A breakthrough in teaching aboriginal children should be funded by Ottawa

Posted on February 25, 2015 in Equality Delivery System

TheStar.com – Opinion/Editorials – A program spearheaded by former prime minister
Feb 24 2015.   Editorial

With Canada’s aboriginal communities enduring so much hardship — from bad drinking water to the toxic legacy of residential schools — it’s heartening to find a program that’s actually making young lives better.

It’s an initiative spearheaded by former prime minister Paul Martin designed to dramatically improve the education of aboriginal students. The Model School Project was launched on two southwest Ontario reserves in 2010 and its results, reported five years later, are nothing short of outstanding.

“If you give First Nations students the tools they need, they will succeed,” Martin said on Tuesday. Federal authorities responsible for funding First Nations education would do well to build upon this promising innovation.

Before the program began only 13 per cent of aboriginal students, at two participating elementary schools, reached the provincial standard on Grade 3 reading tests, and only 33 per cent were up to standard in writing ability. But last year, through improved teaching methods wrought by the Model School Project, almost 70 per cent of Grade 3 students achieved the reading standard. And more than 90 per cent hit Ontario’s writing target. Grade 6 students also registered remarkable progress.

This presents more than just a glimmer of hope. It’s evidence of a breakthrough opening doors to academic achievement that have, until now, been sealed to a great many First Nations children.

Sixty per cent of aboriginal students on reserves drop out of high school, compared to just 9.5 per cent of non-aboriginal Canadians. That’s a shocking statistic given the importance of a good education in building a foundation for social and economic well-being.

Martin and others set out in 2006 to improve aboriginal graduation rates through a non-profit organization called the Martin Aboriginal Education Initiative. It launched the Model School Project in an elementary school run by the Kettle and Stony Point First Nation and in another at the Walpole Island First Nation.

Training teachers was the first step. Outside education experts provided “continuous, intensive on-site professional learning,” according to an update on the program’s success.

As reported by the Star’s Louise Brown, instructors worked on boosting the oral language skills of children. And students were given literacy training for a full 90 minutes each day.

Results have been dramatic and rendered all the more important since reading and writing are vital for school success. Reading proficiency at the age of 9 or 10, in particular, “is the most reliable school-based predictor of high school graduation,” according to the program report.

Martin’s pioneering initiative has done more than make vulnerable children at two schools achieve an academic breakthrough. It shows how thousands of aboriginal children across Canada can be helped. The way forward is clear. What’s needed now is bold investment by Ottawa.

< http://www.thestar.com/opinion/editorials/2015/02/24/a-breakthrough-in-teaching-aboriginal-children-should-be-funded-by-ottawa-editorial.html >

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