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SCHOOL FOR THOUGHT
Missing Millions?
If you thought $125 pencil sharpeners at the Tedious Board was bad enough, here's more financial mismanagement at work at the TDSB. Seems that funding meant for underprivileged students is not being spent on programs specifically targeted to level the playing field with their more affluent school peers. This Toronto Star article reports on a study indicating that over several years nearly $1billion ($100 million annually) has been diverted away from these programs.
SQE knows the best way to ensure that "underprivileged" students have access to better education opportunities is to give their parents school choice. It would be far less expensive and entirely more accountable.
P.S. Readers who would like to order JUMP Math materials, they are holding a sale to June 28th. To order, visit http://www.jumpmath.org/cms/order_publications or call the University of Toronto Press at 1-800-565-9523 toll-free.
P.P.S. SQE is quoted in this Toronto Sun article today. (warning: there's some explicit language, but not in our quote!) For more SQE media citations visit our Media Mentions page!
SCHOOL FOR THOUGHT
A spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down
Click here for some fun ideas on how to help young children with spelling homework. There are links to lots of other pages with additional articles on how to help students at home.
SCHOOL FOR THOUGHT
Sunday at the Movies (What Voters Want)
Here's the governor of Wisconsin talking about what he wants to do on the education file. Governor Walker was elected and re-elected on this platform and he currently enjoys approval ratings above 50%. Ontario politicians, take note.
SCHOOL FOR THOUGHT
Go ahead and try homeschooling - it doesn’t hurt a bit!
As we enter the dog days of school (the time when all pretence of devotion to academics starts to be dropped and field trips and track and field days and parties take over), disenchanted parents have an excellent opportunity to experiment with homeschooling. This is a great time for parents to keep their kids home one or two days a week, citing illness or family issues. It's not like the kids will miss anything important at school, and it's a way to see if homeschooling would work for your family - without burning any bridges.
When I did this, I decided that I wouldn't try to implement an organized curriculum but rather just focus on the academic areas of my daughter's greatest weakness - spelling, composition, French, and math. I was blown away by how much she learned in approximately four hours a day.
There is lots of support out there for parents who would like to try out homeschooling. Here's one such Ontario organization.
SCHOOL FOR THOUGHT
Mental Health Day
Today's my day off.
SCHOOL FOR THOUGHT
Interesting Times (get it?)
There are lots of outside-the-box initiatives going on in education south of the border. One category is, of course, all the new charter schools and school voucher/tax credit programs, and the Canada/US border may be somewhat non-permeable to them - although it's just a matter of time before Canada is influenced by such powerful trends.
Another category of outside-the-box initiatives is the development of education technology, and for these things the Canada/US border is virtually (get it?) non-existant. To get a handle on the magnitude of this movement, read this New York Times article. Rethink Education Fund has just agreed to donate money to NewSchools, which already receives funding from foundations with very deep pockets - like the Broad Foundation, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and the Walton Foundation. You'd have to read the article to believe how solid NewSchools is. They are definitely a force to be reckoned with, and they are directing all of their funding to initiatives like charter schools and the Khan Academy which are doing an end run around status quo educators.
And here's just one more example of developments going on below the surface - Zynga, a huge gaming company, is going to be developing a new learning games accelerator.
SCHOOL FOR THOUGHT
Indian Summer
Anyone who thinks educators' hands are tied by their students' demographics ought to watch this video about a remote Navajo school in Arizona that is changing its students' lives. more