Archive

• Cdn EdWire – A New Year’s Hodge-Podge of Contentious Education Issues Fill the Dailies

  January 19, 2012 11:50 PM Comments Off on Cdn EdWire – A New Year’s Hodge-Podge of Contentious Education Issues Fill the Dailies

  Minister launches school reforms – Edmonton Journal
  Shorter bus rides, community facilities, college credits in high school included in Lukaszuk’s 10-point program
  
  Opening of specialized schools reignites fairness debate – Globe and Mail

  Jody Carr cuts school districts to 7 – CBC NB
  Education reform will save $5 million annually
  
  Official bilingualism costs $2.4B a year: study – National Post

  OTHER NEWS

  Apple pushes education content to boost iPad use in schools – Vancouver Sun

  Education minister plans Twitter chat Thursday to get education reform feedback – Vancouver Sun

  Public schools expel junk food – Calgary Herald
  Cafeterias go chip-free

  No more ‘A for effort’: New wave of educators drop empty praise – Globe and Mail

  Teachers seek hefty salary hike – Vancouver Sun
  Minister says 15-per-cent increase a non-starter – Vancouver Sun

  Parents don’t have time to help kids learn, poll finds – CTV

  Sell value of good education to your children – Globe and Mail

  Kindergarten in a retirement home proves a hit with young and old – Globe and Mail

  EDUBLOG HIGHLIGHTS

  Education and Social Media in British Columbia – Culture of Yes
  In the past year we have moved from several dozen blogs around K-12 education, to numbers in the hundreds, with representation in every area of the education system.  The #bced tag on Twitter is one of the most engaged with conversations about the ever-changing education profession, and there are many other social sites having these conversations as well.

  The conversations around the profession itself are very interesting.  In social media, ‘role’ becomes less important; there is a flattening of society and it is ‘ideas’ that have increased value. There are also incredible opportunities  to reflect, share, and learn without the limitations of geography. I could go on, and there have been many others who have covered the ground about the value of social media for educators, and how Twitter and blogging can be extremely powerful in professional development…(Read more)
  
  Relationships are Priceless – 4 moms 1 dream
  It is easy to build working relationships between principals, educators and support staff because they work day in and day out together. But where do parents fit into the relationship equation? We know from experience that it is often very hard for parents to make the first steps to build the type of relationship we are talking about so we would ask you, as the educators, to take that first step. Start by greeting parents at the door as they come into the school.  Say hello, introduce yourself, ask how their children are doing that day and build from there. Don’t wait until there is a problem before reaching out to the parents. Relationships take time and they are easier to make when there is not an issue/problem to address. If you can build those relationships when times are good, the problems that might arise when times are not so good are much easier to handle. As well, when you have a good relationship with everyone who has a vested interest in ensuring success for each child, you become part of the solution…(Read more)

   

  
  

• Shift This

  January 17, 2012 3:34 AM Comments Off on Shift This

  Brad Ovenell-Carter opened the first session I attended at EdCamp Delta on the weekend by explaining how he’s working in his school to shift the control of technology from the top-down to the bottom-up. I’ll deal with the idea first and the way we often frame the idea (and the way Brad did here) second.

  (more…)

• Can we put new wine into old skins?

  January 13, 2012 6:52 PM Comments Off on Can we put new wine into old skins?

  Well, if the level of response to my last entry is any indication, there is a significant level of passion, knowledge and commitment surrounding the current conversation about assessment and its role in the modern school. And it’s not that talking about assessment for learning, of learning and even assessment as learning is bad or even misguided. In fact, these are practices that could allow us to view and respond to students and the work that they do in enriched and more informed ways. They have the potential of focusing our vision on individual students, their needs across a variety of dimensions, and how the programs that we offer can better meet those needs.

  A more robust appreciation of and dedication to authentic assessment practices may lead to educational transformation. But, I would argue that this will not happen until we address the conditions that are necessary to allow the ideas and ideals of 21st century approaches to assessment and evaluation to take root and flourish. And this is where our discussion needs to move.

  Ancient wisdom warns that you can’t put new wine into old wineskins. If you try, chances are the skins are going to burst, and you’re going to lose both skin and wine. The most reasonable explanation is that old wine skins are dry and liable to crack, especially as the new wine continues to ferment.

  I think that we’re seeing evidence of this as we attempt to move our teachers, parents and administrators closer to implementing some beautifully crafted policy statements on assessment and evaluation. While the policy presents a rich new vision of the work of both students and educators, my fear is that our current school infrastructure is beginning to crack under the pressure; we stand to lose both the new vision and the integrity of our schools!

  So, practically speaking, what is holding educators back from fully embracing new approaches to assessment. What is holding us back from taking the time and space we need to make ongoing formative assessment part of our daily practice? What is holding us back from effectively separating the notions of assessment (gathering information about student learning) and evaluation (placing a reported value on the work that students do)?

  Ancient wisdom warns that you can’t put new wine into old wineskins. If you try, chances are the skins are going to burst, and you’re going to lose both skin and wine.

  I’m currently thinking of three aspects about the way we continue to “do school”. I passionately believe that if we were to re-examine our approach to these three things, we would create places and spaces that would allow us to more effectively integrate new approaches to our work.

  First, authentic assessment encourages to take a “longer” view of student progress. The current practice of moving students along a continuum based on a multitude of age-defined expectations calls into question our real commitment to the idea that student learning is a diverse and complex process. In order to make room for our new assessment policies, we need to challenge the assumption that if I am 10 years old, this is what I should know and be able to do…in March!

  A second aspect of school that needs to be seriously challenged–and this relates to the first–has to do with the way that we report student progress to parents and the rest of the system. The requirement to produce two or three time-bound reports has tradition on its side, but when that requirement also comes with the demand that a teacher will have covered a given percentage of the prescribed curriculum in time for each reporting period, the opportunity to “rest” with certain concepts and skills is removed. Both assessment and teaching practice lose their ability to respond if the “when” and “what” becoming defining principles.

  Finally, (!)  in order for us to truly embrace the vision of assessment “for” and “as” learning, we need to open up the learning spaces in our schools. Students and teachers need to have the elbow room to develop skills and explore content in many ways. The practice of dividing curriculum into compartments, especially at very young ages, fights against the integrative underpinnings of our new assessment approaches. The more we can create learning environments that enable conceptual connection and imaginative approaches to making those connections, the easier it will be to bring our desired assessment vision to life!

  We’re at an important point in terms of both policy and practice in public schooling. It’s fine to demand that educators begin to explore and integrate new ways of looking at how student work can allow us to do so much more than just assigning a mark. Unless we’re willing to take a look at the structures that enable these these ideas to ferment and mature, then there is a huge chance that we might lose the vision and the energy that has gone into this new way of thinking. Let’s make sure that our new wine is going into new, stronger wineskins. The future of the vintage AND the vessel are at stake!

• Engagement, Learning, Achievement – That’s the Necessary Order of Things

  January 4, 2012 9:07 PM Comments Off on Engagement, Learning, Achievement – That’s the Necessary Order of Things

  I believe it is commonly understood that companies that focus on immediate profitability usually fade in the long term while those that focus on quality products and services generally flourish. Is it so hard, then, to understand that schools that focus on test scores are missing the boat? (And, of course, there is the matter of customer service – but that’s another blog.)

  Academic outcomes are only surrogate indicators for the ability to learn, which is the primary goal. They have some value in and of themselves, of course, but in a dynamic world where one can never know everything and knowledge is constantly evolving, it is the ability learn that really counts. I can’t remember who it was that said being educated in not a matter of arriving at a destination but of travelling with different eyes, but s/he was right.

  Therefore, we should focus our attention on student learning and let the achievement take care of itself. I suppose that’s just another way of saying, “don’t teach to the test,” which means we need to go further upstream in the educational enterprise in order to achieve success – and that brings us to engagement, the actual headwaters that should concern us. Without engagement, learning suffers and achievement drops.

  Does that mean that once engagement is achieved, learning follows naturally and achievement is assured? To a significant degree I think it does, and thus it is achieving engagement that should be our primary concern when thinking about everything from a lesson plan to the structure of a school system. (I’m talking about student engagement here but, of course, that is unlikely without teacher engagement so that’s yet another blog for another day.)

  However, this Little Bo Peep approach  (leave them alone and they will come home wagging achievement behind them) has its limitations. Passionately engaged students won’t necessarily become competent lifelong learners with a strong foundation of background knowledge and a broad repertoire of skills. Some scaffolding is required to ensure the foundations that will enable them to become independently capable. Students also need some direct instruction so that they master a necessary core of understandings and skills – the Protective Shepherd element, if you like – before they are given increased choice and responsibility.

  Notwithstanding this important caveat, a great deal of good could be done by shifting a significant part of our energy and attention from measuring achievement to stimulating engagement. At the very least it opens up a field of important generative questions that could help to reconsider the yin and yang of teacher-led and student-led action in schools.

  Next Post in This Series: Teacher Engagement is the Key to Student Engagement

  Afterthought – I’m sorry if the suggestion that students are like sheep put you off. Pigs are more intelligent but that get’s dicey too, doesn’t it. Metaphors have so much baggage!

• TedXWilfrid-Bastien

  January 3, 2012 5:07 PM Comments Off on TedXWilfrid-Bastien

  Better than a cup of coffee in the morning is listening to a good TEDx talk. Most people know about TED (www.ted.com), which stands for “Technology, Entertainment and Design”. Founded in 1984, it provides a platform through which ideas can be shared between communities and inventors, thinkers, scientists, educators and the like. TEDx has since become a huge influence in creating important dialog, inspiring minds, sparking innovation and beyond-the-box thinking everywhere it goes.

  TEDxWilfrid-Bastien, is an independently organized TEDx event – by the people, for the people – to discuss, reflect on and celebrate education. Exclusively dedicated to today’s education, this conference will feature a number of important speakers who will share their innovative ideas in addressing the important question of the transition to a 21^st century pedagogy.

  This rare event is a great honour and as well as a first for the small elementary school Wilfrid-Bastien. It is furthermore the first ever independently organized TEDx event to be held exclusively about canadian education in French!

  TEDxWilfrid-Bastien, will be held on February 29^th, 2012, between 7-10pm at 8420 Boulevard Lacordaire in 
Saint-Léonard, Quebec, Canada. There are only a very limited amount of tickets available, so please hurry and visit http://tedxwilfridbastien.eventbrite.com to buy your ticket(s) today!

  Co-written by Amber Judge

  Note: The video footage of each talk will only be released for viewing on the web when they are translated with subtitles in English.

• Digital Literacy is not a tool or a series of checklists

  1:58 PM Comments Off on Digital Literacy is not a tool or a series of checklists

  Today I will return from maternity leave to a slightly reconfigured position which includes two new blocks of digital literacy coordination/leadership/support (I’m not totally clear on the name yet).

  Digital literacy is one of those phrases that starts out meaning one thing and ends up meaning nothing. It gets politicized, jargonized, and sometimes tossed out.

  So, as I move into this new role, I want to be clear about this hot potato term:

  • Digital literacy as a tool. The tool metaphor worked for a long time, basically characterizing the idea that technology can help us deliver our lessons in more flashy and engaging ways.
  • Digital literacy as a field of study. Here digital refers to anything technological and literacy as the skills necessary to make meaning. Marry the two and we have the idea that “reading” technology as a text requires a different skill set than more traditional texts like books, paintings and advertisements.
  • Digital literacy as something we teachers must add to our list of things to get through. Looking at the curriculum and considering the idea that we need to add more to what we already do is enough to make any teacher sigh and contemplate a simpler job with fewer pressures (like say, for example, almost anything else this side of molecular neuro-surgery – if that is in fact a thing).
  • Digital literacy as something that distracts us from the core subjects. This framework requires a belief that technology is a fad. As long as we keep our heads in our books, this whole computer thing with laptops, blogs, twittering, Prezi and other made-up words will blow over.

  None of these definitions work for me.

  Recently Gary Kern our Director of Instruction for Technology & Innovation referred to technology as a space for learning to occur. This metaphor puts me closer to a helpful understanding because it connects technology to learning more immediately than any of the others.

  Our goal is not to entertain students. It is not to pacify learners or distract them or discipline them or satisfy them. Our goal is to disrupt them just enough that they move into learning constantly and with a degree of independence.

  If we look at digital literacy as a series of checklists like

  • 12 great ways to use Twitter in the classroom
  • The top 5 reasons for student blogging
  • The best 30 apps for science students

  we can too easily skip over these deeper understandings around our current context:

  • that technology is a significant and often embedded part of how we  communicate
  • that as the rate of change increases we need to rely on sharp, ready critical thinking to navigate our world successfully and independently, and
  • that content is important too.

  I intend to use my role to support teachers in their teaching. Technology will enter the conversation not as a way to jazz things up but as a way to deepen the relevance, application and communication of the stuff of learning.

  Over the next few blog posts I will write to sharpen these ideas. Please feel free to challenge me with questions and comments; I welcome the discussion.

• Is our focus on assessment taking away from our children’s education?

  January 2, 2012 5:43 PM Comments Off on Is our focus on assessment taking away from our children’s education?

  It has become clear to me that we’re spending way too much time focusing on assessment and evaluation. In fact, conversations about data driven decision-making, authentic assessment practices, design-down planning and testing protocols have now worked their way into the everyday vernacular of teachers and students, and have become such a strong plot line in the narrative of modern-day schooling, to the point where I fear that the very ideas and practices that are supposed to make our children’s education richer and more meaningful are actually having the opposite effect.
  (more…)

• In Praise of New Year’s Resolutions

  December 31, 2011 3:55 PM Comments Off on In Praise of New Year’s Resolutions

  Act only according to that maxim whereby you can, at the same time, will that it should become a universal law. – Immanuel Kant

   As we turn the calendar it is natural to wonder what this year will bring. Of course we cannot know what the future holds – who could have predicted the stories that dominate retrospective news reports on the top stories of 2010 – but we do know things will change. Life is dynamic. There will be progress and regression, disaster and triumph, sadness and delight. Surprise dominates, but the agony, for the most part, will find you of its own accord while the ecstasy has to be initiated.  So that’s a good reason for some annual introspection and perhaps a well-crafted resolution or two.

   But looking beyond our own immediate personal interests, it’s also a good time to think about the world around us.  What is it becoming and what would we like it to become? It’s easy to feel that we cannot influence the grand course of events, but someone will, and if it’s not us then the future that is forged by those who do take action may very well not be to our liking. You can be sure that somewhere others are hard at work trying to change some of the things you hold most dear. If, as Yeats observed in the aftermath of the First World War, “the best lack all conviction, while the worst
 are full of passionate intensity,” then we should indeed worry about “what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
 slouches towards Bethlehem to be born.”

   That is not to say that we should all immediately start forming Facebook action groups and joining political parties – although, hopefully, some of us will – but it does mean that we should all be overt and intentional about our values and take action within our sphere of influence to actively promote and enact those values. In the end, it’s neither the Nelson Mandela’s nor the Osama bin Laden’s who change the world, it’s the people whom they inspire to do things differently within their own lives.

   And this is true not just of changing things but also of preserving things. Like our relationships, the good things about our schools and our communities do not just sustain themselves. It takes constant attention to preserve what we value. It may be true of carburetors or plumbing that if it ain’t broke you shouldn’t fix it, but laissez-faire is the death knell for human endeavours. That which is neglected, decays.

   So what are you grateful for and what would you prefer? There is no better time than now to give that some careful thought – and then to do something to reinforce what you value or influence what you regret. It can be small but it must be specific, and it’s even better if you recruit a couple of friends. Then, if they tell two friends, and they tell two friends and … well, you never know what might happen.

• Come and sit beside me and I’ll tell you what I think!

  December 22, 2011 10:24 AM Comments Off on Come and sit beside me and I’ll tell you what I think!

  My two year and half year old son seems to be innately attuned to the degree to which I am fully present to him. Whether it is early in the morning while I’m making breakfast for the family, or later in the day when dinner prep is in full swing, if Liam senses that I’m too wrapped up in what I’m doing, he will invite me to come and sit beside him. “Come and see what I’m doing, Daddy” is a favourite line, emphasized by his little hand pointing to an empty chair next to him. When I insist that I can see what he’s doing from where I am working, he will press the point further, “No Daddy, sit here.”

  When I first heard Liam invite me to sit beside him, I thought it was rather cute. When it became clear, however, that this was not a random suggestion, but a well-expressed desire, I started to think about it a little more deeply. In particular, I thought of what is entailed in the act of sitting beside someone. The relationship established by having someone next to you is one of interest and intimacy. (Think of your own growing up and your desire to sit next to a dinner guest instead of across the table from them.) Having someone sit right next to you ensures a type of shared perspective; they are able to look at the same object, for example, and see things in pretty much the same way as you see them.

  The word assessment is derived from the Latin verb, assidere, which means, quite literally, to sit beside. In Roman times, the assessor was connected with the taxation process and always sat beside the judge. Despite its ancient origins, it is a term that has taken over a good deal of our thinking about modern schooling. It is difficult to imagine opening up any classroom resource, attend any professional learning conference, or attend any faculty meeting without there being some mention of either assessment practice or policy.

  There has been a great deal written on the topic of assessment. There are books and articles on how to make it authentic, balanced and meaningful. There are workshops offered about the difference between assessment and evaluation. Software products have even been developed to make our job of assessing students more efficient. There are entire conferences devoted to assessment of and for learning. There are gurus!

  Over the next couple of weeks, I would like to dig into the assessment movement a little more and pose some questions that might allow us to explore it from some different angles. But, perhaps the best place to begin is with the original meaning of the word assessment and the idea of sitting beside our students. And this brings me back to my original story.

  If the purpose of assessment is to gather information about student understanding and proficiency, then it stands to reason that the closer we can get to the student in terms of their real understanding of an idea or concept, the better. My sense is, however, that many of our current approaches to assessment actually put a greater distance between student and teacher. In fact, it would seem that the higher the stakes on an assessment, the further we get from that idea of “sitting beside”.

  It is certainly impractical to sit down and chat with students every time we need to assess understanding, but I think that, as educators, we have to admit that a gap exists between what our students actually understand and are able to do, and what we actually end up reporting. This is not a new phenomenon, is it? In fact, it is likely as old as schools, themselves. Ironically, it is a phenomenon that has really only come to light as we have tried to develop more accurate, more equitable and more responsive methods of assessment and evaluation.

  So the questions I would like to leave you with are both simple and complex: What are the assessment strategies and tools that allow us to collect the most accurate picture of student understanding? Which methods of assessment actually widen the gap between student and teacher? Which come closest to allowing us to “sit beside” our students? Does any of this really matter when it comes to quality teaching and learning?

  I’ll offer some of my own thoughts in my next post, but I would love to get some initial reaction from you!

• Cdn EdWire – First Nations Schooling Inequities, PCAP Fallout, and Ongoing Bullying Dilemma

  December 15, 2011 10:06 PM Comments Off on Cdn EdWire – First Nations Schooling Inequities, PCAP Fallout, and Ongoing Bullying Dilemma

  FIRST NATIONS SCHOOLING INEQUITIES

  Just maybe, things will improve for schools on reserves – Postmedia

  Native students doing poorly at city high schools – Calgary Herald
  Nearly 13 per cent dropping out every year
  
  Need for native education upgrades too urgent to wait, former PM says – Globe and Mail

  Attawapiskat crisis offers a teaching moment for all – Western News

  Attawapiskat exposes urgent need for native education reforms – Globe and Mail

  PCAP RESULTS

  Boys at school: Is it the teaching or the tests? – Globe and Mail

  Reading skills fall in Quebec’s French schools – Montreal Gazette

  Shaken to the core…subjects – Winnipeg Free Press
  Manitoba kids lag behind nationally in math, science, reading

  Report card on schools reveals new struggles for boys – Globe and Mail

  Study puts Ontario Grade 8 students on top – Toronto Star

  Girls pulling ahead of boys in school, report shows – CBC
  Boys only outperformed girls in 1 of 4 math categories

  Assessment program hurts class time: union – Winnipeg Free Press

  Teachers want Alberta universities to revise handling of Grade 12 marks – Calgary Herald

  Boys’ poor results in reading feared to be spreading to math, science – Globe and Mail

  BULLYING

  The best defence against bullying – Globe and Mail

  Anti-bullying bill a front for ‘sex ed’ agenda, groups say – Toronto Star

   

  Young people need respect, protection for their sexual orientation – Montreal Gazette

  Students who bully could be expelled under new bill – Toronto Star

  Bullying’s rising toll of suicides has political leaders taking action – Globe and Mail

  INNOVATION

  ‘Right now, we build minds the same way we build cars’ – Globe and Mail

  Physicist’s crowd-sourcing philosophy gains traction in the classroom – Globe and Mail

  Technology: educational divider or equalizer? – Globe and Mail

  iPads are in, cursive is out (and other education trends) – Globe and Mail

  OTHER NEWS

  Social justice and diversity key subjects for new UBC program – Vancouver Sun
  Changes will better prepare teachers for work in classrooms: dean
  
  Should province set targets to boost kids’ love of reading? – Toronto Star

  Ontario kids can read well, but they don’t have to like it – Globe and Mail

  Only half of pupils like to read, survey finds – Toronto Star

  Alberta plans more consultations on Education Act – Edmonton Journal

  The face of education: is it too white? – Toronto Star

   

  Start school at 2, study urges – Toronto Star

  French will maintain favoured status in B.C. schools – Vancouver Sun

  Children should start school at two years old: study – Nat Post

  Quebec, PEI, Manitoba surge ahead on early childhood education– Globe and Mail

  Centre announced to integrate research, education for kids with autism – Canadian Press

  Schools put brakes on chocolate fundraisers – Globe and Mail

  INTERNATIONAL

  How NOT to reform American education – Big Think

  Class Matters. Why Won’t We Admit It? – NY Times

  Canada’s First Nations: a scandal where the victims are blamed – The Guardian
  The response of the Canadian government to the emergency in Attawapiskat shows why indigenous communities are in trouble

  EDUBLOG HIGHLIGHTS

  Are you a virus? – The Clever Sheep (Rodd Lucier)
  Recently, I had a chance to hear Ron Canuel from CEA speak about the need for change, and the barriers faced by change agents. In viewing the change agent as a virus, he observed that it is common for innovators to be attacked while followers prosper. Finding it easy to relate to Ron’s words, I’d like to extend the metaphor. Viruses often innovate in the relative safety of a closed door classroom. If you use attempt to use technology in unexpected ways, or if you use tools before they become the norm, you may be a virus. There are many innovators out there, but most, like viruses, are difficult to see. It is only through the sharing of stories, that they become visible…Read More

  The Canaries Are Choking – 21^st Century Learning Associates
  The results of the Canadian Education Association’s What Did You Do In School Today survey  should serve as a clarion call for action from educators, parents and governments. The CEA surveyed over 60,000 Canadian students to obtain their views on the level of their intellectual engagement in school. Less than half of all high school students surveyed reported that they felt intellectually engaged in school.

  These results underline the need to rethink public education in and for the 21st Century. The lack of intellectual engagement by students coupled with the calls from many economic and social leaders for public education to focus on imparting new 21st Century competencies in our youth using modern teaching methodologies, including the integration of information and communication technology with learning, should be heeded… Read More

   

   

• No equity without inclusion, solidarity…and data!

  December 9, 2011 3:39 PM Comments Off on No equity without inclusion, solidarity…and data!

  Reading the guest blogs on equity over the past two weeks has been a real treat for me, my colleagues at CEA and, we hope, for you.

  What are some of the ‘take aways’ from these diverse yet related perspectives?  Here’s some of what we heard that we need to do:

  • Acknowledge that Canada is one of the few countries that has managed to combine excellence and equity in its school systems, and yet not become complacent;
  • Make equity and inclusion explicit priorities at all levels of the system;
  • Recognize the impact of poverty, racism, historic oppression of First Nations people, and other forms of discrimination that result in stereotyping and low expectations of students, and yet not use these as excuses for not achieving greater equity within education;
  • Provide adequate and equitable funding, an issue that has seriously affected First Nations on reserve schools and low income neighbourhoods with limited access to fundraising dollars;
  • Expect and support leadership within schools  and schools system to lead the charge;
  • Require responsibility and accountability for achieving equity goals. Rhetoric and even policy are not enough.  Do we need explicit timetables for achievement of goals?;
  • Provide research evidence and data to identify problems and to monitor our progress. This includes longitudinal data tracking students over time,  research evidence on what works in schools, as well as an understanding of the context within which students are functioning, e.g. statistics on poverty, inequality, unemployment, etc.;
  • Allow greater flexibility in policies and practices to address inequities and discrimination (e.g. specialized school programs) and to reach all learners (e.g. more creative and effective use of technology); and
  • Support school-community partnerships to achieve greater equity and other educational goals.  Although schools have a critically important role to play, they cannot do it alone.  Schools and community agencies can work together to enhance students’ learning.

  To these, I would add the following:

  • Broaden our understanding of equity in policy and practice. Equity is not just about closing gaps in differential  outcomes on test scores or graduation rates, as important as these are for young people’s future prospects.  Equity is also about students’ school experiences which may have a lifelong impact and, equally important, may make the daily lives of some students miserable and devoid of dignity.  As has been observed before, young people are not just adults-in-waiting; their lives and experiences as children are equally valuable and important.
  • Understand that equity and inclusion go hand in hand.  It is encouraging that many provincial government policies focus on equity AND inclusion.  If we understand equity only as closing achievement gaps, we miss addressing the situation of many students, e.g. LGBTQ students who may be keeping up academically but may be experiencing bullying and disrespect on a daily basis, or of children with intellectual disabilities who may be socially excluded and not expected to be intellectually engaged.
  • Recognize that, without solidarity, equity and inclusion will likely not be achieved.  Equity and inclusion are not about ‘us’ and ‘them’; they are about recognizing our common humanity and our common goals.   Solidarity does not imply homogenization or ‘one size fits all’; it means mutual recognition and respect, as well as an end to divisive policies and practices that pit students, parents or teachers against each other in competition for resources, time and attention, and system priorities.
  • Equity also involves narrowing the gap between students’ in school and out of school lived experiences. Students in CEA’s soon to be published research on Youth Confidence in Learning and the Future indicated a low level of ‘fit’ or connection between their in-school and out of school lives and learning;
  • Student engagement is critical to equity and inclusion. CEA’s research on What did you do in school today? found that only 36% per cent of students were intellectually engaged in  their classroom studies.  Given the importance of engagement to learning and to motivation, this is a reality that must be recognized and addressed in all equity strategies.

  Finally, what else is CEA doing in this area?  In recognition of the importance of research and data to achieving  and monitoring equity and inclusion, CEA is commissioning research that looks at issues related to collecting student sub-population data, such as race and sexual orientation.  We are working with Charles Ungerleider and Directions Group on a policy options paper that will be the basis for a series of consultations next spring. We will keep you posted on this and other developments.

  On behalf of CEA, thank you to all of the guest bloggers, commentators and tweeters who have contributed to this important conversation about equity and inclusion.

• When is falling behind not inevitable, but unacceptable?

  December 8, 2011 6:01 PM Comments Off on When is falling behind not inevitable, but unacceptable?

  Canada’s educators can be proud of the achievement of Canadian kids in international achievement assessments like the Programme of International Student Assessment (PISA). Canadian students have consistently achieved top scores in reading, math and science literacy in PISA tests for a number of years. Such tests may not measure the different and important ways our kids are learning, such as how to be responsible citizens, talented artists and masters of dealing with life’s adversities. But tests like PISA capture some of the functional knowledge and skills that open, rather than limit, life opportunities. And when you think about the circumstances that support such strong academic achievement, tests like PISA, while seeming to capture only a limited picture of learning, also stand for much more.  To achieve high math, reading and science scores, kids need good teachers, well-conceived teaching and learning resources, secure homes, safe and supportive communities, encouragement, and the belief that education matters. Test scores that are internationally comparable, like PISA, tell us something about how well Canada is supporting its kids in these ways, relative to other countries; but not necessarily relative to what is possible.

  International tests of educational achievement like PISA report results as averages. Averages hide a great deal of important information. That’s why UNICEF went a step further and calculated the equality gap in educational achievement using PISA test scores[i]. In our study, The Children Left Behind, we developed a new way to measure the gap between the average child and the children struggling at the bottom of their societies (we don’t compare children at the bottom with those at the top). We applied this equality gap measure to 24 industrialized nations in three aspects of children’s lives – material well-being, physical health and educational achievement. We used PISA test scores to measure the equality gap in education, and found that not only do Canadian kids achieve top scores on average, but the gap between Canadian kids’ scores is also very small. Canada placed 3^rd among 24 countries in our measure of educational equality. Not only are our kids’ average scores in reading, math and science literacy comparatively very high; the degree of equality in academic achievement among students is also very high. The lower-achieving children in Canadian schools are less likely to fall a long way behind their peers than students in Austria, France or Belgium – where the educational equality gap is greatest. Our education system is doing relatively well for all kids, leaving fewer behind than in many other countries. It’s managing to do this without limiting the success of the highest achievers.

  But, counterintuitively, Canada landed a worrisome rating of 17^th out of 24 affluent countries in poverty or “material well-being” (using combined indicators of family income, housing living space and access to educational resources).  The equality gap in material well-being is very wide in Canada, far wider than average among industrialized nations. Whose company are we keeping at the bottom of the material equality scale? Italy, Spain, Portugal and Greece. The incongruity of this, considering our relative affluence and stable economic situation relative to these debt-threatened nations, is disconcerting.

  The equality gap in material well-being is very wide in Canada, far wider than average among industrialized nations. Whose company are we keeping at the bottom of the material equality scale? Italy, Spain, Portugal and Greece. The incongruity of this, considering our relative affluence and stable economic situation relative to these debt-threatened nations, is disconcerting.

  The strong link between a family’s socioeconomic circumstances and educational achievement is well established. That’s why it’s remarkable that Canada’s education system has produced relatively low educational inequality in contrast to other industrialized nations, where material equality is greater. Some of the dampening impacts of family poverty on a child’s educational achievement including living in insecure housing in unsafe neighbourhoods, frequent moves, poorer health and nutrition, lack of sleep and of parental time, and other disruptions and deprivations. Canada’s public education system does a comparatively good job at reducing the effects of poverty and disadvantage on academic performance.

  The different levels of inequality in educational outcomes among the countries we studied are not the result of any natural distribution of abilities, but of differences in policies which limit the extent to which some students fall behind. In Canada, it appears that education related policies weaken the link between socio-economic disadvantage and school achievement. But other policy choices are doing little to close the gap in material well-being, and that is no help to the potential of our education system. The most potent fact about children who fall significantly behind their peers in education is that they, on the whole, are from families at the bottom end of the socio-economic scale. Further actions to prevent children from falling behind in education must at some point face the question of socio-economic gradient.

  The growing income gap in Canada may soon begin to diminish the degree of equality our education system sustains. While children themselves pay the heaviest cost of inequality, society also pays through increased costs for remedial schooling, health services, welfare and the justice system, and the loss to economic competitiveness resulting from a large number of children failing to develop to their potential.

  The growing income gap in Canada may soon begin to diminish the degree of equality our education system sustains. While children themselves pay the heaviest cost of inequality, society also pays through increased costs for remedial schooling, health services, welfare and the justice system, and the loss to economic competitiveness resulting from a large number of children failing to develop to their potential. How much better could our education system work for more kids if the resources spent on compensating for poverty were freed up? More children at the bottom of the test scores would achieve higher, fewer would drop out, and there would be more resources to invest in all children in the system. Research by UNICEF and others suggest that societies that manage to reduce the material disparity gap also tend to have higher overall well-being: everyone benefits when inequality is kept low.

  Every level of government in Canada should establish a policy to ensure children have a first call on resources, to be prioritized when funds are invested and to be the last and least to face spending cuts. Broadly, maintaining Canada’s support for public education in an aging society where health costs are rising is necessary for the short- and long-term good of children and of our nation. In education policy, falling behind is significantly more likely when students from low socio-economic status attend schools in which the average socio-economic status is also low. Directing support and excellent teachers to these schools shows good results. Paying attention to the most vulnerable children with flexible approaches to education and additional supports is necessary. For example, a 2007 report by Toronto’s social planning council found a high and persistent level of homelessness among school children (3,000 per year live in homeless shelters in Toronto alone), but found that there are no government or school board policies to ensure the educational needs of these vulnerable children. The Government of Canada’s commitment to begin a new relationship with First Nations for children’s education is a welcome step.

  Whether in education, in health or in the level of family resources, some children will always fall behind the average. Canada is rich with experts who have insight on the measures that are needed across Canada and in specific communities to reduce the equity gaps for children in all aspects of their lives. For the rest of society, we have yet to decide: how far behind? Is there a point beyond which falling behind is not inevitable but unacceptable?

  Related Education Canada articles:

  • Bridging The North-South Divide in Teacher Education
  • African Journal: Schooling and Politics in Rural Kenyal

  ---

  [i] UNICEF’s Report Card 9: The children left behind, measures educational equity using the 2006 OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) reading, mathematics and science literacy scores. PISA administered reading, maths and science tests to representative samples of between 4,500 and 10,000 15-year-old students in each of 57 countries, including all of the countries featured in our report. The tests attempt to assess how well “education systems are preparing their students to become life-long learners and to play constructive roles as citizens in society.” More detailed information on the OECD 2006 PISA survey can be found at: www.oecd.org/pisa and in OECD (2007) PISA 2006: Science Competencies for Tomorrow’s World, OECD, Paris.

• “Hello Equity, we’d like to introduce you to Accountability”

  December 7, 2011 7:40 PM Comments Off on “Hello Equity, we’d like to introduce you to Accountability”

  When one enters a hospital for cardiac surgery, one expects that the Ministry of Health and the hospital administration has ensured that the surgeon completing the procedure possesses the latest and most successful methods for treatment AND that the surgeon is expected to do the BEST for ALL patients.  No one would ever expect that the surgeon would not be held accountable to the highest standard.

  In the education system today, how are we all being held accountable?  As far as many practitioners see accountability at this time, it is only around the results of standardized tests. It is time to move to accountability around the truly important issues in education.

  In the education system today, how are we all being held accountable?  As far as many practitioners see accountability at this time, it is only around the results of standardized tests. It is time to move to accountability around the truly important issues in education.

  As we work with educators, mostly across the Greater Toronto Area, the question of accountability in the work of equity often comes up.  We are aware of wonderful, award-winning equity policies and Ministry frameworks that speak to the many complex and intersecting components that make up this work, they are but one step in making the day-to-day experiences and outcomes better for all students.

  As part of the Centre for Urban Schooling’s work in the field, one frustration we often hear from teachers is that they feel isolated in trying to raise, initiate, program around, or push issues of equity.  They recognize the importance of this work, but do not feel that they are operating within a system that truly values it or wants to really make systemic change.

  As practitioners, one step removed from schools, we see this as well.  We too ask: “Where is the accountability?” In terms of opportunity gaps, where are the intentional, specifically detailed action plans to close them?  Where is this focus broadly, intentionally and specifically stated?  Who is following up on the plans to see that they are being implemented and that changes are occurring?  Who is providing support in terms of money, professional learning, and visioning?  Why is it that institutions, which discuss these gaps regularly, have relatively few people whose job it is to ensure change?  Where are the discussions on power and privilege that intimately tie to all concerns regarding equity?

  As practitioners, one step removed from schools, we see this as well.  We too ask: “Where is the accountability?” In terms of opportunity gaps, where are the intentional, specifically detailed action plans to close them?  Where is this focus broadly, intentionally and specifically stated?  Who is following up on the plans to see that they are being implemented and that changes are occurring?  Who is providing support in terms of money, professional learning, and visioning?  Why is it that institutions, which discuss these gaps regularly, have relatively few people whose job it is to ensure change?  Where are the discussions on power and privilege that intimately tie to all concerns regarding equity? 

  Demographic data that disaggregates based on components of social identity is a step in the right direction.  We know that how one views this data is based on personal beliefs about the capabilities of all students.  We believe this data clearly illuminates an inequitable system. Based on aspects of social identity, this data tells us that due to systemic issues, not all students will have the same opportunity to achieve academically; to be engaged in their learning; to be given appropriate support for post-secondary options; and to graduate and be afforded the chance to determine their own futures.

  One thing that we believe helps move this discussion and practice forward are tools that system and school leaders can use to encourage and promote a forward progression in terms of equity.  Our experience also tells us that even when administrators are very supportive, they are not always sure of what the particular equity practices might look like.

  Based on this, we offer one tool that might be helpful in this work: The Centre for Urban Schooling Equity Continuum: Action for Critical Transformation in Schools and Classrooms. We encourage school administrators and system leaders to think seriously about the issue of accountability. We believe that real systemic change will require activism at the system, school and classroom levels, in conjunction with strong community pressure, in particular from the voices of those in historically marginalized and racialized communities.

  If real change and equity are the goal, we must treat education in a similar way to how we treat medicine.  We have to hold all members of our systems accountable for closing the opportunity gaps and making educational experiences equitable for all.

  Related Education Canada articles:

  • Multiliteracies and Equity: How Do Canadian Schools Measure Up?
  • New School Answers the Question: What Do We Value?

• Are We Star Gazing? Can Canadian Schools Really be Equitable and Inclusive?

  5:38 PM Comments Off on Are We Star Gazing? Can Canadian Schools Really be Equitable and Inclusive?

  We are a long way from achieving equity for kids with intellectual disabilities in Canadian schools. In some ways I am an accidental participant in this discussion. I began my career in education as a high school history teacher and then elementary school principal. My interest in strategies to address the needs of students who were not having success in school eventually led me to be an “advocate” for inclusion for students with disabilities. I must say the journey on this issue has been an interesting one. After thirty years of being engaged on this question, I continue to wonder if I am a practical and pragmatic educator from small town New Brunswick – with a realistic vision of what inclusion can do to assure equity for all students; or am I one of those well intentioned but idealistic advocates often accused of “star-gazing”?

  The fact is I am more convinced than ever that equity and quality in education can be achieved by an inclusive education system.  In the context of the Charter of Rights, the fact that much of the Canadian education system has not made this a reality is disappointing.

  It is also a sad commentary on the indifference many senior leaders of our system pay to achieving this goal. In the last ten years, some of our largest Canadian school districts are not only maintaining the number of students in self-contained special education, they are actually increasing it. And this is at a time when overall student population is declining.

  In the last ten years, some of our largest Canadian school districts are not only maintaining the number of students in self-contained special education, they are actually increasing it. And this is at a time when overall student population is declining.

  This is shocking to many, but actually it is not surprising. When you have a school system that encourages teachers and parents to think that special programs and expert teachers are more important than being part of a class in your community school with your peers, this is what happens. Teachers and parents are encouraged to think that it is better that kids with diverse needs get their education from a specialized program out of the mainstream.

  The failure of our education leaders to define and communicate a vision of schooling that can be both inclusive and effective and that balances the diverse needs of individual students is striking.  Students with intellectual disabilities, autism, and many others, are routinely sent to special programs, in many instances, away from their neighbourhood or community school and as a result away from their siblings and peer group. Many parents have told me about the choice they were given by their school authorities: stay in their community school, in a regular class, but with no additional support, OR have their child go to another school with a “special program”. These special programs, of course, have a “special teacher” who can provide a more suitable alternative for your child and others with similar needs. To most parents, this is not a real choice. No additional support, or accommodation – as the Human Rights language would describe it – means it is a risky choice at best and one most parents fear to make. It is hard to imagine it is meant to be anything else. This is the reality in far too many Canadian school districts. It is a reality we need to change.

  The ironic fact is that this is not the only reality in Canada. Many schools, school districts, and indeed several provinces work hard to provide the kind of “inclusion” for kids that we “star gazers” have in mind. They provide support to teachers and students and they direct funding to make this result in success outcomes. There are enough of these schools and districts throughout the country that we should not have to entertain questions about whether this is realistic, feasible, or affordable option. It is an approach that is in the best interests of the students – all of them – who are part of this “inclusive classroom”.

  In my view it is all about leadership. Leaders who can bridge the divide between the vision of the “star gazers” and the reality of the classroom in the neighbourhood school.

  Do we have leaders who take inclusion for all students seriously? If we do the evidence will be there at the school and classroom level. The gaps we see in Canadian schools are far too wide.
  Where we don’t, we have leaders who fail to recognize the effect on their schools of a system that legitimizes systemic exclusion of some groups of students. These leaders fail to consider the effect of exclusionary programs on teacher attitudes toward student diversity. The effect is negative!

  They fail to consider the effect of diverting funding from enhancing capacity in regular schools. They legitimize moving both the students and the resources to the margins through programs of “special education”.

  Leadership is the issue. It’s not the students and not the teachers. They can handle the challenges of “inclusive education” if their leaders provide the conditions we know are needed for success. We know how to do it. Academics are publishing more and more articles and books on how this can be done.

  So what are the obstacles to achieving the kind of leadership that will bring about equity and inclusion in our schools? I have three thoughts to leave with you.

  First, we need to repudiate the notion that “special” or “expert” is better when the result is a program that is “segregation” and “exclusion”. We have the knowledge and know-how to provide “special” and “expert” support to teachers and students in “inclusive classrooms”.

  First, we need to repudiate the notion that “special” or “expert” is better when the result is a program that is “segregation” and “exclusion”. We have the knowledge and know-how to provide “special” and “expert” support to teachers and students in “inclusive classrooms”. There indeed are exceptions, but a personalized learning plan for a child can be put in place to address these cases.

  Second, leaders need the courage to take up the challenge. They need to manage the changes needed in attitudes, expectations, and capacity to put inclusive schools and classrooms in place. Many of the teachers, parents and other stakeholders will be understandably sceptical since they may have had no exposure or direct experience with a properly supported inclusive approach. They cannot be faulted on this score. School leaders have to purposefully manage the change process to alleviate this scepticism. The good news is they have many leaders in schools and school districts in Canada who can share their positive experience in making this happen.

  Finally, we need nationally recognized leaders to challenge their peers to recognize their responsibility to lead. They need to contribute more explicitly to the conversation on equity and inclusion. This includes senior education officials, researchers and academics.

  I offer by example my New Brunswick colleague Doug Willms. In a notable interview for the Ministry of Education in Ontario this summer, he was asked “… what umbrella comments or advice would you have for principals who want to improve their practice and effect change for students?”

  Doug Willms: “The single most important piece of advice I’d give is to embrace the philosophy and ideal of an inclusive school. And that would include building a framework of understanding among school staff that says “this is the philosophy of an inclusive school – this is what an inclusive school looks like.

  An inclusive school is one where children learn how to make positive friendships. They learn what bullying means and doesn’t mean. They learn about including others.

  Finally, we need to address inclusion at the system level as well; it is not only an issue at the school level. We need to take steps to ensure that we have inclusive schools and an inclusive school system. It comes down to refusing to accept the “status quo” – do we really need to accept the fact that one-quarter of Canadian students are disengaged?”

  I would conclude by asking if we really need to accept the fact that so many Canadian students are excluded from their community schools. Are those of us who think not to remain “star gazers”?

  For the full interview with Doug Willms: http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/policyfunding/leadership/Summer2011.pdf

  Related Education Canada articles:

  • Making Canadian Schools Inclusive: A Call to Action
  • Building Inclusive Cities and Communities
  • Fostering Social Acceptance in Inclusive Classrooms

• On Being Poor at School: Esoteric Hope?

  December 6, 2011 9:47 PM Comments Off on On Being Poor at School: Esoteric Hope?

  “First get off the streets, second get a job, third finish your education so you can get a career.  So it is like steps at a time.  It is like some people have those things already and they are lucky that they have those things already handed to them and they don’t have to start at the bottom and work their way up.  They don’t understand what that is like.  Starting at the bottom is…I am slowly getting there.  I’m not there, but I am slowly getting there”

  Max (pseudonym), a student who left school prior to graduation and is working to return

  Parents in the 1950’s were often heard quipping to sons and daughters:

  “Get a hair cut!” or “Get a real job!”

  Today our parental cries sound frantic and weighty:

  “Get an education!
  “Look at the cost of education!”
  “Watch our family income fall!”
  “Mind your growing debt!”
  “Keep working (at your less than adequate jobs)!”
  “Get more education! Try not to despair!, Fight like hell to get more education!”

  There is a larger social context to equity in education and to being poor at school these days and more and more young people are being pushed to the margins in it.  Yes, we have decades of evidence on the relationship between academic and life chances and living in a working poor or lower socio-economic status family.  Socio-economic gradients have been well mapped out in Canada and they are sticking with us.  But, it remains to be seen how growing income inequality in Canadian society will become further complicit and complicating in our embarrassing and dishonourable treatment of poor kids at school.  Are young people becoming the new underclass in Canada as the OECD suggests?  What is the experience of that marginalization?

  Socio-economic gradients have been well mapped out in Canada and they are sticking with us.  But, it remains to be seen how growing income inequality in Canadian society will become further complicit and complicating in our embarrassing and dishonourable treatment of poor kids at school.  Are young people becoming the new underclass in Canada as the OECD suggests?  What is the experience of that marginalization?

  We must continue to map out and assess these trends and their impacts on children and youth across the country, by region, by social class, and by cultural status.  But, we will not be able to tell how they matter for kids, families, and schools without making visible what it is like to be poor in school each day. What does being poor in school tell us about how these trends are made, how they reproduce inequity and how kids, families and educators are negotiating and fighting back?

  It is at the very time that liberal arts are under siege in public education that a humanities-infused conversation is urgently required. We need to take stock of the esoteric character of being a young person by way of infusing research and practice with a space for exploring experience.  To do this requires engagement with the humanities/arts more fully in our visual or storied research and diarize the rabid trends in inequity. Why does socioeconomic status fall off the practice and policy table of inclusion so readily when it is the most pervasive form of inequity?  How do those trends in inequity feel in the “daily hassles” of impoverished youth at school?   Will some hope, direction and awe arise from the mouths of shared esoteric experience…?
  

  I guess one of the things that I have become aware of is…the lives of quiet desperation that more of them lead, that we’re completely oblivious to. The single parent, no food, the abuse, the rape, the sexual assault, the issues with the justice system, the significant drug abuse that we’re, we miss as teachers.   But even last year [they were] in all the regular classes. And so most of them were written as you know, they didn’t do the work and they didn’t attend. Not, why were they disengaged?  And we never asked that… But now there’s still many of those kids within the school – And they survive and they – or they hide. Or they hide and they’re, they’re marginalized and they exist and they’re the ones I think who’ve had a negative…experience in grade school… 

  Jody (pseudonym), an educator

  Related Publications:

  Kate Tilleczek’s recent book Approaching Youth Studies:  Being, Becoming, Belonging with Oxford University Press addressed these issues and a forthcoming book Youth, education and marginality: Local and global expressions (WLU Press) gathers together young people, academics and educators to address equity in education through art and research.

  Related Education Canada articles:

  • Why Leave School? Ask Those Who Do
  • Marginalized Youth in Contemporary Educational Contexts: A Tranquil Invitation to a Rebellious Celebration
  • Including the Excluded: De-Marginalizing Immigrant/Refugee and Racialized Students

• Ways and Means

  3:44 PM Comments Off on Ways and Means

  In my last blog, I pontificated (don’t all bloggers pontificate?) that it is time to move beyond the school orthodoxy of successes/failures, winners/losers to a more benign atmosphere for learning. Alas, easy to say but very difficult to realize. The difficulty resides in the stubborn fact that public schooling reflects the values of the surrounding community where success, typically, is judged in terms of credentials, income and material display.

  A recent column by Jeffery Simpson in the Globe and Mail lays out some shocking details about income inequality in Canada. Though the problem is worse in the U.S., it is nevertheless severe in Canada. Nearly a third of Canadians are rated, according to Simpson, as “concerned” about income inequality, more concerned than they are about crime, immigration, environment and climate change.

  That large segment of Canadians upset about income inequality largely explains the Occupy Movement now fizzling before the harsh winds of winter. Yet there is no discernible political drift to radical political solutions such as confiscatory income tax on incomes over, say, $300,000. Most of us are satisfied with the free market system for determining the price of toothpaste and the salaries of the high-flyer executives who run the corporations. The market is neither good nor bad. It is the “unseen hand on the tiller”, say the stand-pat majority. But income inequality most assuredly goes to the heart of the equity-in-education issue, the issue that comes out the spout as unfairness.

  It is not fair that children of privilege can be readily moved to a private school or a special public school while underprivileged children cannot. It is not fair that children who are hungry or lacking dental care or skill with the language are doomed to do poorly in certain aspects of standardized testing. It is not fair that advantaged students receive higher scores on tests and exams just because of the circumstances of their birth. These unfair elements of the system are toxic in their effects on some children caught in the age-grade achievement orthodoxy. When unfairness at school is discussed at home over the supper table, usually in anger, the student will exaggerate it in thinking about his/her difficulties at school.

  Short of a socio-economic-political revolution, there is only a slim hope of a major change in the scene of inequality in education. But the inequity hydra can be strangled in lots of practical ways without any major political upheaval. The unfairness of universal standardized testing could easily be replaced by randomized testing only for system wide diagnostic purposes. The unfairness of invidious comparisons of schools based on universal test results could be resolved. The competition among teachers for official commendation based on test results could and should be ended.

  Short of a socio-economic-political revolution, there is only a slim hope of a major change in the scene of inequality in education. But the inequity hydra can be strangled in lots of practical ways without any major political upheaval. The unfairness of universal standardized testing could easily be replaced by randomized testing only for system wide diagnostic purposes. The unfairness of invidious comparisons of schools based on universal test results could be resolved. The competition among teachers for official commendation based on test results could and should be ended.

  The unfairness of assessing individual progress in school within the framework of a class of 30 kids moving lock step through the grades can be confronted, though with some difficulty. That is a structural feature, historic and therefore ingrained. But step-by-step modification is feasible. Individualized learning facilitated by the computer and the World Wide Web is already happening but needs lots more official support. Repealing compulsory attendance laws and mandatory textbook use would help. More than any of these, encouraging teachers to move up to a higher level of professional autonomy would kick-start learning for the 21st century in manifold ways, a style of learning that, one hopes, would bring greater equity in a world searching for peace and harmony.

• Schools & Communities: A Partnership for Equity

  December 5, 2011 7:38 PM Comments Off on Schools & Communities: A Partnership for Equity

  We live in a very diverse country and there is no better place to see that diversity than in our education system: urban, rural, Aboriginal, immigrant, inner city, large and small schools. These are just some of the factors that challenge schools today with respect to equity in education.  With the vast diversity in our schools, we can’t have a one size fits all approach to deal with inequities.  Schools alone cannot be expected to ensure equity in learning for all students.  Legislation and policy can work to ensure equity in some areas, but with all the challenges for tax dollars there will never be enough money to address the many forms of inequity in the education system. So how do we all work to ensure that all children receive an equitable education regardless of where they live, their circumstances, where they go to school and how they learn? Schools will need to looks outside of their walls for the solutions.  They will need to embrace and build on the diversity of learners, their families and the support systems within their communities to address some of the challenges.

  It would seem that there are two big challenges that schools and community must overcome and address.

  1. Over the last few decades, there is an expectation by society that the education system shall have the responsibility for addressing some of the issues around raising our youth – i.e. poverty and hunger, immigrant and settlement issues, etc. Because funding is tight for many agencies, it seems that it is easier to download some of the issues onto the schools to deal with rather than find ways to address it within their own agency. It seems that the education system is then left to not only provide education to our youth, but also to support the social needs of our most vulnerable students. Schools cannot do this work alone, nor should they be expected to.
  2. The perception – and in some instances – the reality is that schools have become silos within the community. Rod Paige wrote that “one of the biggest problems of schools today is that they have pulled themselves away from the public”. If the education system is to address the equity issues in their schools in the future, they will need to open their doors to the community.

  Thomas Segiovanni defines community as “collections of people bonded together by mutual commitments and special relationships, who together are bound to a set of shared ideas and values that they believe in, and feel compelled to follow. This bonding and binding helps them become members of a tightly knit web of meaningful relationships and moral overtones. In communities of this kind, people belong, people care, people help each other make and keep commitments, people feel responsible for themselves and responsible to others.” Our communities are an untapped and wealthy resource waiting to be discovered and invited in. The potential for community contributions to support and enhance student learning is huge. Peter Gretz states that “By building partnerships with existing agencies and groups within the community, school leaders can enhance student achievement and success by creating learning communities that have access to resources beyond those within the school.”

  Our communities are an untapped and wealthy resource waiting to be discovered and invited in. The potential for community contributions to support and enhance student learning is huge.

  We believe that if schools are to be successful in ensuring an equitable education for all our youth, society will need to change the way schools and the community view education: how it is delivered and who is responsible. It will require time and commitment by everyone. Schools and community will need to work together to identify the challenges to ensuring equity within their schools and then find the solutions together. How each school and respective community addresses these issues will be different as no two schools or communities are the same. However, regardless of the school, community or inequity trying to be addressed, the mission should remain the same: “It takes a community to raise a child”. All it takes is an open door and an invitation… so what are we waiting for?

  Related Education Canada articles:

   

  • Whole Education: Provoking a Movement for Change in the UK
  • Parent Advocacy: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

   

• PCAP 2010 – Are we asking the right questions?

  6:31 PM Comments Off on PCAP 2010 – Are we asking the right questions?

  The Report on the 2010 Pan-Canadian Assessment of Mathematics, Science, and Reading (PCAP) landed on our staffroom table this week. The overall results were very good news, but as is usually the case when these system wide testing results are released, the media sifted through the mounds of data to focus the public’s attention on some bad news. This time around, it was, among other things, the growing performance gap between boys and girls, particularly in reading.

  CEA by no means takes the issue of increasing gender performance gaps lightly, but varying literacy rates and gender issues are hardly new in education, and the public needs to understand that there are many male students who are excelling in their studies and many girls who are not. In his Education Canada article, Failing Boys, Beyond Crisis, Moral Panic, and Limiting Stereotypes, University of Western Ontario’s Wayne Martino explains the dangers associated with constantly reinforcing and exaggerating gender differences.

  As typically happens with the media dissection of the PISA scores, negative headlines send some Ministries of Education searching for someone to blame, such as the case in Quebec with decreased reading scores and in Manitoba with overall lower scores.  But what about the often-heard comment by Math teachers that one of the biggest challenges they face is students having difficulty reading and understanding written problems – yet reading test scores in Quebec were down, but Quebec Math scores ranked amongst the top in Canada?

  As I have stated in the past, we don’t use singular measures or a “test” to diagnose a medical issue. When a person coughs, we don’t jump to the conclusion that the person has a serious lung disease. We insist on multiple tests to ensure a proper diagnosis. In education, however, one test does the trick and shows all the problems and weaknesses. It is long overdue that when it comes to diagnosing challenges, strengths, and weaknesses in education, we move away from the overly simplistic and incorrect “One test says it all” mindset. Parents, educators, and students deserve better than this.

  As Jodene Dunleavy articulated in her Education Canada article, Ranking Our Responses to PISA 2009 :

  “I’d like to put some of the blame for public reaction to PISA scores on the OECD, itself. It’s easy to feel intimidated by the volume of figures and explanations that flow from each assessment. But this alone cannot explain the overwhelming amount of attention paid to a single, league-style table ranking the 65 participating countries on combined reading, mathematic, and scientific literacy scores. Witnessing how results get taken up in the public domain, it is hard not to feel that the PISA country rankings have become the Olympics of the education world.”

  So around our water cooler, many questions about PCAP arose: Are we asking the right questions on these performance assessments of school systems?  PCAP, just like PISA, is measuring how well students are doing in math, reading, and science, but it doesn’t attempt to take approaches to learning, student engagement, and teaching environments into account in comparing provinces.

  It’s encouraging that there is considerable debate in Europe about the need to have PISA measure creativity, but what else should we be measuring? What about measuring student engagement? Equity? And a breakdown by subpopulation groups, not just boy and girls?

  We think more could and should be measured.  Do you think so?

• Isn’t it about time we admit that race matters?

  December 2, 2011 9:22 PM Comments Off on Isn’t it about time we admit that race matters?

  In a recent Toronto Star article: “The face of education: is it too white?”, education reporter Louise Brown writes that in one school board “community members staged a protest” in which they were demanding that “more South Asian teachers” be hired. The presumption is that with “more diversity among teachers” – specifically “visible minority” teachers – racial minority students with be able to have, as the president of the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario (ETFO) puts it, “appropriate role models’ – people who ‘look’ like them and with whom they are “able to relate more completely” because “they have some background experience in common.” And as the Ontario Minister of Education asserted, “It’s critical students see themselves reflected in their teachers and principals.”

  If indeed we are to eventually have a teaching population that is representative of the students, then we need to do more than base our assertions on hunches, and move to collect data, including race data, on the composition of the teacher and student populations. How else will we be able to ascertain that the goal of representation is attained? But more than representation, inclusive and equitable schooling requires recognition that race, like gender, social class and sexuality (and their interrelationship with each other), operates to inform the education and schooling experiences of students. We cannot be colour-blind and still expect to create an equitable and inclusive schooling environment.

  This role model discourse of equity and inclusivity for racial minority students seems to be gesturing toward an acknowledgement that race is a significant factor in the lives of racialized students – at least in terms of their relationships with teachers. And notwithstanding that we live in a society where there is a reluctance to identify people by colour, it is encouraging to see our educational leaders asking that teaching staff “reflect” or “mirror” the student population. If indeed we are to eventually have a teaching population that is representative of the students, then we need to do more than base our assertions on hunches, and move to collect data, including race data, on the composition of the teacher and student populations. How else will we be able to ascertain that the goal of representation is attained? But more than representation, inclusive and equitable schooling requires recognition that race, like gender, social class and sexuality (and their interrelationship with each other), operates to inform the education and schooling experiences of students. We cannot be colour-blind and still expect to create an equitable and inclusive schooling environment.

  The fact is, for some decades now, school boards and educators throughout the country have been grappling with how best to respond to the needs, interests, and aspirations of their diverse student populations. A pivotal period in their attempts was the 1970s with the introduction of multicultural education, following the establishment of the Federal Multicultural Policy (1971). But the problems of student disengagement and concomitantly low academic attainment persist, particularly in the case of racialized students. This situation has not gone unnoticed, as the above newspaper article demonstrates, for educators continue to grapple with how best to meet the needs of these students. In terms of my experiences in Southern Ontario, the educational and schooling programs (with their related curricular content and pedagogy) based on paradigms of interculturalism, cross-culturalism, race relations, antiracism, and more recently, culturally relevant and responsive pedagogy, coupled with sensitization workshops for teachers have not produced the expected outcomes.

  Achieving a schooling environment which is equitable for all students has been an elusive goal of many school boards. Nevertheless, it is a goal that cannot be sidestepped for ultimately our democracy and economy is strongest when we have a population with at least a high school diploma. To this end, therefore, we need to build a culture in school in which diversity is not a code word for race, and racial minority teachers are not brought in merely to be “role models” for racial minority students but because they bring approaches to teaching and learning that are necessary and relevant to all students. It is also a culture of schooling in which teachers and educational leaders want to know and are comfortable knowing, based on data, the composition of their school population in terms of gender, class, race, ethnicity, sexuality, language, home neighbourhood etc. because these factors play a role in the educational experiences, knowledge and aspirations of students.

  Related Education Canada articles:

  • Safe Schools: The Threat From Within?
  • Assimilation to Accommodation – Immigrants and the Changing Patterns of Schooling
  • Black-Focussed Schools: A Call for Re-visioning
  • Debating Values: Race, Class and Academic Achievement

• An equity lens beyond the traditional approaches

  5:40 PM Comments Off on An equity lens beyond the traditional approaches

  One of the biggest challenges in ensuring more equitable outcomes among students is changing the attitudes of educators who are responsible for the outcomes and success of students. We know that attitudes are rooted in strong beliefs, false experiences, traditions and biases. Having educators understand that equity is about inclusion, not exclusion, is a critical step in garnering the “WILL” to take the necessary actions needed. Educators often don’t know what they don’t know therefore building the capacity of equity awareness can be a hurdle that is preventing the work that needs to be done. Educators need to be shown what equity looks like in our classrooms, schools and school communities.

  Educators often don’t know what they don’t know therefore building the capacity of equity awareness can be a hurdle that is preventing the work that needs to be done. Educators need to be shown what equity looks like in our classrooms, schools and school communities.

  In order to advance equity in our schools we need to develop equitable and inclusive policies within our schools and align them with practices that we can measure our progress. We need to truly allocate funds in our school plans toward our equity goals in the areas of student engagement, staff training, curriculum development and community engagement initiatives. These areas require an equity lens beyond the traditional approaches along with the funding that demonstrates the importance.

  Ministry policies on equity have had an impact in the past. At the same time it has not be nearly enough because boards have been able to opt out due to lack of accountability.  Governments need to ensure accountability by developing polices, providing resources to implement and expect monitoring and progress reports. The expectations should include an alignment with Board plans and training for teachers from pre-service, to in-service of mastery teachers.

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