of research is being done trying to replicate what small schools do with little effort, on a thinner plate of resources, the imposing external education policies that plays havoc to the advantages of small schools, and the overbearing inflexible regulation regime of the education system.
On Canada AM show today, a Nova Scotia school policy plays out for the camera. Special needs students are being segregated in the playground, and I wonder this morning what research evidence was this policy formulated on. Not at all inclusive, but par for the course with the public education system, who are quite accustomed to blame the characteristics of students, to defend their policy decisions.
“Christie said he feels his son is treated like a “goldfish in a bowl: he’s just put on display for the other kids.” A spokesperson with the Halifax Regional School Board said the school isn’t trying to segregate children with special needs, it’s just trying to keep them safe. The school said there are concerns that the kids will run away if not in the fenced-in area. Up to 10 children have special needs.
“All schools in the province believe firmly in inclusion and in creating opportunities for the students to be included in all activities within the schoolyard. The challenge at times is to ensure that student safety” is addressed, said Doug Hadley, from the Halifax Regional School Board.
But Christie said he is concerned about safety inside the rink. “I walk inside of there and there’s broken beer bottles, the leaves have never been raked up, there’s dog poop bags in there,” he said. The school board said it has addressed that issue and it won’t happen again. It says it will follow the wishes of any parent who does not want his or her child in the rink.”
Read more: http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/Canada/20120118/children-with-special-needs-fenced-school-120118/#ixzz1jvPgHhS3
My, my, teaching children all kinds of things along the segregation lines, some children are dangerous to other children, and showing everyone that the inclusive practices of schools, comes with many exceptions, and exclusion of children.
My hope is Canada AM will remain true to their words, there will be more discussions exposing a policy that is only in the best interests of the school staff, and likely the school board.
Another poor cousin in the education research of the education system, is special needs children and their learning needs, as well as the bulk of the children with disabilities, especially the invisible disabilities. Small schools is a great advantage for parents who have special-needs children or children with learning disabilities. That can’t be said about the big box schools.
Wow, so now inclusion means exclusion. Perhaps Hadely could have expanded on what the boards saftey concerns were in the news report.
Surely we can do better than this. Thanks for the link to the story Nancy as I missed it.