Society for Quality Education: Sharing Proven Effective Practices: Blog : Smorgasbord

Smorgasbord

September 07, 2013 by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) at 09:00 AM

So here's a link to the Ontario government testing body's press release on the latest provincial tests which found a significant and continuing decline in math achievement. This important information is not mentioned in the press release. Can anyone explain to me why this supposedly-independent testing body feels the need to accentuate the positive? H/T DW

Click here for an interesting discussion of seniority hiring in the Toronto Star of all places. So I looked up the Latin phrase at the end, just for fun, and found out that Aut disce aut discede means "Either learn or leave", but - even more interesting, the full Latin phrase is Aut disce, aut discede; manet sors tertia, cædi which means "Either learn or leave: a third course is open to you and that is to be flogged" - not perhaps all that applicable these days. H/T DW

Related to seniority hiring is this study from the National Bureau of Economic Research which looked at the effects of an early-retirement incentive in Illinois that saved a lot of money and resulted in an additional loss of 10% of the most experienced teachers over two years, and found that test scores improved. Click here for a Khan Academy clip on under-funded Illinois pension obligations (scary stuff). H/T TB

Comments

POSTED ON BEHALF OF DOUG

Who underfunded the pensions? Not the teachers, the government who had contractual obligations to fund the pensions they had agreed to. So if they are now in a tight spot and they don’t like to take money from other areas then I guess they have no choice but to raise taxes especially on the top 1% who have been making out like bandits for the last 30 years.

Buy pointing out pension shortfalls, people are yelling “raise the taxes” there is no alternative.

Teachers are doing exactly the same thing that they were doing before scores dropped ever so slightly so obviously it has nothing to do with what the teachers are doing. I assume that the recession caused increased poverty which in turn lowered scores duh.

Posted by Malkin Dare on 09/07 at 02:41 PM

In fairness to the EQAO, you are pointing to an a Ministry of Education press release. No one expects them to present a neutral position.

The EQAO press release is more straightforward. http://www.eqao.com/NR/ReleaseViewer.aspx?Lang=E&release=b13R007

Posted by Tom on 09/07 at 03:38 PM

As I’m helping my daughter prepare for a grade 9 math quiz tomorrow, I just can’t get out of my mind how her elementary school, her teachers who aren’t well versed in teaching math properly and the Ontario math curriculum have failed her. Not nearly enough time is spent on the basics (adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing) just aren’t drilled enough in the early grades and they’re teaching the kids 5 different ways to get the same answer instead of one way well. Too much emphasis on manipulatives, expanded form, base ten blocks…I could go on and on. As one teacher told me….“Today’s math curriculum is an absolute travesty”. I couldn’t agree more.

Posted by Janice on 09/08 at 08:03 AM

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