SCHOOL FOR THOUGHT

A Rising Tide

That's the title of the Friedman Foundation's latest round-up of the state of school choice in the United States.

Defined as "a common sense idea that gives all parents the power and freedom to choose their child’s education, while encouraging healthy competition among schools and other institutions to better serve students’ needs and priorities", school choice is clearly gaining momentum in the United States.

There may be a lull this year, since it is an election year and many legislators will be focusing on getting re-elected, but watch for more gains in 2013. You heard it here first.

Of course, the rest of the phrase "a rising tide" is "that floats all boats", and other studies suggest that when more parents can transfer their children to other schools, the local public schools improve as a result of the increased competition. Here's a Wikipedia article on this phenomenon. 

Logically, then, as more and more school choice is offered in the US, the better and better the kids will do. A rising tide that floats all boats.

Baby it’s cold outside

Greetings from Orlando, FL, whence I fly home today. So I thought I'd give you a bit of a math lesson. The temperature here has been averaging around 75 degrees Fahrenheit. To convert Fahrenheit to Celsius, just deduct 32, multiply by 5, and divide by 9. This means it's about 23 degrees Celsius here. 

At home, it's currently -3 degrees Celsius. To convert Celsius to Fahrenheit, multiply by 9, divide by 5, and subtract 32. This means it's about 27 degrees Fahrenheit there.

Any way you slice it, it's warm here and it's cold there.

Comparing apples to oranges

Nearing the end of my Florida tour, I bring you this report from Ocala. The governor has just released a report ranking the state's 67 school districts on the basis of their performance on the state tests. In Ocala, which ranked 44th, the usual suspects are criticizing the rankings - saying it's not fair to compare districts with different socioeconomic makeups and adding that the unfair comparison is disheartening to those with low rankings.

This may come as a surprise to some, but this time I agree with the usual suspects. Of course, this doesn't mean that I would totally junk the rankings - just make them fair. The basis of comparison should be the value added by school districts - for example, Tennessee's Value-Added Assessment model. 

The Sky Has Limits

The Society for Quality Education is pleased to announce the publication of The Sky Has Limits:  Online Learning in K-12 Public Education in Canada, a review of virtual education. The report is authored by respected educator Dr. Paul Bennett, Principal of Schoolhouse Consulting.

As students become more cyber-savvy and Apple proposes i-books to replace textbooks, online learning has fantastic potential to attract and retain learners, but there are challenges.  Dr. Bennett found:

“In spite of the tremendous advantages afforded by introducing online learning programs, significant barriers stand in the way of its natural growth and expansion. With the exception of British Columbia, the spread of online learning and virtual schools has stalled and, for the vast majority of Canada’s 5 million K to 12 public school students, the sky has limits.”

The report’s findings dispute those of other Canadian studies of how the teaching profession views virtual education: “Most provincial teacher unions show tepid support for online learning, holding fast to labour contract agreements which effectively limit online learning to a supplemental role in the K-12 public system.”

Other key findings:

·         After enjoying an initial advantage, Canada has been overtaken by the United States in the rate of growth of online learning over the past two years.

·         There is potential for governments to save money outside of traditional “bricks and mortar” schooling.

·         Private provision of e-learning is becoming more innovative and is growing rapidly.

The full report can be found at: http://societyforqualityeducation.org/parents/theskyhaslimits or on our Reports and Research page.

Private Schooling at Public Prices

Consider this good news story in the Toronto Star.  No public school ESL for this very brave girl.

       "Roya was packed and ready to fly to Canada to continue her high school education in safety at Ottawa's Ashbury College.  It is one of the country's leading private schools, which prides itself on a progressive and caring learning environment."

There is even a fundraising effort for the tuition.  Now I hardly think the Star chose this school because they wanted to keep her among the elites of Ottawa.

Here's another good news story in the National Post about an alternative public school in the northwest corner of Toronto that appears to be succeeding.  It is one that we would encourage the TDSB to multipy and prosper.  Well actually, we did years ago when we arranged for Angus McBeath of Edmonton school fame to meet with the board.  Now it seems that some smart trustees listened and hired someone like Spence to carry out the vision.  Humberwood Downs, for those who don't know the city, is in an area of high immigrant population, low income, and high needs.  Parents are choosing it for many reasons, including the obvious one of location, but one parent put it best:

       “We thought about a private school,” continues Mr. Mehta. “But all the things we are looking for are available in this school."

 If a board won't provide alternatives, then parents should have access to private or public education alternatives. The point is private schools are not all for the elite and public schools ("for the common good") don't have to look like this either.

Help for Math - Lots of Practice

Some of the debate on a previous post was about Canada's slippage on international math tests.  This is supported by the same result in Ontario's EQAO testing.  It is something that, anecdotally, I've heard from parents as well over the past couple of decades.  And, who hasn't got a story to tell about some young person who can't figure out the simplest arithmetic or count change? 

SQE knows research indicates the best way to acquire more complex math skills is by acquiring automacy in fundamental arithmetic skills very early on.  It's a building block that is necessary for a solid foundation. (That's true for just about ANY skill, but I digress.) Here's a Globe and Mail article about a tool that one teacher uses to help that along--the simple abacus.    

          "Abacus classes are similar in that they offer a back-to-basics approach to math. Advocates say the fluency in calculation it teaches helps students in the classroom, enabling them to devote their attention to the broader mathematical concepts behind the lesson."

A research study is currently underway to examine the long-term implications.

Likely because they acknowledge the poor EQAO math results, the Ontario government now provides some free online tutoring for grades 7-10 students who need help with math. Homework Help is available during after school hours using live teachers one-on-one.  Here is a list of other resources as well. (Hmm online learning anyone?)

If younger students need some help, don't forget SQE's Stairway to Math teacher-designed worksheets that will help students practice basic math skills.

         "Arithmetic is not trivial math, and it certainly will not be 'discovered' by school children. It must be taught and practised." -- Dr. Ralph A. Raimi, professor emeritus of mathematics, U. of Rochester.

The people speak

Greetings from Naples, Fl where a story in the local paper promises to shed light on what people think about school choice once they have had a chance to check it out. In Lee County, FL, parents have been able to choose their children's schools for some time, and now the local school board is planning to survey local parents to see what they think about this. I'm pretty sure that approval ratings will be much higher here - compared to areas where voters are expressing their theoretical opinions, but we'll have to wait until April to get the verdict.

No doubt the local teachers' unions will be happy to go along with the verdict, whatever it is, since they apparently justify their policies on the basis of polling....

Go Gators!

Here I am in Everglades City, a tiny hamlet deep in the Everglades with a population of about 500. Amazingly, Everglades City has its own preK-12 school, with a population of only 154 students - but 19 teachers and 26 support/admin staff. I guess with class sizes like this they should do really well, eh Doug?

A provincial province?

Yesterday, the education conference wrapped up, and in the afternoon my husband and I took a very educational cruise along the Fort Lauderdale canal and intracoastal waterway system, learning all about the homes and yachts of the rich and famous, like Cher and Steven Spielberg and so forth. Today, we head into the Everglades. For today's blog, I thought I would tell you what I have learned about school systems around the world.

The bottom line is that most countries have some kind of school voucher program, with the government fully or partially funding non-government schools. Thailand, for example, has a universal voucher system. In Ireland, all of the elementary schools are privately operated, with the government fully funding them. Chile, Brazil, Australia, almost every European country - all encourage the private delivery of schooling. Even Finland has a small voucher program. This information is being compiled by the World Bank, and it will be released shortly.

We all tend to accept the way things are done locally as the norm and assume this is how it is done everywhere else too. I expect that most parents in Ontario assume that our set-up, with fully-funded Catholic and secular schools but no support for non-government schools, is the way most countries do education. Not so! We are the exception, not the rule.

Repeat After Me: School choice advocates are saints

So the school choice conference wraps up today. I unfortunately don't have any more scoops for you, so I thought I would just say a few words about how nice the people are at this conference. These are people who do what they do because they care about kids and want to help them. You might think that people who promote school choice are mistaken and that their policies will in fact hurt kids, whatever, but there is just no way that they are selfish, ruthless privatizers out to enrich themselves on the backs of children. Au contraire - many (most?) of them have chosen career paths that ensure they earn a modest living but which allow them to try to help kids - especially poor kids.