For Immediate Release
Providing the Best:
SQE and AIMS Bring Renowned Educator to
Toronto to Discuss Reform
Monday, April 24, 2006
Toronto – When improved student achievement is required, it matters not where good ideas come from. What matters is that they work in making sure our children get an education that equips them to succeed. To help with this work, the Society for Quality Education (SQE) in partnership with the Atlantic Institute for Market Studies (AIMS) is bringing Angus McBeath, one of Canada’s top school leaders, to Toronto to discuss how public schools can not only succeed, but actually excel to the point they drive private schools out of business.
“We are committed to helping public schools deliver a high quality education for every child,” says Charles Cirtwill, vice president of AIMS. “Bringing one of the top public school leaders to Toronto to talk about a public school model that works is an important contribution to that work.”
Angus McBeath retired as superintendent of Edmonton Public Schools in October 2005 and is now AIMS Fellow on Public Education Reform and a Superintendent Emeritus with Focus on Results, an international consulting firm that works directly with schools and districts. The Edmonton school system is heralded as a model of what public education can be, and is studied by educators around the continent. In fact, Edmonton was recently ranked one of the top school systems in North America by Professor William Ouchi in his book Making Schools Work: A Revolutionary Plan to Get Your Children the Education They Need.
“We believe it is invaluable for Ontario educators and politicians to hear first hand how public schools can be improved, from the person who made it happen in Edmonton.” says, Doretta Wilson, the Society’s Executive Director. SQE is the local partner for this latest stop on Mr. McBeath’s North American tour.
During his stop in Toronto Mr. McBeath will be addressing a Policy Roundtable at the C.D. Howe Institute.
More details about the larger tour can be found online at www.aims.ca.
Mr. McBeath’s message is clear: what Edmonton is doing can be done anywhere in Canada.
“This work does not require a huge investment, it can be accomplished with existing people and dollars,” said Mr. McBeath. “The system has to decide and publicly state what it considers to be good results, figure out how to measure progress toward those results and then make public both the good and weak results. You also need to give administrators, principals, and teachers all the support and training they need to achieve excellence for their students and themselves.”
An educator for 32 years, Angus McBeath began his teaching career on Prince Edward Island.
The Atlantic Institute for Market Studies is a distinctive Atlantic Canadian voice on public policy regionally, nationally and internationally. More at: www.aims.ca.
The Society for Quality Education is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing authoritative information on education governance and methodology. More at: www.societyforqualityeducation.org.
For further information, contact:
Doretta Wilson, Executive Director Charles Cirtwill, Vice President
Society for Quality Education Atlantic Institute for Market Studies
(416) 231-7247 Direct (902) 425-4294 (Direct-Halifax)
(416) 526-1653 Cell (902) 489-7699 (Cell-Toronto)
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