Parents, are your children getting the best education possible? Whether yes or no, this is your chance to tell it like it is. CBC says they will be conducting an in-depth survey about attitudes to education across Canada.

If you have a positive story, tell it. But, if you have a horror story or a story about frustration and endless wrangling with your child’s school or school board, tell that story as well. Here is what the CBC says it wants to know to compile their school report:

“Got an issue or story that you think we should know about? Tell us. We’re surveying parents and educators to bring you an in-depth look at education across the country.The results will be compiled and investigated for our education series, to be featured on CBC radio, television and our web site this fall. Send your story below. Then, fill out our 10-minute education survey.”

Above all, let’s not sugar coat this report. Tell it like it is. Perhaps some good will come out of it. Perhaps we will find out the differences between programs and services in each province and territory. Perhaps we will find out how effective or ineffective the publicly funded schools are compared to independent schools. And, last but not least, perhaps we will find out how effective school choice is in those provinces that allow public funding to pay for charter schools or provide vouchers to independent schools.

Or, will this survey be biased one way or the other? For example, why is a parent’s education level relevant? Remember, this is self-report research. It will already be biased in that only certain people will find the survey and only certain people will respond. While there is nothing wrong with self-report, why is a parent’s education level relevant in this case? 

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MSNBC is reporting that “Harvard researchers have discovered half a dozen new genes involved in autism that suggest the disorder strikes in a brain that can’t properly form new connections;” news that has far reaching implications for both the diagnosis and treatment of all the disorders on the autism spectrum.

First and foremost, there are the implications involving treatment and what I have been saying for some time, that ABA intensive intervention therapy, while very helpful for many children, does not work for all children with autism. Now, we are beginning to see why some benefit more than others?

Secondly, the genetic link gives credence to those who support the notion of neuro-diversity, that some babies brains are wired differently or change in infancy or early childhood, possibly for the reasons explained in these findings. 

As many of my regular readers know, my son has Aspergers. He was forty-three today, July 11th, 2008. I am sure that other parents who read this will understand exactly what I mean when I say, that while the genetic links may not be the whole answer, they are a part of the answer we have long been waiting to hear.

Read also this source from the Times Online.

H/T a regular reader.

SOR is an occasional guest on this blog.  She uses the handle “SOR” because we both share the same first name. Today she has responded to the latest Nik Nanos research poll regarding its “Economic Projection Study:” (1) whether respondents feel the economy will become weaker, stronger or stay the same; or (2) whether interest rates will increase, decrease or stay the same. Here is the e-mail SOR’s sent to Nanos earlier today.  Used here with her permission.

Nik:

Greetings.  I find it interesting on how numbers mean different things to different people.  For your first question you highlight the large negative difference between whether the economy will get weaker or stronger.  You’re right, there is a large negative difference but if you look at all of your information and include the ‘stay the same’ numbers the results show a 50:50 split.  In other words just as many people see the economy as remaining on an even keel or improving as those that see it deteriorating.  To me that is a positive response.
 
Your second question on interest rates shows something completely different when you include the ‘stay the same’ response into the analysis.  There we see a -7 difference rather than the +24 that you highlight.  More people see interest rates staying the same or going down which, in my humble opinion, is a positive response. 
 
By reading your interpretations without looking at the data I was initially left with the impression that this poll was not a good news story.  In fact, it is.  Cheers.  Sandra

When and if SOR gets a response from Nanos, I will post that as well. And, of course Nik is always welcome, as he has in the past, to respond here.

[...]

Update: Here is Nik Nanos’ response to SOR and a further follow-up e-mail from her.

Hi Sandra,
 
I think most business people would look at the net loss $4 and pick up $1 means a net loss (assuming all other revenue is unchanged).  Someone could also lump the negative with the stay the same and infer that things are negative – they are either staying the same or will be worse….that’s why I focus on the net impact, it is not biased in favour of one direction or another.

Cheers,
NJN
___________________________________________________________
Nikita James Nanos, CMRP
 
 
Nik:

It boils down to the glass half full/half empty theory.  Neither is more correct than the other, it just depends on your perspective.  I’m a glass half full person myself and will stick with my suggestion of a better explanation of your findings would have been helpful.  By leaving it as is you are leaving out some important information.  Cheers.  Sandra

 

When families move into new communities, what is one of the first things parents ask their real estate agent?  You guessed it. They ask: Where are the best schools and how do you know they are the best?  And, on the basis of the answer, the parents decide then and there where they want to rent or purchase housing.

Now, just how do people find out where the best schools are located? In the past, they speak to everyone they know who lives in the community where they are moving. Then, they make an informed decision. Now, it seems, the Fraser Institute’s school rankings is the primary source parents are using.

But, is that all there is to a school? Do the rankings alone “really” reflect the quality of a school?  Or, should other criteria be used as well? For example:

• Is there a strong emphasis on academics?
• Is there a good sports program?
• Are there extra-curricular activities in the arts?
• Is there a school choir or band?
• Is there a strong school spirit?
• Do children like attending?
• Do the teachers communicate well with the parents?
• Are the staff dedicated?
• Do the staff undertake professional development?
• Is the principal approachable?
• Does the principal treat parents with respect?
• Are there a lot of parent volunteers?
• Is the school council effective?

And, so on. Or, do the rankings themselves mean enough — as in – if the children do well in the annual tests, then that means there are good teachers and the school is good. Is that a fair analysis? Or, is this whole process a self-fulfilling prophecy? 

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Congratulations to the staff and students at Britannia Elementary School on Vancouver’s east side!  From a previous school ranking by the Fraser Institute of 2.8 a number of years ago, this year they made in on the honour roll with a 7.5 out of ten. Well done!

What an inspiring example of what can happen when everyone involved in a school makes a commitment to improve.  And, when they do, everyone benefits — clear across Canada because we are now telling their story. And that story is that school rankings, whether they be from the Fraser or C.D. Howe Institutes, can be used as the impetus for change. 

They are not, as I wrote yesterday, a “flawed picture” as suggested by the Ontario Public School Board Association (OPSBA). As Doretta Wilson, Executive Director of the Society for Quality Education pointed out today in an e-mail, there are jurisdictions in this country that are using the school rankings to make a difference and she included the link to the Vancouver Sun article as proof.  

And, make a difference they have. According to Janet Steffenhagen of the Vancouver Sun, Britannia is an inner city school. Half the children are ESL, more than half are aboriginal and the parents’ education is generally below average.  So, how did the staff take the school from a 2.8 ranking to a 7.5? One teacher was inspired to use a controversial “direct-instruction” literacy program called “Reading Mastery.” And, when students started making huge gains, the whole staff decided to use it school-wide spending up to 2 hours every single day on the program.

Memo to OPSBA and the Ontario teachers’ unions. Britannia Elementary School in Vancouver has used the school rankings to improve.  Don’t tell the government, the general public and parents, that it can’t be done. It not only can be done, it has been done.

[...] 

Note: Let’s get the news out. Send the link to everyone you know. C/P at With Good Reason.

* Update: It sounds like the B.C. Trustees Association is providing the same kind of spin as OPSBA. For example, the B.C. association published a news release this past Tuesday, May 6th, that stated:

“Last week, the Fraser Institute published its annual Report Card on British Columbia’s Elementary Schools.  BCSTA believes that the conclusions drawn by the Fraser Institute are incomplete and misleading because it ranks schools based on a narrow snapshot of information that fails to reflect the breadth and depth of activities occurring in schools.  Fine arts, sciences, athletics, student citizenship and the success of many other school programs are not reflected in the report.”

“Furthermore, the rankings are potentially harmful to the morale of those who work and learn in BC’s public schools. The report does not take individual school, student population, or other community factors into consideration. The narrow snapshot of data used by the report fails to recognize the significant accomplishments and progress taking place every day in BC’s public schools.”

Clearly, provincial trustee associations need to get off their high horses and represent the taxpayers who voted for them, including the parents, not the teachers’ unions. They also need to read about schools that are benefitting from the school rankings report card because the rankings do not need to be a “narrow snapshot.”

Moroever, tell that to the staff and students at Britannia. And, as far as the students not getting as much Social Studies and other subjects? Unless you can read and write, those courses are not going to do the children any good whatsoever. With well established literacy skills, they will be able to catch up by high school. But, without fully automatic literacy skills, they would likely never catch up.

[...] 

It came to my attention recently that the Ontario Public School Board Association (OPSBA) was taking on the Fraser Institute’s (FI) school rankings survey results. Now, keep in mind, OPSBA represents ALL public boards in Ontario — which means that, according to their February 19th, 2008 news release, ALL the public boards in Ontario see the school rankings “as a flawed picture.” Which means that the teachers’ unions and the rank and file also likely see the school rankings in that way.

Why, one could ask, is the FI  annual school rankings report flawed?  Well, according to the OPSBA news release it is because the FI doesn’t take all the factors affecting student achievement and school life into consideration.  Rather, they “create a superficial picture of the place of schools in the lives of children and families.”

What exactly does that statement mean? How does annual literacy and numeracy testing create a superficial picture of student achievement — and thus a superficial picture of our schools in the lives of children and their families? If students are actually completing the tests themselves, are parents not finding out just how well their children can read and write and do basic math? What is superficial about that? Why would children and their families not benefit? Or, is it code to mean that parents have no understanding of what makes a good school apart from the rankings? If that is the case, the assumptions would be wrong on both counts.

That said, OPSBA is correct when they say there are a whole number of factors that influence how effective a school is and what low results might suggest. For example, one school may have one or more special education classes which, when added to the overall statistics of the school, can lower the rankings. Yet, that school may be every bit as good a school as one who has a higher ranking but no special education classes. But, that should not suggest that parents are incapable of understanding these issues.

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This article was written by Cathy Cove and originally published in the Goderich Signal Star.  It is republished here today with the author’s permission because it is related to John Snobelen’s column in yesterday’s Sunday Sun, as well as one of today’s posts here at COTM.

[...]

Last week the Fraser Institute came out with its controversial Report Card on Ontario’s Secondary Schools 2007 edition. The Fraser Institute report ranks of 719 secondary schools based on Grade 9 Math test scores, the Ontario Secondary School Literacy Test (OSSLT), and a handful of other measurement indicators.

While our region’s schools did pretty well, a caution against ranking was raised by Education Minister Kathleen Wynne and Rick Johnson, president of the Ontario Public School Boards Association. Both suggested that the tests should be used as a diagnostic tool, that ranking is questionable at best and could be very demoralizing if schools find themselves repeatedly hovering near the bottom.

The Fraser Institute’s Peter Cowley, author of the report card, stresses that the report was developed with parents in mind. Parents ultimately want to know how their kids are doing in school based on learning achievements. The report card represents just one tool parents may use to make an educated decision on selecting a school for their children.

Cowley suggests that not knowing how a student is doing is like a track coach never telling his athlete how other runners are performing. That is a good analogy. Without excellence in athletics we’d have no need for games, tournaments, and the recognition that comes with reaping the awards of merit based on skills developed.

There are merits in both philosophies.

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John Snobelen wrote a column in this weekend’s Sunday Sun on the business of learning. It is a definite “must read” for anyone interested in what schools are supposed to be all about — teaching the 3 R’s: reading, (w)riting and (a)rithmetic. Right? Isn’t that the core of turning our children into responsible citizens?

Well, apparently, that is not what some of the folks at my alma mater (University of Toronto’s OISE) are allegedly saying.  For instance, Snobelen says OISE faculty member John Myers “allowed that reading, writing and arithmetic are important but insufficient to produce responsible citizens in a complex world.” Insufficient perhaps, but are they not at the very core of what responsible citizens need to know?

So, what is the real issue here? It is the school rankings. As Snobelen writes:

Your [Myers'] notion that ranking schools based on test results is unfair to students from poor backgrounds is elitist and absurd. For the record, it wasn’t students who resisted the implementation of province-wide tests and it sure wasn’t parents. It was teachers who didn’t want their students’ performance evaluated and made public. I wonder why?

Well I know the answer, just as Snobelen knows the answer.  It is about teachers’ unions not liking the province-wide tests that ranks schools because teachers might be judged on those results. And, they should be. It sure isn’t about parents because parents WANT and DEMAND that they know how their child is achieving and how their child’s school is performing in relation to other students and other schools.

Is it any wonder that parents are frustrated and there is a grassroots movement for school choice? Parents want their kids to be literate, whether they come from a poor background or not. Yet, as Snobelen says, educators and trustees are worried about so many other things that have nothing to do with the real purpose of schools.

[...]  

Note: See also Cathy Cove’s column on the topic of school rankings.

Statistics often get a bad rap and there is perhaps a very good reason for that when people cherry pick only the news that is favourable to them. Newspapers not doing enough background research on “news” can be a problem as well. Which definitely looks like what happened at the Toronto Star earlier this week with the release of the “Pan-Canadian Assessment Program’s” first report. 

For example, take a look at an article in the Toronto Star dated April 29th, 2008. Titled “Ontario Grade 8s top the class,” it gives the definite impression that Ontario students are tops in reading across the country, right? In fact, that notion is reinforced with this quote that:”The bold showing may reflect Ontario’s rigorous new curriculum, suggests Michael Kozlow, director for data for Ontario’s testing body, which took part in the new nation-wide Pan-Canadian Assessment Program.”
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So, the notion of regularly reading blogs has hit the mainstream. CBC, for example, is reporting that:

“Researchers from the University of California-Irvine presented their study, which they said was the first to look in depth at the readers of blogs, on Wednesday at the Association for Computing Machinery Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI) in Florence, Italy.”

“They found that regular blog reading can become ‘an Internet ritual,’ with the content secondary to the process of checking for new posts. The researchers said this is much like the routine of checking e-mail regardless of whether a new message is expected or not.”

“Sometimes, even the usefulness of the blog content itself can be less vital than the activity of reading or skimming the blog to fulfill a person’s particular routine….”

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