SCHOOL FOR THOUGHT

Pan-Abode Schools

It would be interesting to talk to an architect about Los Angeles' newest public high school. The $578M price tag seems a bit excessive, even for La-La Land, but it does exemplify a trend towards expensive schools that is occurring in Canada as well.

The question that I would like to pose to the architect is whether it would be possible to develop a dozen or so standardized blueprints, sort of like Pan-Abode buildings, that can be customized as needed but which can be built much more economically than one-off buildings. I mean, Tim Horton's and Wal-Mart do it and, while their buildings may not be architectural knock-outs, they're comfortable and functional, and they cost way less.

Of course, given the current funding model, there is no incentive for school boards to economize on school buildings. I'm guessing the concept of Pan-Abode schools won't be explored any time soon.

Those Who Can, Do. Those Who Can’t, Develop Theories.

It must be the dog days of summer - there's not much in the news. So here's an excerpt from the perennially-valuable John Mighton (The End of Ignorance).

"In talking to various artists and scientists or reading their biographies, I've found that people who have actually made scientific discoveries or created works of art (as opposed to people who theorize about these things) tend to acknowledge the role of practice in their work. Writers and artists, for instance, know from experience how many years of studies and student exercises it can take before they find their voice or style. Ernest Hemingway, who eventually achieved a remarkable economy of style, as a young writer set himself the task of producing one decent sentence per day, and Paul Klee, whose mature paintings are imbued with a profound sense of mystery, spent ten formative years painting tonal exercises that would help him understand colour. Scientists and mathematicians in particular understand how much time they must devote to learning basic skills - as well as everything previously discovered in their area of specialization - before they can do original work. It is no accident that parents and academics who have a background in these fields have led the campaign for more rigorous standards in schools. When so many experts acknowledge the importance of training in the development of talent, and when so much evidence in cognition suggests that experts can be trained, why are schools so reluctant to expose children to anything that looks like rigorous training?" (p. 60)

""Kierkegaard once said that Hegel would have been the most profound thinker who ever lived if, when he had finished creating his monumental system of the world, he had simply admitted to himself that it was all only a beautiful thought-experiment. Anyone who works in education and develops theories about how children learn would be wise to keep this comment in mind." (pp. 260-261)

Conflicted Trustees

This Globe and Mail article reports that a judge has removed the Chair of the Toronto Catholic District School Board on conflict of interest grounds because her sons are substitute teachers for the board. There may also be a cloud over one of the other trustees whose daughter is an education assistant at the board.

The newspaper reports all this as if is a big story, but it is my impression that there are very few Ontario school boards without trustees with relatives or friends who work for their school boards. After all, it's normal for educators to get interested in running for trustee when they disagree with board policy and figure it would make a nice part-time job after they retire from teaching. Or maybe they are encouraged to run for trustee by one of the teachers' unions. Certainly, most school boards have former teachers among their trustees, along with educators who work or worked for other school boards.

All in all, I'm guessing there are precious few school boards in Ontario that are completely free of conflict of interest issues.

The Skinny on Adolescent Obesity

Educators' efforts to fight childhood obesity have not been all that successful, especially when it comes to high school kids. This video describes an interesting new approach to keeping kids active.

Simply Irresistible

In a previous post Malkin admitted an addiction to poking fun at teachers’ unions.  I hate to feed her habit, but I couldn’t resist.

This one is from Mike Antonucci’s Intercepts:

“The New York City tabloids are having a field day with the tale of Jim Callaghan, who until yesterday worked for the United Federation of Teachers. After 13 years with the union, Callaghan was summarily dismissed and escorted from the building by police for what the UFT claims were ‘serious behavior issues.‘

“Callaghan claims he was fired for trying to form a staff union.“

 According to the New York Post: “‘I told him I want to have the same rights that teachers have,‘ said Callaghan, 63, of Staten Island. ‘He told me he didn’t want that, that he wanted to be able to fire whoever he wanted to.‘

“The UFT has long strenuously resisted city efforts to make it easier for school administrators to fire teachers.“

OK for some…

To the Victor Belong the Spoils

They say that when the water hole shrinks, the animals start to look at one another differently. With declining enrolment in Ontario, the teachers' unions are naturally worried that their numbers are going to shrink. As a result, the thousands of early childhood educators who will be hired for the province's early learning program are being viciously fought over by two of the teachers' unions. Click here to read the letter from the Elementary Teachers' Federation of Ontario.

Our take? It's a shame the early childhood educators are being forced to join a union in the first place....

Older and Wiser

This Scientific American article discusses two new studies that suggest that the youngest kids in kindergarten (the ones with birthdays shortly after the cut-off date) are far more likely to be diagnosed with attention deficit disorder (ADHD) and put on Ritalin than the older children - likely because they are significantly less mature than kids who are almost a year older. As a result, they tend to be more inattentive, active, and impulsive.

Of course if ADHD is an underlying neurological problem as many believe, there should be no relationship between birthdays and ADHD. According to one of the researchers, "If being exposed to formal schooling at younger ages is actually causing a rise in ADHD, we must then revisit educational policy." 

One possibility would be to emulate the New Zealand school system, where children start school on their fifth birthday or the first school day after it. 

The Case of the Disappearing Money

Life just got easier for the many parents whose schools have given them a very specific - and long - list of must-have supplies for back-to-school - six packs of glue sticks, three highlighters (blue, yellow and green), grey Duo-Tangs, baby wipes, Post-It notes, two large pencil cases, and on and on.... This article in today's Globe and Mail profiles a new shopping service for busy parents (more information at toolsforschools.ca).

The reporter apparently sees nothing odd in expecting parents to devote significant amounts of time and/or money to the schools' shopping lists, citing "ongoing classroom cuts" and "budget cutbacks". Yet, as Sunshine on Schools clearly shows, Ontario is spending more than ever on education. In 2003, the Ontario government spent about $16.25 billion on its schools, while in 2009, it spent about $20.75 billion - and increase of roughly $4.5 billion in six years. Where has all this money gone?

At least part of the answer may be suggested by a new study from the Goldwater Institute: Administrative Bloat at American Universities: The real reason for high costs in higher education. The researchers found that leading American universities are increasing their spending on administration more than twice as quickly than they are increasing their spending on instruction, research, and service. 

Bureaucracies like to grow, and they're very good at it. There's little point giving school boards more money when it doesn't reach the classroom.

Hoping the Bad Teacher Problem Will Just Go Away (It Won’t)

Most parents realize how important it is for their kids to have a good teacher, although they may not be aware just how important it is (the difference between the achievement of students with a teacher in the top 10% and the achievement of students with a teacher in the bottom 10% can be as much as 25 percentile points - in just one year). Despite this, school boards and teachers' unions generally do their best to keep teacher effectiveness a deep, dark secret - insisting that teachers be paid on the basis of their experience, education. and training, even though these factors have little or no bearing on teacher effectiveness.

Now the Los Angeles Times has blown the roof off this cosy arrangement. Using Freedom of Information to obtain seven years' worth of student achievement data linked to their Los Angeles Unified School Board classroom teachers, the newspaper sent the information to RAND Corporation (Research AND Development), an independent non-profit organization that aids decision-making by providing research and analysis, asking that the data be used to calculate the value-added service of individual teachers. And then the paper published all of the results! 

Although the school board has had these data for years and totally ignored them, things are going to have to change. Now their phones are going to start ringing off the hook with calls from parents whose kid has been assigned to Mr. Lemon's class - and the school board is going to be forced to come up with a different game plan. It will be interesting to see whether the new plan involves firing some of their worst performers.

These data are widely available in the US, and it won't be long before other newspapers publish information about the effectiveness of teachers in their region. The situation is different in Canada, however, where we have very little good information on student achievement and no ability to link it to individual teachers. It seems that Canadian educators will be allowed to continue indefinitely with the fiction that teachers are all equally effective - to the detriment of students, of course.

Saying It As It Is

Dear Aunt Malkin,

I'm seeing a deterioration of language skill in the workplace and in everyday communication. But how big a problem is this really? Are we just being snobs and old fuddy-duddies by complaining? Signed George

Dear George,

If the deterioration of language skill you are complaining about involves superficial problems like the tendency to use neologisms or to turn nouns into verbs or to split infinitives, then you are being an old fuddy-duddy. We all need to realize that language evolves and there will inevitably be intergenerational differences. The older generation just has to go with the flow.

On the other hand, correct and precise language is never out of date. If George is talking about deterioration in vocabulary, spelling,, and grammar, then he is right to be concerned. Many people believe that the outward form of communication doesn't really matter so long as it gets the message across. However, there are three good reasons to insist on communication that follows standard rules.

First, non-standard language slows down the communication process and invites misunderstandings. It's already hard enough to say exactly what you mean using Standard english, especially in writing where you can't reinforce your message with intonation and gestures. The crossing of wires resulting from informal e-mail messages is a well-known example of this phenomenon. The more precise and unambiguous your language is, the more likely it will be correctly interpreted.

Second, deviations from Standard English may be poorly received by your audience. For example, many employers begin the process of sorting out job applications by discarding those with spelling and grammar errors. For example, a prospective son-in-law is unlikely to impress his intended's parents if he expresses himself poorly. For example, businesses run the risk of alienating potential customers if they make mistakes in their communications. As Marshall McLuhan famously said, the medium is the message.

Third, sloppy language is incompatible with overall excellence. According to the broken windows theory, small problems such as broken windows show that no one cares very much and so it is safe to break more windows or even break into buildings with broken windows. Similarly, if a company tolerates broken language, it shows no one cares very much and so it is safe to let other things slide. A company that insists on excellent communications sends an important message to its employees and to its customers about its overall high standards.

I hope I have made myself clear.......

Best regards, Aunt Malkin