SCHOOL FOR THOUGHT

An Apple for autistic students

It has always seemed to me that the tantalizing promise of new technology has so far mostly eluded educators’ grasp, and in fact in many cases technology has actually made things worse (texting in class, intrusive intercom systems, budget-draining interactive whiteboards, ringing cell phones, movies shown in class, and so forth). 

However, a school for autistic kids in Toronto seems to be using handheld touch-screen devices like iPads to good effect, as per this article in UofT Magazine. It’s early days and the sample size is small, but it appears that this technology is helpful in breaking through into “the previously incommunicado world of children with severe developmental challenges”. H/T PB

Where in the world did it happen?

Here’s a cool site that traces history’s greatest journeys - Columbus, Charles Lindbergh, the Old Silk Road, and so forth, providing some visual context for each journey.

A word to the wise, and perhaps not-so-wise

This disturbing story out of Alabama reminds us how dependent our kids are on us and how important it is for us to advocate on their behalf. The story concerns two teachers’ psychological abuse of a 10-year-old boy with cerebral palsy. The teachers might never have been caught if the boy’s mom had not bugged his wheelchair. And even when his mom took the evidence to the school board, the teachers were able to return to their positions after a few days of “administrative leave”. It was only when the mom took her tapes to the media and they went viral on YouTube that the school board decided it might actually do something. They will be meeting on April 9 to discuss what to do about the teachers’ cruel behaviour.

It’s important to bear in mind that psychological child abuse is only one of the abuses that schools are able to perpetrate on kids. Even harder to detect and arguably even more important, is academic child abuse - abuse that often goes on year after year and has a cumultively devastating effect, blighting kids’ futures. In this arena too, children are totally vulnerable and dependent on their parents as advocates.

Ma France

The BBC makes available this excellent free site for intermediate students of the French language. Videos, games, mini-lessons - it’s perfect for students who want to brush up their French vocabulary and tune up their ear for the language.

Supernumeraries - Help or Hindrance?

Doretta is really getting quite famous now, as witness this article from the Toronto Sun. The article deals with the poor results of the Toronto District School Board (TDSB). And she’ll be on CFRB after the 11 am news, same topic.  (Last minute note: also on Goldhawk Live tonight 9 pm on the Rogers Toronto Cable channel)

Which got me to thinking about why the Tedious Board does so badly. I know they like to point to their high percentages of immigrant students, but of course it turns out that the majority of immigrants, having received superior schooling back home, actually boost scores on the provincial tests.

So then I formulated the hypothesis that the more supernumeraries a board has, the worse its students do. I didn’t have the time to actually test my hypothesis, but I did take a look at the Tedious Board’s results on the recently-released sunshine list (a list of all public servants with salaries over $100,000). I found that the Tedious Board has almost 1500 employees in this category, although about a thousand of them are principals, vice-principals, and a surprising number of teachers. The remaining 440 sunshiners seem like quite a lot of supernumeraries for 238,000 students - roughly one supernumerary for every 500 students. Of course, the 440 includes 8 plumbers, 2 sprinkler fitters, 1 insulation mechanic, and 1 steamfitter, and perhaps they should be omitted from the count.

So, anyway, I’m sticking to my hypthesis until proven wrong - the more supernumeraries a board has, the worse the kids do. Does anyone have the time to look at his own school board and test this hypothesis?

Sunday at the Movies (Why nothing changes)

This is a thought-provoking (and depressing) explanation of why there has been no significant improvement in education for a long time. Those looking for help for their own kids, and that’s where everybody starts, should listen for the quick reference to www.tutor.com. 

Teach for America

The latest addition to our lending library is A Chance to Make History: What works and what does't in providing an excellent education for all, by Wendy Kopp, founder of Teach For America. The mission of Teach For America is to eliminate educational inequality by recruiting recent university graduates and professionals to teach in low-income classrooms for two years. With their energy and dedication, these teachers are proving over and over again that disadvantaged kids can succeed in school. Thirty years ago, the prevailing assumption in educational circles was that socio-economic circumstances determined educational outcomes. Twenty years ago, this belief was starting to be challenged by a few examples of teachers and schools that were changing the trajectories of their low-income students. Today, there are too many schools like this to count. Knowing that low-income children can succeed in school and fired up by their sense of injustice, the Teach For America corps are now pushing the frontiers of educational reform. This excerpt (pp 183-184) elaborates on the implications of the tens of thousands of indignant Teach for America alumni on a rampage.

The transformative experience of leading children in low-income communities to great progress plays out across our corps and alumni force. While Teach for America asks for a two-year commitment from its recruits (the vast majority of whom were not education majors and not, they tell us, headed into education), more than 60 percent of our 20,000-plus alumni are working in education, with about half of those still in the classroom. Those working in education from outside the classroom are mostly working in schools or districts, or in organizations meant to support them. Of those alumni who leave education, going into a vast array of careers from law to medicine, from governmennt to journalism to business, more than 60 percent have jobs that relate in some way to schools or low-income communities - for example, as doctors practicing in public health or policy advisers working on education issues.

Many of the new models of excellence on the front lines of the fight against educational inequity were founded or are being driven by current or former teachers whose conviction, determination, and leadership were developed in the classroom. Today, virtually all KIPP school leaders proved their mettle and built their skills by putting children on a new academic path in their classrooms - and nearly two-thirds of the network's principals started their careers as Teach For America corps members. (A little fewer than one-third of the network's current teachers are Teach For America corps members or alumni.) Similar stories play out at YES Prep, Achievement First, Uncommon Schools, and many of the most successful traditional district schools in the country. The path to transformational leadership is through the transformative experience of seeing and fulfilling the promise of children in low-income communities.

I think the reasons for this phenomenon are complex but clear. First, teachers who have taught successfully develop an unshakable conviction about what is possible through education for children growing up in economically disadvantaged circumstances. Their personal knowledge of the potential of their students and of teachers and schools, and their love for their students, drives a deep and personal motivation to right the injustice of educational disadvantage. This understanding becomes the root of their career choices and professional decisions and the driving force behind their bold goals, perseverance in pursuit of them, and persuasiveness with others.

A lesson worth learning

Here's a thought-provoking video you can show your kids. The thrust is that scientists are not any different from the rest of us, and that anyone can become and scientist and discover important things - provided one works hard and persistently. Which is of course true for any field of endeavor.....

Merge them? Nah, abolish them!

Every few years, another scheme for abolishing Ontario’s Catholic school boards surfaces.  Here’s the latest - a study on a merger between the province’s public and Catholic school systems that projects annual savings of up to $1.5 billion. This sounds very good, of course, but unfortunately it turns out that the projected savings of amalgamation schemes almost never materialize - because the harmonization of collective agreements and services almost always leads to even higher costs. The Toronto experience is a case in point, according to this interesting Frontier Centre for Public Policy analysis. 

If the goal is to save money, there is another option - namely, abolish the school boards completely, eliminating most of their cost in one fell swoop. The services currently performed by the school boards could mostly be devolved to individual schools, leaving the Ministry of Education to fund and monitor. Modern telecommunications and computer technology make this eminently possible. Here’s an article from our archives that shows what happened when New Zealand abolished school boards.

Teach for Canada

This video explains why freezing teacher pay is unlikely to drive high performers out of the profession - and also suggests an intriguing way of attracting teachers of even higher calibre.  Here’s the link.