SCHOOL FOR THOUGHT

Putting reading first

I am quoted in this article in today’s Globe and Mail about why girls did better than boys for the first time on the science strand of the latest PCAP. I suggested that the decline might have been caused mostly by boys’ ever-weaker reading skills - since no matter how hard the test designers tried to ensure that the science questions wouldn’t disadvantage weak readers, written questions by definition involve a certain amount of reading. 

We’ve said it before, and no doubt we’ll say it again: teaching kids to read ought to be educators’ number one priority, since all subsequent learning depends on it. 

For more on the gender gap, including how to overcome it, visit our website boyseducation.ca.

The Canadian Version of the Lake Wobegone Effect

Continuing with our coverage of the PCAP report, I want to draw your attention to this CBC News article. It’s mostly the usual uninformed twaddle - for example the credit for girls’ improved math performance goes to “gender neutrality” and the elimination of “gender-tagging”. But I have already gone on far too much about the drawbacks of generalist education reporting.

What sets this article apart, though, is its stunning demonstration of the shortcomings of Canadian math education in practice. About two-thirds of the way down the article appears the following clanger: “The report also found that most students, 91 per cent, performed at the expected level of achievement in math, and almost half are doing better than the average.” I’m guessing that, coincidentally, almost half are doing worse than the average as well - what do you think?

In Lake Wobegon, “all the women are strong, all the men are good looking, and all the children are above average”. Not so in Canada apparently. H/T to LDA

If you place the bar low enough, almost everyone will manage to clear it

The latest Pan-Canadian Assessment (PCAP) has been released, and it paints a very glowing picture of the educational attainment of Canadian grade 8 students (although the only available comparison over time - in reading - found that “overall, grade 8 students performed significantly lower in 2010 than in 2007”). My remarks will deal only with the mathematics strand, since that was the major emphasis of this cycle, and much less information is available for the reading and science strands.  In mathematics, 91% of tested students achieved “the expected level of achievement” - namely, Level 2 or better. This is surely cause for celebration! 

Before you get all excited, though, the sample questions (pp. 19-22) indicate that the PCAP is assessing the same sort of higher-order-thinking-skills-but-lower-order-computational-skills evaluated by the PISA - an explanation of which we provided in a previous posting. For your convenience, here is an analysis of what skills and knowledge are required to pass the four sample questions on the 2010 PCAP.

• Level 1:  As the use of calculators was allowed, all these grade 8 students had to do was plug the numbers in and press the + button.
• Level 2:  In order to pass this question, a student had to know what “diameter” meant and then use his calculator to add 45 + 45.
• Level 3:  As long as a student knew that the time slot of 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm contains two hours and that there are 60 minutes in an hour, all he or she had to do was use a calculator to add 60 + 60, subtract 10, and divide by 5.
• Level 4:  There was no calculation at all necessary in order to answer this question, but a student did need to understand how percentages are calculated. Only 5% of Ontario students achieved Level 4 - and this was a higher percentage than any other province!

I need hardly point out that a student was deemed to have reached the expected level of achievement if he or she was able to correctly total the column of numbers in the Level 1 question. Really, when you think about it, it’s kind of amazing that 9% of tested students couldn’t even manage this! They are, after all, in grade 8.

Sunday at the Movies (Child-Rearing)

This is a very funny endorsement of spanking kids - but it in no way represents SQE's official stand on this issue (we have none). I threw in a complementary cartoon just for more fun. The video contains some offensive language. YouTube link.

Avoid the University of Manitoba (unless you’re a dunce, that is)

GUEST BLOG BY ROD CLIFTON, EDUCATION PROFESSOR AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MANITOBA

Your Nov. 18 blog noted again the student at the University of Manitoba who was passed in a Ph.D. program without completing the candidacy exams.  The math prof who blew the whistle on this situation was Dr. Gabor Lukacs, who has now reached an agreement with the U of M.  He will discontinue his complaints in the grievance and the court case, his record will be wiped clean at the university, and, most importantly, he stopped being an employee on November 17.  He could not even say good-bye to the students he was teaching, and I heard that some first-year students were crying in class when a new professor arrived to teach the final three weeks of the course.  Moreover, a number of students left wonderful notes on his web site.

In effect, Dr. Lukacs has been bought off with money and a cleared record.  He is now moving to Halifax where he plans to live while finishing some research papers and applying for other teaching positions.  I observed him teach in both a large lecture hall and during his office hours, and he is undoubtedly a gifted teacher who won two teacher of the year awards in the Faculty of Science. Dr. Lukacs was given a severance package paid by the people of Manitoba, but he could not finish teaching their children for this semester, something that both the students and he wanted very much. 

I have known Gabor very well for almost 5 years; our offices were in the same hall of St. John’s College.  I am very sad to see him leave the University of Manitoba.

There was a recent article in Maclean’s on-campus blog that is very good. 

Getting it write from the start

The Winter 2009-2010 issue of the American Federation of Teachers has an excellent article on improving students’ writing (in both senses - penmanship and composition). Explaining how good early penmanship instruction leads to more and better compositions, the author (a professor of special education and literacy at Vanderbilt University) includes a quick and easy test which diagnoses students’ writing ability. The author also gives pointers on how to facilitate handwriting fluency, including a free online handwriting program. 

Changing the climate in classrooms

I’m going to get in trouble with my handlers for today’s posting, but I think this Frontier Centre article is very important, and I suggest you read every word. Whether or not you think that global warming is real and caused by human activity, you surely have to admit that it’s wrong for schools to present a one-sided view of a controversial issue like climate change. And the bigger issue, although only touched on in the article, is schools’ tendency to promote a left-of-centre perspective on everything from politics to the economy to social activism to anti-globalization to the environment. It is especially important that a balanced presentation of controversial issues like these be provided in schools. After all, we’re talking about a captive audience of impressionable youngsters made possible by compulsory school attendance.

Here we go again

For some reason, human beings seem strangely susceptible to the notion that the government can take care of all their woes - despite repeated demonstrations that governments are not all that great at running things. The latest manifestation of this is The Early Years Study 3 which is recommending that Ontario offer publicly-funded early childhood education to all children starting at age 2. 

My question is: why would we expect the same people who bring us Ontario's flawed JK-grade 12 public education to pull off toddler care that is superior to what is currently being offered by the patchwork arrangement. A supplementary question is: how would we expect the Ontario government, which has slipped into have-not province status and is wrestling with a $15 billion deficit, to pay for it.

It’s amazing what you can get free on the Net these days

Just a short posting today to draw your attention to a wonderful free website for teaching reading - Starfall. And, in addition to all kinds of reading stuff, there is some enrichment in areas like music, art, and poetry. 

Divide and Conquer

Well, I doubt I'll win any popularity contests today, but that's why they pay me the big bucks. I want to talk about whether the Muslims at Valley Park Middle School should be allowed to continue their three-year practice of praying in the cafeteria at lunch time.

Two different people (LDA and VH) have sent me a round-robin e-mail urging me to vote against this in a poll being conducted by CityNews Toronto (the poll box is located just under the video in the left-hand column). At press time, 65% of respondents thought that Muslim prayers should be allowed in school. According to the round robin, which has a very us-against-them feel, the poll is being swamped by Muslim voters.

Well, I just voted yes in the poll, and here's why. I think that people's anti-Muslim sentiments are hindering their ability to think clearly about this issue. I wonder what the same people's reaction would be if First Nations parents asked to have regular sing-songs or healing circles at their children's schools. Or if Christian parents wanted their kids to have religious instruction at their public school after hours (wait, this is already happening at Eden High School without any fuss). Or Catholic parents who want their kids to have religious instruction during school hours at their publicly-funded schools (wait....)

The point is - when schools come together as a community with shared values and goals, they just work better. This is one reason that Ontario's publicly-funded Catholic schools are so much better than the province's public schools. 

In my opinion, schools should be allowed to do anything lawful to build community and bring as many people as possible together as a team to work towards their mutual goals.