SCHOOL FOR THOUGHT

Afri-centric school revisited

Well the naysayers against the controversial Toronto public Afri-centric alternative school might want to re-think their original opinion.  The school has significantly outperformed the board and provincial averages on the EQAO test.  Now the parents who choose this school are likely highly motivated, but as Moira MacDonald’s Toronto Sun column reports, “Still it shows the Downsview-area school must be doing something right.”  So what are they doing?  Sounds like they took a page out of KIPP charter schools approach—lots of after school help, structure, and attention to reading skills.  It’s the reading skills that still need attention, but that’s another column.

I was in the audience when the board approved this school, which has seen enrolment double from its first tentative beginnings. I supported the decision because it allowed some choice for parents in a community that was suffering from poor education outcomes.  My caution, however, was not that it was segregationist, but that, as black educator and reformer Dr. Howard Fuller warned, if the school was not a “quality school”:  mission driven, quality principal and teachers, clear curriculum, high academic standards, and effective teaching, it would fail.  

I hope that the TDSB and other boards can learn from this.  I encourage parents who would like to see other alternatives, such as a traditional model school that uses programs and pedagogy that SQE promotes, to get organized and ask their boards to offer such alternatives.  Better yet, I’d like to see boards be pro-active and open up such schools themselves, but I won’t hold my breath.

Mighty Oaks From Little Acorns Grow

This Globe and Mail article discusses a new study that reports that half of low-income students make their decision about post-secondary education before they reach high school, and that financial considerations are not part of the decision-making process. This is borne out by an analysis by the Frontier Centre for Public Policy which shows that university tuitions vary widely from province to province and have little or no correlation with university participation in the province.

Not mentioned in the article is the importance of good academic performance in school. Let’s face it: a kid who is getting D’s in grade 7 is hardly going to be leaning towards university (more likely leaning towards dropping out!) And since a student’s performance in grade 1 is highly predictive of his or her subsequent academic performance, perhaps the emphasis should be on ensuring that all students succeed during that crucial first year.

A Lesson on Cheating

According to this Globe and Mail article, the EQAO plans to provide the province's educators with more explicit test-giving directions, in the hopes that it will make it more difficult for them to rationalize cheating. The article includes a poll about the value of standardized testing, with the results split more or less evenly, as well as 28 comments which are overwhelmingly critical of the cheating educators - as well as the lack of consequences for their dishonesty. 

A sidebar to the article, unfortunately not available on-line, reports on what happened to the cheating educators at one school. Two of them had retired by the time the investigation had concluded, and so nothing much happened to them. The other two had transferred to other schools in the meantime, and they were given short suspensions but are now back in the classroom. The sidebar doesn't say whether the suspensions were with pay or not.

Of course, there are cheaters in every profession and the number of confirmed cases (10) is actually surprisingly small in a province with about 5,000 publicly-funded schools. To me, the issue is not that there are cheaters - that is a given - but how their cheating is handled. The current policy of giving them a slap on the wrist sends a strong message to the students that cheating is okay. Is this what we intend?

Testing, 1 2 3 Testing

A propos of the Ontario teachers' unions who want a moratorium on testing in the wake of the cheating scandal, Michael Zwaagstra makes some very sensible comments in the Windsor Star. For example, Zwaagstra responds to the criticism that the tests take too much time by suggesting that teachers show fewer movies in class. Zwaagstra is a teacher himself, so he can say such things.

The only thing we might add is that a more logical response to criticisms of Ontario provincial testing would be to address any shortcomings, as opposed to ditching the tests entirely. Thermometers aren't perfect either, but no one would suggest they be abandoned entirely. The EQAO can - and should - improve their tests and, failing that, we ought to consider the use of better standardized tests, like the Canadian Achievement Tests or the Canadian Tests of Basic Skills. These tests are much less expensive, quicker to administer, yield faster and better information, and their results can be compared to other jurisdictions.

Stuck in the Middle

A new study from the University of Columbia suggests that students who attend middle schools (schools that serve only students in grades 6-8 or 7-8) score worse on tests than students who attend K-8 elementary schools. The difference in test scores is significant and lasting. The researchers think that part of the reason may be that middle schools combine students from multiple schools. In any case, parents and teachers might be wise to steer clear of middle schools if they have that option.

A Vanishing Breed

Here's more from the governor of New Jersey. Love him or hate him, it's great to have a politician who speaks his mind.

Where’s the accountability?

A few news stories, here, here, and here have sprung up about cheating that has occurred on the Ontario provincial testing.  About ten schools have been caught cheating in various ways.  Not the kids, but the teachers and/or principals.

I sat on the EQAO board of directors for a few years in its earliest days and I have always known of the rare incident.  The checks and balances that EQAO have in place make it fairly easy for them to detect cheating and EQAO has investigated and dealt with each case in an appropriate manner. But, really this is nothing new.  What is interesting is that the mainstream media is reporting on it.  What is not surprising is the response of the teacher federations, who have always opposed testing:  teachers and principals cheat because of the test, so get rid of the test. Go figure! Moira MacDonald at the Toronto Sun has a good column on this today. 

The complaint is that there is “too much pressure” on teachers to increase test scores and the “teach to the test.”  (Really? That 75% target should have been a clue.) Nonetheless, the test in Ontario is what is termed an ‘authentic’ style of test.  It mirrors the curriculum, expectations, and pedagogy set by the Ministry of Education.  If teachers cover the curriculum, there shouldn’t be an issue.  Now, SQE has always said the curriculum has serious flaws and its expectations are often nebulous, but that’s the way today’s teachers have been ‘inserviced’ in how to do things.  But I digress. 

What might, or maybe not, surprise readers is that the consequence for cheating is pretty much a slap on the wrist.   If someone has intentionally set out to cheat they should be fired.  Period.

The point is not to throw the baby out with the bathwater. The temptation to cheat will always be there.  It’s the easy way out. What’s hard is to find, often what is not supported or even available, is effective teaching practice in today’s education climate of flawed pedagogy.

Still Waiting

I was channel surfing early last evening and what should catch my attention but two of the most influential people in the world sitting side by side—Bill Gates and Oprah Winfrey.  Seems that Oprah has taken the Waiting for Superman pledge.   The whole Oprah Show was about the documentary, charter schools, and school choice.  Washington DC school reformer Michelle Rhee, who is also featured in the film, was a guest.  After this appearance, I wonder how much the local teachers’ union will go after her as I reported on in a previous blog post. 

When Oprah makes this one of her causes, look out!  There is no turning back now. 

Waiting for Superman has re-opened the case for choice.  It is the cover story in this special issue of Time Magazine and, in Canada, is the cover story in the latest issue of Maclean’s Magazine as they ask Canadians to “Rethink the Issue”.  The Maclean’s interview with Bill Gates is here.

So, Canada, time to start thinking.

What about the (poor) kids?

David Frum had an excellent column in Saturday’s National Post.  In Suffer the (poor) Children, Frum exposes the not so hidden agenda of the D.C. Teachers’ unions after they spent $1-million on political spending to defeat a reform-minded candidate that they did not want:

“They mobilized their members (at least, those of their members who live in the city—most D.C. teachers actually live in the suburbs, so as to avoid sending their own children to the schools in which they teach). They won.”

and further,

“More probably, the teachers’ unions have sent a message to every urban Democrat in the United States: Your first priority is to protect our jobs, all of our jobs, whether we perform competently or not. If you instead put children and learners first, we will crush you.”

Keep all this in mind as we approach the next Ontario provincial election.  Remember the “Not this time, Ernie” ads in 2003?  Read about their high-jinks in 2007 here and here.  From one of the articles:

“Critics have charged that the Working Families Coalition, comprised of numerous unions representing sectors such as teachers, autoworkers and construction, is a Liberal party attack-dog and that its affiliated unions benefited in provincial funding and decisions for their support.”

Blogger Steve Janke tried to find out about them and wrote about the experience here.

Discontent is brewing and the Working Families Coalition, or whatever they will call themselves this time, will be pooling resources to fight the same fight in the 2011 election.  They will certainly want to protect the gains made over the last seven years—after all, it’s for the kids!

For parents who are sick and tired of being sick and tired

Who wouldn’t like to have this family’s problem?  THIS is a problem? Too bad the majority of parents don’t have the option of moving to a “better” neighborhood with the “better” school or to pay for private school.  Most families that I see are like the ones in the video featured on today’s posting—sick and tired of being sick and tired.

A week doesn’t go by that I fail to get calls for help from parents who are either at their wit’s end or are just plain desperate to find a better education for their kids. These parents live in poor areas of the largest city in Canada. Their schools are some of the worst performing on the EQAO tests. They’ve seen shootings and violence on a regular basis. Their schools certainly have fine teachers and almost every intervention and program that the school board makes available. Yet, they are still worried for their children. The money spent on those schools is not really the problem.

Other parents live in rural areas in a town with one local school and no other place to go if things are not working for their children.

Usually parents call for a copy of Malkin’s recently updated book How to Get the Right Education for Your Child. Sometimes they are asking about the Stairway To Reading remedial program that we make available online for free. The most heartbreaking calls come from a mom who missed out on the lottery for a private voucher through Children First Scholarship Trust. This is why films like Waiting for Superman or The Cartel strike such a chord.

The Society for Quality Education has a mission to significantly improve schools. A few months back I described Why We Do What We Do. What hasn’t changed is our resolve to work for better educational opportunities for Canadian families. Maybe it is time for parents to start asking questions like the one in this video. Ask WHY, and just insert your favorite politician’s name.

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For more on the debate surrounding Waiting for Superman, check out the latest round of letters in the Toronto Star, some from some pretty notable people.