RSS Feed

‘Uncategorized’ Category

  1. Government may need to legislate good practice

    January 25, 2020 by Tunya

    The Globe and Mail had an opinion by Gary Mason that Premier Kenny, Aberta, did the right thing about their move to bring more accountability in post-secondary education (On post-secondary education funding, Jason Kenney gets it right, Jan 23, 2020) I wrote the following:

     

    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

     


  2. choicelessness – Coons

    January 24, 2020 by Tunya

    December 28, 2019 at 12:06 am   comment to JPGrene Who governs the School System?
    Family choice in education matters. It is clear to me that Greg Forster would dearly love to see parental choice in education in his lifetime.

    Now, here we have John E Coons, nearly 90 years old, still working for Family Choice and justice for poor families after 50 years in the trenches. The organization T74 produced this video of their interview with Coons. Please watch it:

    74 Interview: Law Professor Jack Coons on Rethinking School Funding, Restoring Authority to Low-Income Families Through Education and His Role in the Historic Serrano v. Priest Cases

    Look for these points:
    – “We do not have public schools for poor people.” [He is saying, they are “so-called” public schools because poor families don’t have the choice of moving to effective schools.]
    – “Extend choice, give it to everybody. Choice could save a good share of American families . . . make America less angry and unhappy with itself.”
    – “The problem . . . much of our society is riddled with the effects of making the family weak, its independence, its authority, its responsibility . . . frustrated. And schools have contributed to that, in my view, a great deal. If you take a so-called family and strip it of responsibility and authority, you’ve taken away its dignity and you’ve taken away its effectiveness as a social good. And this society had better look out for all the ways that we have treated our families who are poor, who deserve authority. We have to make sure that they are not stripped of that dignity.”

    John Coons, in a 2002 interview, talked about poor people being stripped of their sovereignty and said: “It’s a shame that there are no social science studies on the effect of choicelessness on the family. If you are stripped of power—kept out of the decision-making loop—you are likely to experience degeneration of your own capacity to be effective, because you have nothing to do. If you don’t have any responsibilities, you get flabby. And what we have are flabby families at the bottom end of the income scale.”

    Coons wrote books on topic and was instrumental in the Serrano Case.

    Now, Greg, I would say that it is obviously timely to be proactive about Parent Choice. Could there not be a Symposium that gathers people on the topic? Collect some papers. Publish them, or excerpts, on a website? Get someone to do an inventory of where we’re at with this topic in North America. People from various efforts — charter schools, home education, Education Savings Accounts, Scholarship Programs, etc. — would have input and attendance.

    Such an effort would not only help the cause move forward but would, at the same time, put the education system on notice that such an effort is being mobilized.


  3. Math, an easy basic to teach/learn – Mighton

    January 22, 2020 by Tunya

    John Mighton, founder of JUMP Math, has two books published on the theme that a Math mindset can make for a better life (All Things Being Equal: Why Math Is the Key to a Better World, and The End of Ignorance).  He wrote an opinion piece in the globe and Mail — The right formula- why math is the key to a more equitable society.  Jan 19, 2020.  I wrote the following comment:

    What bothers me — in this day and age of abundance and knowledge— is that people will still be stingy in education. Why do so-called professionals withhold proven methods?

    How many parents, in all innocence and frankness, are put down when they question certain methods and are then silenced by: “Do you want your appendix removed by an amateur?”

    I wonder if John Mighton ever heard this refrain in his earlier days.

    It’s frustrating to hear that teachers continue to use approaches that are discredited and could even leave students stunted and deprived. That seems mean and unethical!

    Do governments have to come in and legislate proven practice, as recently done in Texas about reading? During the next 3 years teachers will be trained in scientific reading instruction. [i.e., phonemic awareness/decoding skills/phonics] Teacher-prep colleges would lose their accreditation if their graduates do not demonstrate acceptable performance in the teaching of reading. https://www.educationviews.org/texas-at-forefront-of-teaching-phonics/

    Indeed, similar attention should be paid to Math. Especially, if as Mighton claims, Math is the key to a better world. I look forward to reading his book .


  4. Right to Read – Lawsuit

    January 12, 2020 by Tunya

    Statistical reports continue to show that large percentages of people in North America are functionally illiterate. Much of the problem lies with the fact that we suffer from an extraordinary social war called The Reading Wars.  The comment I made below is to a post by a teacher Jon Gustafson, who proposes suggestions to counter the attitude that produces but one-third of students in US to be proficient readers. https://projectforeverfree.org/countering-cognitive-impatience-less-activities-more-deep-reading/

    This comment is also posted in my Facebook, with a further supplementary comment: Jon Gustafson, who I met at researchEd Vancouver conference in February, 2019, is an exceptionally committed teacher from Minnesota. I hope this paper of his gets wide distribution, perhaps in a condensed form. It warns that the state of teaching reading might get even worse due to our dependence on “instant gratification” through devices. I bring his attention to the significance of this court case in Michigan — Right to Read lawsuit

    _____________________________________________________

    Jon, you have added one more dimension to the other reasons usually considered when it comes to the urgency to teach reading to students. You conclude that proficient reading should not be a privilege for just one-third of the population. You offer suggestions.

    However, in this post you have brought in information from a neuroscientist, Dr Maryanne Wolf who foresees that things can only get worse! Because of the growing use and dependency on devices we become prone to impatience if we don’t get quick results.

    You state that Wolf says, “cognitive patience is the gateway to contemplative thought, critical analysis, analogical reasoning, and even empathy.” These qualities are connected to deep-reading for most of us.

    Wolf’s credibility and perceptiveness is even more worthy of our regard when we find that she is Director of the UCLA Center for Dyslexia, Diverse Learners, and Social Justice. She is concerned not only about regular students but those whose brains learn differently. You add her quote: “We will become increasingly susceptible human beings who are more and more easily led by sometimes dubious, sometimes even false information that we mistake for knowledge or, worse, do not care one way or another.”

    What we need to watch for is the results of this court case in Michigan, the “Right to Read” case. https://www.michiganadvance.com/2019/12/23/do-michigan-kids-have-a-right-to-read-activists-await-ruling-in-detroit-lawsuit/

    You are a great reader — you mention tons of articles/books sourced — and might appreciate two documents relating to this case: 136-page class action lawsuit (url in the above story), which argues that the very concept of “democracy” depends on people having functional literacy to vote meaningfully, serve on a jury, have free expression, etc. Thus, being a true citizen. A related “amicus brief” attached to the same case is presented, which expands the issue to seeking a judgment about the “right to a minimally adequate education.” The 45-page brief is an easy read (url also sourced in above story).

    I don’t see Wolf’s neurological dimension here in this case but this case is worth following to see how far it goes and the implications it raises. I hope your significant paper — Countering Cognitive Impatience: Less Activities, More Deep Reading — can be developed for much wider attention and application.


  5. Student Report Cards: A Pawn?

    November 28, 2019 by Tunya

    My comment to a Globe & Mail story (Nov 28, ’19) re Secondary Teachers to strike, https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-ontarios-secondary-school-teachers-will-go-on-a-one-day-strike/#comments

    Student Report Cards should not be a bargaining chip! Not in collective bargaining nor in any “work to rule” situations. To do so is to erase parents from their role in the education of their children. I

    It’s illegal — certainly School Acts that regulate compulsory attendance at publically-funded schools require Report Cards to be sent to parents, usually three times in a year. AND, it is required that parents acknowledge receipt of such reports. This underlines that it is the parent who is indeed the primary agent ultimately responsible for the education of their child.

    Seven years ago we had rancorous bargaining disputes in BC and a parent blog appeared called “Where Is My Kid’s Report Card?” I looked it up and went through very unpleasant memories recalling that time. Why, we even had the insulting experience of blank report cards sent (through the mail)! Very disturbing! No one was taken to court for that or the disruption to families.

    Can parents in Ontario articulate displeasure at these latest twists in so-called bargaining? Or, have parents really been so browbeaten, domesticated and made unimportant to the system that parents simply succumb?