SQE - Why We Do What We Do

I guess we should take it as a compliment that SQE has been called "the most influential of the Canadian conservative-far right blogs" by our most prolific commenter, but  I really have to thank Sandy Crux over at The Retired Educator for setting the record straight.

The Society for Quality Education is a non-partisan education policy advocacy organization.  Our goal to to help families of struggling students.  SQE has no political affiliation nor does it endorse any political party or politician.  We accept no government funding of any kind and never will.  We are not "backed" by any other organization, although we have partnered with other think tanks to hold events and sponsor speakers.

Our website says:

"The Society for Quality Education works hard to provide individual parents and teachers with helpful information and tools. But at the same time, we are painfully aware that we can reach out to only a tiny fraction of the children who are struggling in school. There is an urgent need to modify the system to ensure that every child can succeed in school."

We believe in researched-based, proven-effective teaching methods. If we are zealots about anything, it is promotion of effective teaching practice. So yes, we promote direct instruction of systematic phonics and sequential math.   Stairway to Reading and Stairway to Math have been developed from those principles, as is JUMP Math which I posted on previously.  We make our materials available free to anyone who comes to our website.  On occasion, if you like what you see, we may ask you to consider a small donation.  

Decades of ineffective progressive education practices, such as whole-language, have led to a generation of kids who, despite boosted graduation rates from high schools, still have poor fundamental skills. The dramatic increase in post-secondary remediation for basic skills is ample proof of that.

We are not trying to "privatize" education; on the contrary, we have worked hard to encourage effective instructional practices in our public schools.  Although many individual educators have never abandoned effective methods, the established public education system does not encourage these practices.  Billions of additional education dollars have gone into the publicly-funded school system only to maintain the status quo and achieve essentially the same results.  To date, the list of approved materials for Ontario public schools still does not include one systematic phonics program.

As a result, we believe that parents should be able to choose their schools, any school, to get the kind of education that will allow their children to learn best.  Further, we believe that there should be financial mechanisms that would allow families to do this, especially low-income families.  If wanting to improve the education outcomes of poorer and middle-income families makes us rabid right-wing zealots, so be it.  At the same time, we believe that teachers should have the freedom to use effective methods and be accountable for their results.

The competition that results from parental school choice is an incentive that helps the whole system improve. Low-income families desire school choice as a way to get their kids out of underperforming and, in many cases, unsafe schools.

Finally, we believe that there should be transparent mechanisms that measure both effectiveness of instruction and financial accountability.  That's why we maintain the Sunshine on Schools website.

Our critics revert to fear-mongering and name calling.  They continue to spread many myths about school choice, but we know that parents demand satisfaction. 

In the words of Dr. Howard Fuller, who during his SQE-sponsored visit to Toronto said:

"Consider the impact of putting the right kind of parental choice in the hands of families who have little or no power because they control no resources, no levers of influence over the decisions and decision-making process that impacts their children's education. Consider how this power may change the shape of the future for their children. And consider how the absence of this power may mean their children will be trapped in schools that more affluent parents who oppose choice would never tolerate for their own children."

"...Those of us with money have the capacity to choose and the great hypocrisy that operates are those individuals who would never put their own children in certain schools denying poor parents the capacity to do it. We have teachers who teach in schools they would never put their own children in, demanding that other peoples' children stay there. I find that to be hypocritical. We've got politicians running around talking about how important the public school structure is and then you ask them, ‘Well, where do your children go to school?'"

"I actually happen to be a strong supporter of public schools, but I'm also a strong supporter of giving people a choice so that they can determine whether a public school or private school will be best for their children."

Amen!

For more of what SQE is all about, I invite readers to check out Information for Parents, for Teachers, and for the General Public.

SCHOOL FOR THOUGHT