Last week I attended what will probably be my last formal class of this Massey College Canadian Journalism Fellowship at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education. It's one of a few things in this final term of the program that is a somewhat mournful reminder that this wonderful experience is coming to an end.
Aside: Another is that the program is now accepting applications from working journalists for its 2011-12 year, with a deadline of March 1, 2011 (hint, hint to any ed reporters out there...).
Additional aside: Another is that we're headlong into planning our second European travel adventure, which will take us to Finland (Helsinki and Turku) and Denmark (Copenhagen and likely Samso) on 'official' travel with possible personal side travel to St. Petersberg, Iceland and/or London, U.K.
It was always a personal and professional goal of mine in this experience to take advantage of OISE's location. Massey College is only hundreds of metres away from the hulking 12-storey building that houses the University of Toronto's initial teacher education programs and graduate-level institute. From the application process onwards, I have to be quite complimentary to the deans and associate deans at OISE. Former dean Jane Gaskell pointed me towards associate deans Mark Evans and Kathy Broad, who've met with me numerous times since August.
As readers here know, I spent the fall auditing two courses -- a graduate-level course on the battle over history education and a Masters of Teaching (a two-year initial teacher education program) course on issues in numeracy and literacy.
This term, I was allowed to shadow -- as much as my schedule permitted given some conflicts with non-OISE classes and fellowship commitments -- the fourth year Victoria College / primary-junior cohort of OISE's concurrent education program. The program is still very much wet behind the ears as the students in the cohort I'm following are the first ever admitted to this program at OISE.
After a wickedly busy five weeks, these ConEd students are now at primary schools throughout the region in their first long-term classroom practicums that last until the very end of March, just as we're about to depart for Europe. They get another one in their fifth and final year of the program (compared to the four that the MT students get, or the two month-long practicums most B.Ed students get over eight months).
The term was instructive to my continuing curiosities about what we're teaching our teachers and how well they might be prepared to face the reality of their first classrooms.
As the literacy / numeracy course wrapped up, I heard about those students' late-fall placements. A good number were frustrated the things OISE was asking them to think about in terms of their pedagogy and philosophies on teaching ran headfirst into established systems and procedures in their placement schools. A number mentioned stark differences of opinion with their associate teachers, the people who welcome teacher-education candidates into their classrooms. I felt a little sorry for those as I have seen the practices in use in the program at OISE being used by teachers when I've shadowed classes for assignments. I also wondered whether the teacher-education candidates 10 years from now would say the same things about these folks as they were saying about their associate teachers today.
If they're patient enough, tactful enough, these candidates will bring change to the classes and schools they end up teaching in.
Though I haven't seen the ConEd students return yet, I'm very curious to see what their practicum experience will be like. I may only see them once or twice more before the end of my program. As they headed out, I wondered how many of them were really ready for what they were about to experience. My curiosity also leaves me wondering if they'll come back with the same feelings as the Masters of Teaching students.
Lastly, for now, I am encouraged by the quality of the faculty I've seen in the initial teacher education programs. I would have been glad to have any of the four instructors I've seen and am reassured that they're teaching teacher candidates-- if some of what they're doing at OISE rubs off on the students then that's great.
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
So a campaign on FDK?
Interesting messaging today as the province announced that many if not all school boards are now accepting junior and senior kindergarten registration for September 2011.
It was a hard/soft sell announcement on the second year of implementation for full-day kindergarten, complete with the requisite ministerial visit to an elementary school. Outside of the formal announcement however, it was a chance for Leona Dombrowsky to start framing a plank in the Liberals' election campaign. From a CTV piece online:
The Liberals are feeling their way through implementation -- exactly as adviser Charles Pascal said they would -- and making changes to the initial plans as they judge it fit to do so. The Tories have said, when the program launched in the fall, that they wouldn't fund the "Cadillac" version of the program they say the Liberals are implementing.
Here's the reality. There are approximately 2,000 publicly funded elementary schools in this province. By October, almost 800 will have full-day kindergarten. Likely later this spring or during the campaign, phase three schools will be announced, which will probably bring the program to around 50% implementation.
There are those who would say full-day kindergarten is a holy grail-- so appreciated by parents whose children are in existing schools that no party would dare dismantle the program. Certainly, no party is saying it would. But to freeze implementation at the 50% mark could be disastrous.
So if we exclude that possibility, that still leaves an opposition vacuum where some sort of alternate vision for implementation should be.
Of course, the underlying question remains whether this issue, or education as a whole, can really dominate a campaign that's for all intents and purposes looking to be centred on our pocketbooks.
It was a hard/soft sell announcement on the second year of implementation for full-day kindergarten, complete with the requisite ministerial visit to an elementary school. Outside of the formal announcement however, it was a chance for Leona Dombrowsky to start framing a plank in the Liberals' election campaign. From a CTV piece online:
The full-day kindergarten program is shaping up to be a key campaign issue in October's provincial election.As I've said in this space before, I would love to see one of the pending election's squabbles be over alternating visions for the future of education in this province. Not the drive-by disaster that was the faith-based funding issue in 2007, but a deeper look at things like how to implement full-day kindergarten. From my admittedly biased perspective it could be a deeper conversation than hydro bills or (and please may this not take root) buck-a-beer sloganism.
Education Minister Leona Dombrowsky warned the program could suffer setbacks if the Conservatives form the government in October's provincial election.
"Our very distinct worry is that we are looking in phase 3 to have 50 per cent of the junior and senior kindergarten students in Ontario accommodated. I would say that is very much at risk," she said while visiting the Holy Name School in Toronto on Wednesday.
The Conservatives say that if they win the election, they will freeze the rollout and look for other, less expensive options.
The Liberals are feeling their way through implementation -- exactly as adviser Charles Pascal said they would -- and making changes to the initial plans as they judge it fit to do so. The Tories have said, when the program launched in the fall, that they wouldn't fund the "Cadillac" version of the program they say the Liberals are implementing.
Here's the reality. There are approximately 2,000 publicly funded elementary schools in this province. By October, almost 800 will have full-day kindergarten. Likely later this spring or during the campaign, phase three schools will be announced, which will probably bring the program to around 50% implementation.
There are those who would say full-day kindergarten is a holy grail-- so appreciated by parents whose children are in existing schools that no party would dare dismantle the program. Certainly, no party is saying it would. But to freeze implementation at the 50% mark could be disastrous.
So if we exclude that possibility, that still leaves an opposition vacuum where some sort of alternate vision for implementation should be.
Of course, the underlying question remains whether this issue, or education as a whole, can really dominate a campaign that's for all intents and purposes looking to be centred on our pocketbooks.
DSBN starts stepping down
I think the St. Catharines Standard is the only print media to have anything on this today, after a District School Board of Niagara meeting Tuesday night.
Unlike previous discussions about the need for the school, however, this time there was no mention of the DSBN Academy being directed toward students from low-income families.The above just reinforces the notion this is an alternative school, as I'd basically stated a few posts ago. Heard there was other media in attendance, but I don't think there will be other articles from them until the notice of motion referred to in the linked article above goes to a vote.
Board spokeswoman Kim Yielding later confirmed the board has reconsidered its low-income criteria for students at the new school. Instead, she said all students who need supports to overcome barriers that may prevent them from attaining post-secondary education will be considered.
"It's not a totally new direction. Part of breaking the poverty cycle is the attainment of a post-secondary education," she said.
She noted the criteria — which formerly stated children must come from low-income families and where neither parent attended college or university — will be used as more of a guideline, and that applicants will be considered on a case-by-case basis.
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Bound to collect dust?
I caught wind of this report on the day of the snowstorm that wasn't when I went to the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education searching for whether or not my Wednesday morning class had been cancelled. It was on the OISE front page, having been released back in January.
It is Stakeholders' Perspectives on Induction for New Teachers: Critical Analysis of Teacher Testing and Mentorship, published in December 2010.
My first reaction after reading through it this evening (I set it aside... had to focus on classwork) was to give my head a few shakes and check what year it was. The data research for this report was done in 2005-06 -- important to note as a time of transition between the Ontario Teacher Qualifying Test (OTQT) and the New Teacher Induction Program (NTIP). Fair to note however that one of the researchers involved was ill and then passed away before the report was published.
For a report released when the NTIP is entering its fifth/sixth year of reality, it deals preciously little with any real critique of that program itself. The bulk of the text focuses on the failings of the OTQT as a method of adequately preparing teachers for the classroom-- which, if that's your perspective, you've been celebrating its death virtually since the day the data collection for this report ended. Any analysis comes in the conclusion.
In a nutshell, both are still bad because they only serve to reinforce the status quo, or narrowly defined criteria.
This report? Destined to gain some dust on the shelves at OISE and the other participating faculties of education. The current government is unlikely to adversely change the NTIP it setup five/six years ago. Any change in government isn't going to change things away from an NTIP model -- possibly, maybe (and I'm not scaremongering) we'd see a return to a more aggressive form of teacher testing.
The question not asked? OK, not asked because the data collection ended four years ago?
How many new teachers have had their Ontario College of Teachers' certification (ah, the OCT...) revoked after an unsuccessful NTIP? That number, if it even exists, isn't reported out anywhere I'm aware of.
It is Stakeholders' Perspectives on Induction for New Teachers: Critical Analysis of Teacher Testing and Mentorship, published in December 2010.
My first reaction after reading through it this evening (I set it aside... had to focus on classwork) was to give my head a few shakes and check what year it was. The data research for this report was done in 2005-06 -- important to note as a time of transition between the Ontario Teacher Qualifying Test (OTQT) and the New Teacher Induction Program (NTIP). Fair to note however that one of the researchers involved was ill and then passed away before the report was published.
For a report released when the NTIP is entering its fifth/sixth year of reality, it deals preciously little with any real critique of that program itself. The bulk of the text focuses on the failings of the OTQT as a method of adequately preparing teachers for the classroom-- which, if that's your perspective, you've been celebrating its death virtually since the day the data collection for this report ended. Any analysis comes in the conclusion.
NTIP is also intended to address the transition from student to teacher. NTs (new teachers) in our study describe how they had felt overwhelmed in their first years teaching with very few supports. They want a program that can be personalized and based on individual needs, and to help them with day-today activities. SAs (Principals) and TEs (teacher educators) are skeptical about how the provincial program would unfold, and wonder about adequate funding to allow for release time. They did not necessarily believe that a one-on-one mentor-mentee relationship was ideal. TEs discussed the need for careful selection of mentors, as well as selection of those with whom they will be partnered. (42)And so on.
...
Thus, the competencies defined in NTIP and in the TPA – and SAs’ application of them – become
“high-stakes.” The role of the SA is particularly salient, since it is her/his sole responsibility to apply these criteria in the evaluation of NTs under her/his supervision through the TPA process. SA conceptions of good teaching and how those perceptions relate to the competencies defined by the Ministry are therefore privileged. These competencies – and SAs’ and districts’ applications of them – become “high-stakes,” since poor evaluations appear on the teacher’s Certificate of Qualification. Consequently, SAs’ conceptions of good teaching and how those perceptions relate to the competencies defined by the Ministry are privileged. (43)
In a nutshell, both are still bad because they only serve to reinforce the status quo, or narrowly defined criteria.
This report? Destined to gain some dust on the shelves at OISE and the other participating faculties of education. The current government is unlikely to adversely change the NTIP it setup five/six years ago. Any change in government isn't going to change things away from an NTIP model -- possibly, maybe (and I'm not scaremongering) we'd see a return to a more aggressive form of teacher testing.
The question not asked? OK, not asked because the data collection ended four years ago?
How many new teachers have had their Ontario College of Teachers' certification (ah, the OCT...) revoked after an unsuccessful NTIP? That number, if it even exists, isn't reported out anywhere I'm aware of.
Monday, February 7, 2011
Full-day check in
This isn't a long piece or really indicative of what I think should be done, but it's the first thing that's crossed my desk that actually speaks about how full-day kindergarten is doing past the halfway point of the program's first year.
Kudos to the Simcoe Reformer's Barbara Simpson, writing for the Delhi News-Record on how two school administrators see the program at this point in the year.
What could others, elsewhere, working an education beat full-time, or for a greater amount of time anyway, have done? I have seen a followup to the Globe's kickoff in September on full-day kindergarten (sort of). I don't monitor the Star as religiously, but I can't remember seeing continuing coverage.
This is a missing piece of the puzzle-- going back to families, parents, teachers, early childhood educators-- heck even Charles Pascal himself and asking how things are going now that this province is in the sixth month of this program.
Kudos to the Simcoe Reformer's Barbara Simpson, writing for the Delhi News-Record on how two school administrators see the program at this point in the year.
The province's full-day learning plan initially drew some concern when it was unveiled in October 2009. Four-and five-year-olds might not be ready for a full day of school every day, suggested some parents and educators across the province. On-site before and after school care also raised concern with private daycare operators.So, here's my wonder. I am very familiar with the Reformer as it's been a longtime sister paper to the newsroom I'm currently on leave from. A staff of six people put out that newspaper five days a week in addition to the Delhi weekly. She had time to make a few phone calls. I would also note the reaction, given Norfolk County is about as rural in southern Ontario as one can get.
Some adjustments to benefit students were temporarily introduced to the daytime routine, (Grand Erie District School Board superintendent Wayne) Baker acknowledged.
"The teachers on occasion at the beginning brought in activities that were a little more sedated," Baker said, adding that students have now acclimatized to the new daily routine.
Sacred Heart (a Brant-Haldimand-Norfolk Catholic board school) principal Zoltan Rapai also found this adjustment at his school. Some of the 36 kindergarten students started off slowly with half-day attendance.
"By the end of the first week, there was no question -- the children were ready for it," he said.
What could others, elsewhere, working an education beat full-time, or for a greater amount of time anyway, have done? I have seen a followup to the Globe's kickoff in September on full-day kindergarten (sort of). I don't monitor the Star as religiously, but I can't remember seeing continuing coverage.
This is a missing piece of the puzzle-- going back to families, parents, teachers, early childhood educators-- heck even Charles Pascal himself and asking how things are going now that this province is in the sixth month of this program.
DSBN Academy coverage keeps growing
Almost every day of the past week or so has seemed to generate another clip, another article, another editorial or opinion piece on the District School Board of Niagara's plans to establish an alternative school for children from low-income families.
A quick summmary (far from an exhaustive list):
A quick summmary (far from an exhaustive list):
- St. Catharines Standard on the withdrawal of the Ontario Secondary School Teachers Federation - District 22 as a partner;
- A St. Catharines Standard opinion piece on how the board wasn't as public as it could have been in developing the academy concept;
- A St. Catharines Standard article on the DSBN director of education's support for the concept; and,
- My favourite, a mom interviewed by the St. Catharines Standard who doesn't appear to have any issues signing up her child for the school.
Another capital roundup
Another week (and a bit) another roundup of stuff that's crossed the news alerts and Twitter on school-closure reviews or other capital-related topics.
- The Orillia Packet and Times on the meeting of a group trying to save all rural schools, particularly the one in their neighbourhood which has been identified by the Simcoe County District School Board as prohibitive-to-repair;
- A Pembroke Observer piece on a local school board employee seconded to the ministry to work on the capital asset evaluation tool-- which means 2002 audits are finally going to be updated by the province soon.
- The Owen Sound Sun Times on why a municipality doesn't have a committee member on a school-closure review currently underway in the region; and,
- Though this one isn't exclusively about capital, an Ottawa Citizen article on the premier's comments regarding overcrowding at some schools and the dollars provided under the current government's mandate for operational and capital.
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