INSIDE THIS
ISSUE
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Revving up on Ritalin
(the inside story on
the sensations induced by this
drug) |
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Coming of
Age (insight into what
it will take to make educators adopt
proven methods) |
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Coles Notes for Math
(a call to action —
let’s get rid of calculators in
elementary schools) |
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Italy Gets the Boot
(useful information
on how not to reform an education
system) |
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The Gatekeepers
(a peek over the
fence into the topsy- turvy land of
education education) |
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Social Injustice
(the story on how
whole language discriminates
against disadvantaged kids) |
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Cookie Cutter Kids
(a reminder that
children are all different —and the
implications thereof) |
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The Rich Get Richer
(an iconoclastic
discussion of the pros and cons of
French immersion) |
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Manitoba Miasma(a disquieting look
at the Manitoba government’s chaotic
testing policies) |
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Math for Preschoolers(fun ways to
school-proof young children) |
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Hidden Demand(a stunning report
on the number of parents who want to send
their kids to private school) |
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If a Student Speaks in Ontario, WillAnyone Hear the Sound? (a
cynical message from one of the hostages) |
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And lots more - Publications of Interest, What’s New?, Ballot Report, Letters to the Editor, Food for Thought, etc. |
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From the President
Methodology
Doesn’t Matter
in School
Improvement Plans
As one of
the last things it did before disbanding at the end of 2000, Ontario’s
Education Improvement Commission (EIC) released their “Handbook for School
Improvement Planning for Principals, Teachers, and School Councils.” This very
interesting document succinctly encapsulates the current state of Ontario
education, illustrating that while the reforms of the past decade have had some
positive effects, we still have a long way to go. It can be downloaded from http://eic.edu.gov.on.ca.
On the positive side, the handbook reinforces the EIC’s strong
insistence on making student achievement the most important goal in any school
improvement plan. The handbook’s first example of goals that might be incorporated
in a plan reads: “By the end of year 3 (the second year of implementation), 60%
of the students who were achieving at level 2 in writing will be achieving at
level 3.”
This is an excellent example of a well-defined and useful goal
for a school improvement plan. It includes a timeframe for completion and a
clear measurement that will allow objective determination of success or
failure. This example is also laudable in that it recognizes that there are
skills and knowledge that students should master as measured against defined
grade-specific standards and that the degree of mastery must be determined
using objective, province-wide tests like those conducted by the EQAO.
The EIC handbook also makes a big contribution to encouraging
the implementation of modern quality management practices in Ontario schools by
consistently promoting quantitative goals even in harder-to-measure areas such
as parental involvement and bullying.
Contrast this school improvement process with the situation
just six years ago when we had a mushy Common Curriculum, evaluation only by
classroom teachers, and communication
with parents using incomprehensible report
Continued...