Dr. Hattie was just in Edmonton making the rounds
http://www.edmontonjournal.com/news/edmonton/Staples+better+education+more+expert+teachers/10138409/story.html?__federated=1

Who do I have to call to get him to come here to BC?  It’s hard to refute Dr. Hattie’s work because it’s based on cognitive, empirical evidence.  However many still try, as the calling card of class size and composition in our latest job action is preventing our schools from opening on time here in BC.

You want better teachers you will have to pay more to make the job more attractive with smaller classes etc.

CD Howe, you heard me right, just concluded that where teachers are paid more, results are better.

better teacher training, not more money to the teacher unions, is what makes teaching more effective in the classroom.  Canadian teachers are paid fairly for the work that they do.  Considering that Ontario teachers make the 2nd highest salary IN THE WORLD (second only to Germany), there should be no excuse, following your argument Doug, that Ontario students are still receiving poor instruction in the classroom.

Don’t tell me tell CD Howe. Many American cities pay more than Ontario.

There is an element clearly missing in the Hattie article.  Final paragraph states:  “With that in mind, the first homework assignment of new school year shouldn’t be for students, it should be for every teacher, principal, education prof, Alberta Ed bureaucrat and potential education minister or premier: read Hattie’s new book.”

This naming of the’ important contributors’ to a child’s education does not include the most important sector at the table - namely the parents, who are truly responsible for the children’s education.  This is the problem many of us have with the education system today.

Choosing to manipulate K-12 education without including the parents in the discussion is akin to operating without telling the patient of the potential side effects of the surgery - it is malpractice, in my opinion.

PARENTS CAN’T WAIT FOR A SLUGGISH, SULKY SYSTEM

John Hattie should be asked right now to boycott educator meetings and conferences.  At the usual pace of responsiveness by the education institution we won’t see anything promising for a L-O-N-G time. Please revisit my essay “Parent Role In Education URGENT — In Child’s Lifetime ! “

http://www.parentsteachingparents.net/2014/08/parent-role-in-education-urgent/

We can’t wait for generations, while “children and grandchildren might get mediocre educations in the meantime” as Utopian writers are accustomed to saying.

Below is what I just had published in the Edmonton Journal along the lines of Bobbi Fox’s comment.  YES, Bobbi, it is MALPRACTICE !

WITHOUT PARENTS EDUCATORS WILL JUST KEEP ON TREADING WATER

John Hattie’s proposals are old — at least 6 years old. Any medical breakthrough would get immediate attention and application.  Why does he now have to be a travelling missionary for the cause of expert teachers?

Is that going to make a difference? NO !

As long as there is not a stronger demand from the consumer, the system will keep on treading water and provide bare minimums only.

As long as politicians simply want stability and labor peace in the public education domain the system will continue to just paddle along. 

And principals, bureaucrats, teachers and professors are all on the command side — the producer side of the education equation.  And as long as a steady flow of consumer parents and students (demand side) are assured via a relative monopoly changes in practice are not likely to happen.

NO, the command side will just keep building their empires and keep seeking more funds and more personnel.

What is missing from the last paragraph of this otherwise excellent article by David Staples is the critical ingredient that WOULD indubitably bring about a demand for application of the compelling Hattie research findings.

The parents are missing in this long list of people who should read the book.  Dave, you forgot the parents!  PARENTS should be reading this book so as not to be snowed yet again and again!

Without parental push, assertiveness, and demand, the system will continue to coast along in its self-serving ways.

AND, if Dr. Hattie is to travel at all, he should be SPEAKING TO PARENTS AND PARENT GROUPS, not to system apologists and defenders of an unmotivated sluggish system !

Look it up Doug. 

http://www.macleans.ca/economy/business/the-new-upper-class/

John Hattie’s recommendations are falling on deaf ears within the K to 12 for a number of reasons. However, the main reason why Hattie’s commonsense recommendations have not taken hold in the K to 12, is because education knowledge and the types of education knowledge are tightly scripted according to the agendas of the upper crust educationalists and the BLOB.

Hattie stated - “We have to stop seeing labels as stopping points and start seeing them as starting points, and seeing the fact that we can make a difference. The medicalization of teaching bothers the heck out of me.” In the current setup of the K to12 classroom, instead of teaching the LD student to read and write well, the LD students are now given accommodations. In the inclusive classroom, the LD students lose their right to be able to read and write well.

If teachers were to explore on their own time, they soon find out why Hattie is so against labelling of students. Labels are useful, but it cannot be the end-all and be-all for education decisions made by teachers. However, to fully understand where Hattie is coming from, educators must acquire the deep knowledge in the various components in the science of learning. Where one will find out, that low self-esteem is a symptom of reading deficits, and yet the 21st century school is intent on treating the low self-esteem without ever fixing the reading deficits of students.

One website that came online in 2003, was the world’s reading researchers opening up the access doors to the vaults of reading and learning research. The target audience was the teachers, parents and the general public who have been kept in the dark by the K to 12 upper crust. http://www.childrenofthecode.org/

It is the knowledge resources that are limited in the K to 12. However, the locks are on the access doors to limited students and classroom teachers access to education services and opportunities.