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  1. Education disruption overdue

    March 27, 2020 by Tunya

    No one could have foreseen the disruptions and tragedies that are ensuing from the COVID-19 pandemic!

    However, even as major shifts are happening to just try to counter the progress of the worldwide pandemic, articles are appearing that ponder changes that will result when any sense of normalcy happens.  Some see improvements, others see opportunities.  Here is an article in the Globe and Mail, March 25, 2020, — ‘The education world has been turned upside down’: Online learning may reshape the classroom

    — https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-as-online-learning-rolls-out-education-may-change-forever/#comments

    This is the comment I made:

    How much of this education disruption has been foretold?

    Despite decades of “reforms” it takes a world health epidemic to turn schooling “upside down”.

    In ‘71 UNESCO did a report — Wastage in education: a world problem. Issues identified: dropouts, illiteracy, poor training of teachers, the basics, etc.

    In ‘71 Ivan Illich published — Deschooling Society, stating: “The public is indoctrinated to believe that skills are valuable and reliable only if they are the result of formal schooling.” He proposed “learning webs” way before Internet.

    John Taylor Gatto wrote — Dumbing Us Down: The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling, 1991. He complained re, “compulsory government monopoly mass schooling”.

    With the corona virus entry on the world scene, New York Times, Feb 28, ’20 printed — “Fear of Vast ‘Mass Home-Schooling’ Experiment”, raising the fear that technology and stay-at-home-students would make schools expendable.

    With worries that home education would be unfair for those families unable to harness technology, how long will it be before calls go out for “Ed Relief”?

    Time to discuss accountability, alternatives, family choice in education & ed funding following the child.


  2. wastage in education – world problem

    March 3, 2020 by Tunya

    My comment to ECC, Mar 03, 2020  in response to Wm Brown’s post on

    Manic reforms, depressed scores

     

    A 33-year public school teacher, Curtis Hier, says the ed system is “insane” as funding, instead of producing intended educational results, “goes to an ever-expanding bureaucracy.”

    Time to have a full-scale inquiry into wastage in our public school systems! Especially at this time of a fearful medical epidemic threatening to close schools, we are learning that even with closing schools, education can still continue effectively. A front-page story on Wall Street Journal, Feb 27, ’20 is headlined: “Classrooms Closed, an Entire City Home Schools.” (About Hong Kong.)
    A story in New York Times, Feb 28 (NY edition) had this headline: “Fear of Vast ‘Mass Home-Schooling’ Experiment” and the online story was headlined: “What Would a Coronavirus Outbreak in the U.S. Mean for Schools?”

    I proposed such a study of wastage on a popular educator blog a few weeks ago. A provocative post dealt with the topic of government school systems squandering the education dollar, with “The Blob” always saying that whatever funding there was, was “not enough”. Of course, we know “Blob” stands for “bloated education bureaucracy”!

    The blog item I mention is here: How Much Money Does a School System Need? https://jaypgreene.com/2020/02/11/how-much-money-does-a-school-system-need/, and if you really become interested, the author, Greg Forster, links his much more developed analysis in a Think Tank article entitled: “How much money does a government monopoly need? https://www.ocpathink.org/post/how-much-money-does-a-government-school-monopoly-need

    Briefly, here are excerpts from my comment:

    Undoubtedly, many people are annoyed that such a high-expense item in a state’s budget — public education — produces such dismal and uneven results. Few do anything about this irksome puzzle. Some do recycle this mysterious enigma repeatedly in books and articles.

    UNESCO in 1971-2 produced two books, “Wastage in education a world problem” and “A statistical study of wastage at school”. Questionnaires were sent out to member countries, a conference was held, issues were identified: dropping out, illiteracy, inadequate training of teachers, examinations, the basics, etc. Recommendations were made. A literature list is included. However, further work on this seems to have been dropped by UNESCO.

    I think it’s timely, especially as alternatives and choices are being actively deliberated, that this matter be seriously addressed.

    The average person ruminating and despairing about these contradictions in our education system is utterly stymied by it all. However, hopefully, people with voice and connections can galvanize some intelligence here.

    Any suggestions, who, what, might start the ball rolling on an inquiry into public school wastage of the education dollar? It’s not just a local problem — it’s international.


  3. Alberta Texas accountability efforts

    February 2, 2020 by Tunya

    On post-secondary education funding, Jason Kenney gets it right  Globe and Mail, Jan 23, 2020

    My comment

    Anything a government can do to bring more accountability to our education systems — at any level — is welcome — news. Gary Mason says that “the Kenny government has made a move that was long overdue.”

    Here is the Texas government installing new reading requirements. All public schools (including charters) are to implement systematic, direct instruction of phonics in K – 3 [i.e., phonemic awareness/decoding skills/phonics]. Why? Because this is a proven approach, whereas other reading approaches produce LOW literacy rates.

    Furthermore, teacher-prep colleges/universities would lose their accreditation ability if their graduates do not demonstrate acceptable performance in the teaching of reading. https://www.educationviews.org/texas-at-forefront-of-teaching-phonics/?fbclid=IwAR00kh-Qsx-hUw8TWoCa5Roi0QWn8nFflH2VUjPzZ_yEKU10Id_UEmXQN7Y
    RESP


  4. School choices highlighted

    February 2, 2020 by Tunya

    Sent to ECC Jan 31, 2020

    America’s National School Choice Week (Jan26-Feb1) is enjoying its 9th year. I have tried to follow as much news as I could and today this astonishing item came in: Ninety-Three Vermont Towns Have No Public Schools, But Great Education. How Do They Do It?

    Why, they have “tuition towns”! I found many choice “choice” examples, but not this one!

    “Too small and sparsely populated to support a traditional public school, these towns distribute government education funds to parents, who choose the educational experience that is best suited to their family’s needs. If the school doesn’t perform up to parents’ expectations, they can take their children, and the tuition dollars they control, elsewhere.”

    https://fee.org/articles/93-vermont-towns-have-no-public-schools-but-great-education-how-do-they-do-it/

    As part of the week’s announcements, we have the Manhattan Institute publish an excellent policy paper on charters. Issues 2020: Charter Schools Boost Results for Disadvantaged Students and Everyone Else. Who is “everyone else” besides the students? Why, the families, the taxpayer (return on investment is remarkable), the public schools (improve due to competition). Mention was made that even less jail time was a result when there were less juvenile arrests. https://www.manhattan-institute.org/issues-2020-charter-schools-boost-results

    I, from Canada, am really excited about these developments and piped in with these observations published on Joanne Jacobs blog, Why parents need choices:

    America’s National School Choice Week (Jan26-Feb1) is enjoying its 9th year. I have tried to follow as much news as I could and today this astonishing item came in: Ninety-Three Vermont Towns Have No Public Schools, But Great Education. How Do They Do It?

    Why, they have “tuition towns”! I found many choice “choice” examples, but not this one!

    “Too small and sparsely populated to support a traditional public school, these towns distribute government education funds to parents, who choose the educational experience that is best suited to their family’s needs. If the school doesn’t perform up to parents’ expectations, they can take their children, and the tuition dollars they control, elsewhere.”

    https://fee.org/articles/93-vermont-towns-have-no-public-schools-but-great-education-how-do-they-do-it/

    As part of the week’s announcements, we have the Manhattan Institute publish an excellent policy paper on charters. Issues 2020: Charter Schools Boost Results for Disadvantaged Students and Everyone Else. Who is “everyone else” besides the students? Why, the families, the taxpayer (return on investment is remarkable), the public schools (improve due to competition). Mention was made that even less jail time was a result when there were less juvenile arrests. https://www.manhattan-institute.org/issues-2020-charter-schools-boost-results

    I, from Canada, am really excited about these developments and piped in with these observations published on Joanne Jacobs blog, Why parents need choices:

    The Greatest Consumer Fraud of All by Nat Hentoff , 1977, laid out the case for parents and politicians to mobilize consumer consciousness “to deal with the massive fraud that is public education.” That was 4 decades ago and I have been involved in small ways with parent advocacy in education in this half century. We tried the consumer movement approach. Many struggles were organized to try to reform the public school system, but the struggles were regularly thwarted by the self serving nature of the megastructures involved in this industry — the teacher unions, the education publishers, the teacher preparation colleges, the administrator organizations, the school board organizations, etc. That was the “reform” impulse.

    Eventually, it became evident that “the system”, as a near monopoly, was impervious to systemic change or reform.

    That is why the “choice” movement is so heartwarming. Current generations of students and parents may see — in their lifetimes — choices that provide opportunities that fit their particular needs and preferences. It’s unbearable to even begin to think of the harm and deprivation education casualties experienced in the past.

    Furthermore, “consumer literature” confirms that meaningful choices considerably spur innovation, improvements and adoption of research-backed practices. Discipline and accountability is not something that applies in a monopoly system with captive audiences.

    I have really enjoyed reading the reports, audios and coverage of the passion behind this School Choice Week! I can’t believe that so many choices are being talked about and highlighted — charter schools, vouchers, magnet schools, home education, education savings accounts (ESAs), tuition tax credits, private scholarships, private and faith-based schools, online learning, etc.


  5. reading wars – 2020

    January 28, 2020 by Tunya

    Hopefully, Reading Wars, will fade away ? ? ?   Below is a comment I made to a post by Greg Ashman’s blog, Australia , Filling the Pail, Jan 15, 2020.

    This decade, starting with 2020, may just be the period when the Reading Wars might see some resolution. After a half-century of battle! In the United States there is a lot of pent-up anxiety about the state of reading — not the least coming from the advocacy groups demanding an end to the school-to-prison-pipeline — citing statistics of over 70% illiterates in the prison population. There have been many articles in popular magazines and newspapers highlighting reading problems.

    Coincidentally to Greg’s post today, just yesterday a popular US educator site also brings up the topic of the Reading Wars. See Jay P Greene’s Blog https://jaypgreene.com/2020/01/14/whole-leech-uage-instruction/#comment-709056 The guest writer, Greg Forster, decidedly takes a position against one of the two sides (he is for phonics against whole language). The comments will be of interest to readers of Greg Ashman’s blog. (BTW, thanks Greg A for your detailed analysis in your post.)

    Scanning the 25-page paper by Jeffrey Bowers I note his conclusion: “The ‘reading wars’ that pitted systematic phonics against whole language is best characterized as a draw. The conclusion should not be that we should be satisfied with either systematic phonics or whole language, but rather teachers and researchers should consider alternative methods of reading instruction.” Interesting!