RSS Feed
SCHOOL FOR THOUGHT
Teaching Kids To Be Smart
Dear Aunt Malkin,
I have two children, aged three and four. I am wondering what I can do to prepare them for success in school, but I am worried about jumping the gun.
Yours truly,
Conscientious in Cinncinati
Dear Conscientious,
If I were you, I would definitely start in on teaching your kids right now, as a solid foundation of basic skills makes it possible for kids to benefit from progressive teaching methods. Of course, you should not force your children to sit at desks and learn in a structured way, but rather you should teach them with a playful, fun type of approach in short sessions that leave them begging for more. The materials listed as being for preschoolers on our schoolproofing site are recommended. It is particularly important that you get things right from the beginning, for example making sure that your children hold their pencils and crayons using a tripod grip and form their letters correctly (top to bottom and left to right).
In addition to giving your children a good grounding in reading, writing, and math, you would be wise to take steps to enlarge their vocabularies and fund of general knowledge. You will find a number of useful ideas in our newsletter archives, especially under the headings "General Knowledge and Vocabulary" and "Preschoolers".
You may be interested to learn that the vast majority of the children in gifted programs arrived at school already able to read.
Yours truly,
Aunt Malkin
SCHOOL FOR THOUGHT
Whose Interests Do the Teachers’ Unions Truly Represent?
The teachers' unions often try to justify their actions by claiming that they are standing up for the students. But the teachers' unions' mission is to represent the interests of their members, and not those of the children. Of course, sometimes the interests of the children and the interests of the teachers do align, and in those cases the unions are being truthful. However, in many circumstances the interests of the children and the interests of the teachers diverge, and in those cases the unions are actually taking positions detrimental to student learning. This 13-minute video discusses some of these situations, for example the unions' protection of bad teachers; the poisoning of the relationship between teachers and administrators; and the unions' opposition to merit pay. The video also touches on some union policies that promote the interests of union officials - at the expense of the teachers they claim to represent.
SCHOOL FOR THOUGHT
Mathematically Incorrect
Here's a fascinating explanation of the reasons behind United States' and Canada's disappointing performances on the mathematics portion of the Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS). Written by Sandra Stotsky, who was a member of the National Mathematics Advisory Panel formed by the executive order of the president of the US, the article speaks to the intensity of the math wars raging in North America to this day. Although Professor Stotsky speaks in terms of only the United States, with special reference to the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM), her story applies equally to Canada - since our teaching methods and math textbooks follow the NCTM precepts closely.
Since Singapore students placed first on the 1995, 1999, 2003, and 2007 TIMSS, parents and teachers who seek a better way to teach math would do well to investigate the Singapore Math materials, inexpensive English-language workbooks and teachers' guides that deliver a rigorous sequential math curriculum, including lots of practice.
SCHOOL FOR THOUGHT
Too Much of a Good Thing?
A comment to "Collateral Damage" pointed us to some YouTube clips that deal with the New Jersey education system. The New Jersey situation is of particular interest because it is one of the biggest spenders on education, at approximately $15,000 per student. It seems that most of this largesse, far from benefiting students, is being squandered.
SCHOOL FOR THOUGHT
Better Private Schools
Private schools are more and more popular these days. In Ontario, for example, there are now fully 932 registered private schools. It is thus worth asking why so many parents are spurning the free and convenient public schools in favour of paying to send their kids to a private school instead.
Although public school defenders often claim that private school parents are motivated by élitism and snobbery, a glance at the province's list of private schools quickly dispels that notion. They are mostly small, inexpensive schools with a specialized mission.
Now, a new compilation of the research literature reveals that private schools are providing a superior service to public schools and that the parents who choose private schools for their children know what they're doing. This study compared public and private school outcomes in two key areas: success in equipping students with such things as civic engagement, tolerance of diversity, and democratic values; and success in providing a good education. Surprising perhaps to sum, the private schools showed an overwhelming superiority in both outcomes. The following excerpt from the report summarizes the findings.
- "To sum up, the conventional wisdom presumes that collectively run schools are essential to the survivial of democracy and civil society, and that education cannot benefit from consumer choice and market incentives. But sometimes the conventional wisdom is wrong. Just as science eventually showed us that the world is round and that the sun is at the center of our solar system, it now reveals that free and competitive education markets consistently outperform assigned public schools.
- "How should we react to this mountain of scientific evidence? We would do well to emulate the economist John Maynard Keynes. When criticized for changing his position on several important issues over the years, Keynes responded, 'When the facts change, I change my mind. What do you do?'
- "The facts in education policy have changed - or rather, it has become clear that our key assumptions about the facts have been completely backward. The rational thing to do would be to change public policy to reflect reality - that is, to bring minimally regulated education markets within the reach of all families through a financial assistance mechanism that allows the incentives of the free enterprise system to flourish."
SCHOOL FOR THOUGHT
Collateral Damage
So far, there have been 18 comments to Doretta's posting "Impediments to Reform" a few days ago. On one side of the debate is a former teacher and union official who contends that Ontario has the best or second-best education system in the world - although the system could use more money... On the other side are several parents who contend that the Ontario education system is delivering a second-rate service at best, and is unlikely to improve unless structural changes, such as tuition tax credits for private schools or charter schools, are introduced. The discussion turns, really, on how satisfied Ontario parents are with their children's education. The former teacher/union official claims that polling shows the vast majority of parents to be overwhelmingly satisfied with the service delivered by their children's schools.
We don't pretend to know how accurate this assessment is, as polling is tricky and very dependent on the wording of the poll questions. But even if we accept as true that most parents are happy, we are still not convinced that their majority opinion makes it okay to just ignore the minority opinion. Let's say, for the sake of argument, that 80 per cent of parents say they're happy and 20 per cent of parents say they're unhappy. Should we then just ignore that 20 per cent (roughly, 400,000 Ontario children)? Do we tell their parents to pipe down because there aren't enough of them? The former teacher/union official seems to suggest that we should pay them no heed, writing "We have a marvelous medicare system thanks to Tommy Douglas but some patients still die".
In contrast, School for Thought doesn't agree with writing off struggling students as collateral damage. At present, well-educated and affluent parents are either working the system to get good service for their children (perhaps by asking for a particular teacher or by moving into the catchment area of an excellent school) or else enrolling their children in private schools or home-schooling. But parents without these kinds of resources are forced to settle for whatever comes their way. We believe that better alternatives should be easily available to every dissatisfied parent.
SCHOOL FOR THOUGHT
Christmas Vacation
Dear Aunt Malkin,
All year I have been using your wonderful free remedial programs Stairway to Reading and Stairway to Math to teach Santa's elves the skills they need at the North Pole (we have to continually upgrade because of the ever-increasing sophistication of the presents we manufacture). I am pleased to report that most of the elves are making excellent progress. Because you recommend daily sessions, we have been plugging away every day and I have scheduled a session tomorrow as usual, even though it is Christmas Day. The elves, however, are protesting that they deserve a holiday too, just like everybody else. What do you think?
Yours truly,
Mrs. Claus
Dear Mrs. Claus,
I am delighted to learn that our programs are helping the elves improve their skills, and I commend you for following the instructions so conscientiously. This article from our archives explains that short frequent sessions lead to better learning than massed sessions separated in time. So in general you are on the right track in insisting on daily sessions. However, there is no reason not to take a day off now and then, as a reward for hard work, and it sounds as if both you and the elves deserve to take a break on Christmas Day. That is what we at School for Thought plan to do, and so Merry Christmas to you, Santa, the elves, and the reindeer, and we'll plan to resume on Boxing Day!
Best regards,
Aunt Malkin
SCHOOL FOR THOUGHT
More Justification for Eliminating the Fall Report Card
Ontario Fall Informal Progress Report - A. Student
December 8, 2010
This student seems to be doing fine in grade 4 this year. It's been a busy three months! Although I still haven't had a chance to listen to this student read, I'm pretty sure I've noticed him or her looking at a book from time to time. With regard to the student's writing ability, I will be in a better position to evaluate this once I have had time to assign written work to the class. As far as mathematics goes, the class has spent the fall doing group projects and consequently I have not yet had an opportunity to assess the student's progress in this area. The student seems to get along with the other students reasonably well and progress in other areas appears to be satisfactory as well.
PS This is the kid with the red hair, right?
SCHOOL FOR THOUGHT
Impediments to Reform
The current issue of Fraser Forum is devoted to education policy. Among the excellent articles is one by Peter Cowley that discusses the Impediments to Reform in the Public System. The elephant in the room is finally exposed.
Those of us who have been slogging away in the trenches for years know all too well what those are, but it is refreshing to read the straight goods. Here is his list of why well-intentioned public education reforms are doomed to fail:
- 1. There is a general distaste for competition among major education stakeholder groups.
- 2. Teachers' collective agreements restrict innovation and leave little room for efficient and effective management of schools.
- 3. There is no cost to educators when poor performing schools fail to improve.
- 4. There is little in the way of rewards for results.
- 5. Professional autonomy in the classroom inhibits broad-based innovation.
- 6. There is no provision for the routine expansion of successful operations.
- 7. Some teachers are not adequately prepared for teaching.
Cowley concludes with his solution--only more competitive influences would be strong enough to provide the incentives needed to overcome these formidable obstacles.
SCHOOL FOR THOUGHT
Sunshine on Schools Makes the Grade
SQE's Sunshine on Schools Ontario website made #7 on the list of Education Reporter's top posts for 2009!
The EQAO 2009 results have been posted. Stay tuned as we will continue to update the site as new information becomes available.