SCHOOL FOR THOUGHT

You can lead students to school, but you can’t make them stay

A few years ago, the Ontario government raised the compulsory school attendance age (CSA) to 18, thinking that this measure would lower the province’s high school drop-out rate. Did it? It’s true that Ontario’s drop-out rate has dropped, but how much of that is due to the incredible ease of graduating from high school?

Skepticism is justified, because a new study from the Brookings Institute finds that “states with higher CSA ages do not have higher high school graduation rates than states with lower CSA ages” (in fact, they are actually slightly lower, on average). Another key finding is that “the costs of raising the CSA age for additional teachers and classrooms are likely to be minimal because compliance with a higher CSA age will be low”. It would be very interesting to know how many Ontario 16- and 17-year-olds have dropped out of school despite the new law. 

Nothing is impossible - the word itself says “I’m possible” (Audrey Hepburn)

GUEST BLOG BY AN EXTREMELY LONG-TIME, AND OFTEN WEARY VETERAN OF THE EDUCATION FIGHT IN CANADA (AND STILL SWINGING) 

For parents who are at their wits’ end over what to do about children’s learning disabilities, or for parents who have children on the Autism Spectrum —do you know of the Lindamood-Bell (LMB) evidence-based programs? Look up their website. Read the relevant scientific articles. The Lindamood-Bell approach is akin to Canadian Dr. Allan Paivio’s Dual Coding Theory. It works well for reading difficulties - including both non-comprehension and dyslexia, for speech difficulties, and for trouble with basic math. It is also said to help smooth out some particular problems that Autistic children have.   

LMB usually offers the program out of specialized learning centres, but unfortunately, there are none in Canada (surprise!!). So, you might re-locate to a U.S. location for a few months, or you might find a Canadian school willing to integrate this program into their curriculum (hah!), or you might take the training and remediate your children yourself.  All are possibilities. The LMB  learning centre programs are not cheap, but then again, there will be a great financial loss to your adult child if he or she cannot overcome these learning problems. 

Sunday at the Movies (Algorithms)

It turns out math is important.

I’m afraid this post is a bit catty

Once, when my family was driving to the cottage, we stopped for dinner in Tottenham and our cat managed to get out of our car and ran away and hid somewhere. She would not answer our calls, and so we ended up staying at a motel in Beeton. The story has a happy ending - I went back to Tottenham in the middle of the night when all was quiet and Kitty allowed herself to be captured. But I was very struck by the experience - because I could see that our cat knew what she knew: she did not want to get back into that hated car. What she did not know, of course, was that she needed to get back into the car or she would be abandoned - with no one to feed her or shelter her or cuddle her - and so it was actually in her best interests to go in the car.

This vignette came to mind when I read Person for Education Annie Kidder's take on Ontario's teacher contract wars. Things like her airy dismissal of the government's "bookkeeping problem" and her reference to the "small" salary increases as teachers move up the grid (they will apparently cost the government some $250 million if no contract is signed by September 1) - remind me very much of Kitty's inability to see the big picture. 

Perhaps a trip to Greece would open Annie's eyes.

Moles Everywhere

Yesterday, the Ontario government announced its plan to introduce legislation to force contracts on the teachers’ unions whether they like it or not (hint: they don’t). Of course, being a minority government, the Liberals are taking quite a risk that the bill may not pass. There are two bye-elections going on as we speak, and their outcome could possibly give the Ontario Liberals a majority in the house. Needless to say, this fact has not escaped the notice of the teachers’ unions, who are pulling out all the stops in an attempt to prevent the Liberals from winning a majority. Here’s a recent broadcast e-mail from the Waterloo Region high school teachers’ union, one of the ridings where there is a bye-election.

As you have probably heard by now, Education Minister Laurel Broten announced yesterday (Thursday August 16) that the government is threatening to introduce legislation to force the terms of the OECTA deal on all of us. The proposed bill would force a 2 year pay freeze, and a grid freeze (or some grid movement for those still on the grid, paid for by 3 unpaid days off in the second year). It would end the retirement gratuity and the banking of sick leave, and reduce the annual number of sick days to 10. It includes a so-called ‘fair hiring practices’ section, which will in fact make it more difficult for OT’s to get LTO assignments and be eligible to get contract positions. Among the more insidious provisions of the proposal include clauses that would allow the government to extend the terms beyond two years without further legislative action, and a ‘no-strike/no-lockout’ provision, essentially stripping us of our collective bargaining rights. This attack on free collective bargaining must not be allowed to stand. We will not be intimidated by the desperate bully tactics of this government, as they try to manufacture a crisis where none exists. We will not succumb to the government’s ‘divide and conquer’ strategy; we will remain united. We continue to work in concert with our other education union partners who have not given in to threats. We will continue, as we have always done, to bargain within the provisions of the Ontario Labour Relations Act, and we will work to achieve the best possible collective agreements for our members, as we have always done.
We suspect that a large part of the reason for the current attempt to misrepresent us and appear ‘tough on the teacher unions’ is the government’s desire to win a majority on September 6th. In order to send the government a clear message that their tactics and their proposal are not acceptable, we urge all of our members in Kitchener-Waterloo Riding to get out and vote for NDP Candidate Catherine Fife, and deny the McGuinty government its coveted majority. And, for any of our members, we encourage you to give some of your time in the next 2 weeks to help the campaign. You can contact Catherine Fife’s campaign office directly, and volunteer. In the meantime, please be assured that OSSTF is working hard to protect your interests in this difficult time.

Keep Calm, and Carry On.
Rob Gascho
President, T/OT BU, OSSTF D24

If the teachers’ unions are successful in determining the outcome of the two Ontario bye-elections, they are effectively running the province.

Zero support for no-zero policies

GUEST POST BY MICHAEL ZWAAGSTRA

I have a new website at: michaelzwaagstra.com

On it, you can find links to my reports/articles, archives of media interviews, information about my book, and contact information. Feel free to let other people know about this website.

You may also be interested to know that on Monday, August 27, my report, “Zero support for no-zero policies” will be officially released by the Frontier Centre. I looked into the research evidence on the no-zero issue and found that the evidence for no-zero policies is incredibly weak. Because of the substantial amount of media interest in this topic, I think the report will get a lot of coverage when it comes out.

Keep up the great work at SQE!

Moles, moles and more moles

According to this news report, the Ontario Minister of Education is thrashing around wildly, her latest being a plan to add more layers of rules and regulations to the province's beleaguered education system. The latest scheme is to force school boards to hire younger teachers, involving a complicated formula based on applicants' "qualifications, safety and well-being of students, provision of the best possible program for students, and the experience of the candidate". I'm sure the school boards want this guidance like they want another hole in the head. As well, the Minister proposes tinkering with the supply teacher rules, limiting the number of days retired teachers can fill in.

It's always tempting to try to fix urgent and immediate problems by dealing directly with them in this way, but such a strategy is overwhelmingly likely to lead to a Whack-a-Mole scenario whereby every time you hammer one mole back into its hole - two more pop up somewhere else. 

The bottom line is the minister is almost certainly doomed to failure if she keeps on trying to micromanage the province's education system in this way. The minister would be much wiser to simply set up systems that incentivize the desired behaviour and then stand back.

Please check your prejudices at the door and actually listen

You can listen to a BBC interview here with Sir Michael Barber, former advisor to Tony Blair and current Chief Education Advisor to Pearson, the world's largest learning company. The topic is Pearson's support for the many small for-profit schools around the world that are currently serving very poor people. The interviewer is quite annoying, what with her refusal to listen to what Sir Michael is actually saying and her constant interruptions, but nevertheless the interview is quite enlightening in terms of the hard-wired suspicion people seem to have about for-profit schools. It's not exactly clear to me why no one is worried about, say, for-profit texbook companies or school bus services or school uniform companies. The point is - competition and the profit motive provide a strong incentive to offer an excellent service, one that will attract and keep a lot of customers. After all, a school owner would soon be out of business if he charged high prices and skimped on service in order to line his own pockets. H/T LJCD

You can lead the unions to the bargaining table (maybe), but you can’t make them sign

There's lots of sturm und drang in the upper reaches of the Ontario education system these days - here - here - here - here - as the government is pulling out all the stops in an effort to get the unions to sign contracts before September 1 and the unions are determined not to sign contracts before September 1. As Medhat pointed out, automatic pay hikes kick in September 1 if no contract has been signed, as every teacher not already at the top of the grid moves up one pay level. I estimate that this will cost the Ontario government well over $100,000,000 - explaining the escalating hysteria of the Ontario education minister. I also estimate that the minister's prospects of getting a signed deal before September 1 are virtually zero. This is so obvious it's kind of embarrassing.

Sunday at the Movies (Grin and Bear It)

Summertime and the livin' is easy............ YouTube link